Planes_Trains_Ships (2025)

30/01/2025

8/20/94, Wings of Eagles Airshow, Batavia, New York. "F8F-1 Bearcat Beauty"
Three views of Howard Pardue's F8F-1 Bearcat NL14HP (Bu. No. 90446) on static display during the Wings of Eagles annual airshow at Geneseo County airport. Note the name "Kimberly Brooke" on the cowling.
A frequent airshow participant under Mr. Pardue’s ownership for 30 years, this beautiful airplane was destroyed in a crash shortly after takeoff at Breckenridge, TX on 4/4/12. Sadly, the crash took the life of Mr. Pardue, who was 77 at the time.
According to the Aerial Visuals website, as of 2017 parts from NL14HP were being used to restore F8F Bu. No. 95356 at Breckenridge. The Aerial Visuals website (https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=9806) has an interesting history of NL14HP.

03/08/2024

Planes_Trains_Ships, 8/3/24
7/13/24, American Heritage Museum, Hudson, MA. “Wildcat Flight Demo”
FM-2 Wildcat N11FE (Bu. No. 86680, c/n 5734) participated in the American Heritage Museum’s Pacific War Re-enactment event. She’s seen here before, during, and after her demo flight on Saturday afternoon.

I've also included a snippet of video recorded while she was warming up for flight.

15/01/2024

6/2/74, NAS South Weymouth, MA. "Sunday Afternoon Skyhawks "

The Weekend Warriors of VMA-322 were busy on this pleasant Sunday afternoon. Seen here is a two-ship element of VMA-322 A-4E Skyhawks taxiing to Runway 8 and taking off.
A-4E 149985 (QR-50) served with VMA-322 from 1973 to 1985. She was finally sent to AMARC (the "boneyard") in October 1993 and salvaged (i.e., scrapped) in March 2002. There' a very nice photo of 149985 at http://tinyurl.com/Hildreth-149985
A-4E 150058 (QR-53) served with VMA-322 from 1973 to 1983. She was retired to AMARC in August 1986. As of March 2019 she was preserved in Blue Angels markings on the roof of the Nauticus Museum (near the U.S.S. Wisconsin) in Norfolk, VA.
Photos 1–3. Three views of QR-50 & QR-53 taxiing to Runway 8. BTW note that QR-53 has a straight in-flight refueling probe and QR-50 has the later “bent” in-flight refueling probe.
Photo 4. Lining up on the runway
Photo 5. They took off sequentially with QR-50 leading. In this photo, QR-53 is just lifting off with QR-50 some ways ahead. The smoke trail from QR-50 is just discernible.
(Repost from 6/28/21)

22/12/2023

9/29/93, Quonset Point, RI. “Thunderbird #8”
The USAF Thunderbirds were the headline performers at the 1993 Quonset Point air show. Thunderbird #8 (an F-16D) is seen here taking off Saturday morning for what was probably an orientation flight for a media personality or other local “notable”. Look closely and the flame of the afterburner is discernible.

18/12/2023

6/7/92, Quonset Point, RI. “SLUF (A-7D) in Action”

Late on an overcast Sunday afternoon, the pilot of A-7D 70-1028 was finally able to head back to Tulsa, OK after a weekend on static display duty. ‘028 was assigned to the Oklahoma Air National Guard’s 125th Tactical Fighter Squadron and in 2023 serves as gate guard at their Tulsa, OK base.

She’s seen here during engine start, taxiing, taking off, and during a final flyby. The last shot provides a good view of the bottom-side camouflage pattern, I think.

17/12/2023

6/7/92, Quonset Point, RI. "Static SLUF (A-7D)"

The Ling temco Vought A-7 Corsair II was popularly known as the SLUF for Short Little Ugly…Fellow (the polite version of the nickname.) The A-7 entered service with the USN in October 1966 and in 1970 with the USAF (as the A-7D.)

The Oklahoma Air National Guard’s Tulsa, OK-based 125th TFS, 138th TFG flew A-7D 70-1028 to Rhode Island to serve as a static display duing the 1992 Quonset Point air show. The inscription unde her starboard windshield indicates that her crew chief was SSGT Glenn Logue. He was certainly keeping her shiny! The pilot’s name under the port windshield was Lt. Brent Ramsey (although he wasn’t necessarily flying her on this trip).

The OK ANG flew 028 from 1979 to the early 1990's. The National Museum of the USAF Loan Program took charge of her after her eventual retirement and she’s on display (as of January 2023) at the entrance to the Oklahoma ANG base at Tulsa, OK International Airport (along with an F-86D, an F-100D, and an F-16). You can find these aircraft on Google Earth at 36°13'12.90"N, 95°52'28.79"W.

The last of the three pictures in this set is a screen capture from Google Earth dated January-2023. She appears to be preserved in the same basic camouflage scheme she carried in 1992.

28/11/2023

5/16/87, Chino, CA. "Avenger"
The Planes of Fame Air Museum’s TBM-3E Avenger N7835C (Bu. No. 91624, c/n 7154) participated in flying displays during the museum’s 1987 annual airshow at the Chino airport. She’s seen here parked on the flight line late on Saturday afternoon after the airshow and also making some “airshow passes” during the show. She's painted in the three-tone camouflage adopted for USN carrier aircraft in early 1943. The white tail marking was carried by aircraft assigned to the U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-10) during January - July 1945.

Built by General Motors’ Eastern Aircraft Division in New Jersey, she was delivered to the U.S. Navy on 7/19/45 (too late for combat service). She was bought for the museum’s collection by founder Ed Maloney in 1959 and restored to flying condition in 1976. She’s been owned and flown by the museum ever since and is still flyable as of late 2023. A brief history of this airplane can be found at https://planesoffame.org/aircraft/plane-TBM-3E.

20/11/2023

10/18/86, NAS Pt. Mugu, CA. “Skywarrior”
Although not formally on static display, VAQ-34’s ERA-3B Skywarrior 144846 (c/n 12092) was viewable by members of the public during the 1985 NAS Pt. Mugu open house. She was delivered to the US Navy in February 1960 as an A3D-2P photographic reconnaissance version. Redesignated an RA-3B in 1962, she was retired to the AMARC boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB, AZ on 7/1/71. She was converted to an ERA-3B and returned to service during the 1981-82 time period and served with VAQ-34 from 1984 to 1989.

She was SOC (“