Twin Mustang

Parked on the ramp at Elmendorf AFB is F-82H 46-384 of the 449th Fighter Squadron, All Weather, a visitor from Ladd AFB, Alaska.

For an airplane built in small numbers (less than 300) and introduced when jets were the center of attention, the piston-engined F-82 Twin Mustang compiled a noteworthy record during its service with the USAF from 1946 to 53.

 

Mystery Airfield Update

There were several good guesses as to the identity of this “Mystery” airfield, but no one nailed it. So, here are a few more clues:

 – It is in Hawaii

– It is part of an active army post

– One could drive right past it and never know it was there

Avert your eyes because here comes the answer:

Waiele Gulch Field.

Where is that, you say? It is part of Wheeler Field and, as field’s name states, it is in a gulch and therefore rather hidden from the view of passersby. That, of course, was what made a small canyon/gulch such an appealing location for a military airfield.

Construction began just before Pearl Harbor with the idea of having a well-protected facility for the assembly of aircraft. Bunkers were hewed in the gulch walls. Taxiways connected with those on Wheeler Field. Today, it is still easily visible from the air, but still not so from the ground.

The top photo was taken at the height of World War II. The other photo is what one seens today.

The Super Sabre Skyblazers

The USA’s first super-sonic aircraft in Europe: the F-100.
Paris Air Show, 1957.
Paris Air Show brochure.
I believe this is the “Looping en forme de losange”.
Same.
Everything was done in formation.
The team.

Assigned to Bitburg Air Base’s 36th Fighter Day Wing/Tactical Fighter Wing, the F-100C Super Sabre-flying “Skyblazers” wowed millions in the skies over Europe from 1957 to 1962. The team pictured here was led by Captain Bill Creech (later a 4-star general and the namesake of Creech AFB in Nevada). His wingmen were Captains Pat Kramer & Nevin Christensen and Lieutenants Gordon Eells & Gordon Scharnhorst. 

They really knew how to put on a show.

“Mystery Airfield” is actually…

Myst

Had a couple of good guesses at our mystery airfield, but…

It is Bellingham Airport, in Washington State.

And said airport has grown a bit over the years.

A couple of classics are parked on the ramp: A P-51 Mustang on the right, and, of course, a DC-3 on the left. The latter wears the livery of West Coast Airlines (who called their DC-3s the ScenicLiner).

West Coast Airlines is kind of/sort of still around today. It merged with Pacific Airlines +Bonanza Airlines to make Air West which became Hughes Airwest which was then taken over by Republic Airlines which was acquired by Northwest which became part of Delta. It’s that simple.

The ill-favored in appearance but lethal A-6 Intruder

KA-6D 151576.
Alone and unafraid, even if it’s only flying over the skies of the southwest USA.
From the olden days of beards and bellbottoms, ordnancemen are seen earning their pay.

“To each his own” the old saying goes, and that idiom certainly applies to the unique looks of the A-6 Intruder. However, like a pin-up girl with somewhat inverted proportions (wide up front and skinny in the rear), the design of the A-6 would always appeal to a certain breed of man. Nothing wrong with that. 

Here are a few shots from VA-196 “The Main Battery” – legendary attack squadron of the US Navy – taken in the late 1970s-early ’80s.

ThankHank.

 

An Army Air Service Photo Album

DH-4s of the 22nd Observation Squadron.
Different DH-4, same squadron.
Close-up of previous photo shows the pilot stripped down to his underwear.
Martin NBS-1 (MB-2) of Langley Field’s 96th Bomb Squadron.
This (I believe) is a Martin torpedo bomber, the MBT.
No aviation photo album from the 1920s is complete without the wreck of a JN-4
“The hapless pilot stands helplessly by as mechanics…” – this was the standard photo caption for such events as seen here.
This was a mystery plane…
…assumed it was a bomber, but couldn’t find a match…
…that’s because it’s a TC class airship. Probably taken at Langley Field.
Our photographer gets in the act (he’s on the left).

Taken a century ago, these photos came from a “soldier of the air” stationed at Langley Field and Maxwell Field in the early/mid-1920s.  Aircraft seen in these photos include the DH-4, NBS-1, JN-4, and a couple others. Enjoy!

KB’s

A thirsty FJ Fury of VMF 214 nuzzles up to a friendly KB-50.
“Miss Bea” (49-355), a KB-50J of the 622nd AREFS, England AFB.
48-0063, a J-model of the 431st AREFS pulls a pair of FJs and an F8U.
Another shot of “Miss Bea”.
“Pogo” a K-model of the 427th AREFS, Langley AFB.

The term “One of the unsung aircraft…” is often misapplied, but it sticks like glue to the B-50 and its variants. Developed and produced by Boeing at a time when they would rather have been developing and producing jet bombers, the B-50 – basically a well-improved B-29 – was easily overshadowed by more sleek and futuristic designs such as the B-47. And, of course, it would always be comingled/confused with its more famous older brother, the aforesaid B-29. This was aided by the fact the B-50 never even got its own nickname; it too was the “Superfortress”. Apparently, Boeing and the USAF were not interested enough to even come up with a moniker for their new bomber.

Nearly 400 B-50s were built, the majority of which were converted into tankers. Their operations mostly confined to supporting fighter aircraft, the KB-50 became the mainstay of many an Air Refueling Squadron (AREFS) in the 1950s . They soldiered on until 1965, afterwards, they were soon forgotten.  Alas, only five B-50s have survived. 

Note: Back in the early 1980s, we had an old-timer (at age 40, he seemed ancient) in our USAF maintenance squadron who had worked on KB-50s late in their careers. Patiently puffing (always) on his cigarette, he explained to the youthful ignoramuses in his charge just what a KB-50 was. “Really not much different looking than a B-29” said he. In fact, he recalled that many of the parts were interchangeable.

As previously stated, truly an unsung (and ignored) aircraft (even by those who worked on them).

TWA Back in the Day

“StarStream” is a great name for an airliner. N750TW served with TWA for many years.
N778TW on the Boeing flightline at Renton. The first 727 lurks in the background.
N738TW in Feb. 1961. A company Connie in the foreground looks on with a decided lack of enthusiasm.

One of the many versions of the 707, namely the 707-131, is seen here. Once a familiar sight at airports around the globe, the 707-131 is, alas, no more. However, even in retirement it still had an important job to do: After faithfully serving TWA (and other airlines), the -131 became a useful source of parts for the USAF in the 1980s. Namely, the Air Force wanted the -131’s Pratt & Whitney TF-33 engines for the purpose of upgrading the KC-135A. Once re-engined, the “A” model became the KC-135E. Thus the retired 707-131s were given a lease on life to serve as suppliers of engines and parts.

For many years, the retired 707s were a familiar sight at the Davis-Monthan AFB boneyard as they were slowly picked to pieces for useful KC-135E parts (The E-model was retired in 2009). No doubt, more than a few boneyard visitors in the early 21st Century wondered why the USAF was storing a fleet of somewhat dilapidated civilian 707s.

Wheelus Air Base, Libya.

C-130A, 55-0007, ended up in Bolivia where it rests today.
F-100s on the Wheelus flightline.
F-102A of the 497th Fighter Interceptor Squadron.
F-101C of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing.
An F-105 visitor from the 36th TFW at Bitburg Air Base, Germany.
Another 105, this time from the 49th TFW, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.
C-47 that was assigned to Wheelus for various odd-jobs.
C-54 undergoes engine work.

Here are a few photos taken around 1961-ish. Our photographer was plagued by either a poor camera, or bad picture-taking skills, but he did bless us with a variety of aircraft.

So, about Wheelus Air Base.

European weather is typically not the type one would choose when wanting to fly. The situation was, of course, the same in the 1950s and 60s. Enter Wheelus Air Base. Located right next to Tripoli, Libya, on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean. Salubrious climate aside, Wheelus was an extremely important facility for two other reasons: 1. South of its location stretched an endless desert tailormade for a bombing range. 2. The open skies of the region were well-suited for engaging in air-to-air practice (dogfights). 

Given that neither of those aforementioned two factors was readily found in the topography (or skies) of central Europe, the fighter squadrons of the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) regularly rotated through Wheelus in order to maintain their qualifications in the air-to-ground and air-to-air missions. According to those who took part in such deployments, a few weeks in Libya was a pretty sweet deal. Plenty to do on the base, nice beaches, and booze was cheap. Also, it wasn’t foggy or snowing. 

 

 

Curtiss’s CT-1 Torpedo Bomber: One Of Many One Of A Kinds Of The 1920s

A chilly day in January, 1922, finds the CT-1 ready for flight. The pilot looks like a bankrobber driving a getaway car.
The CT-1 carried an impressive load including a gun turret behind the pilot.

Like other aircraft of that period, the Curtiss CT-1 of the early 1920s had a short life (1921-23) and an even shorter production run (one example built). That single aircraft is seen here in 1922 while undergoing tests for the US Navy.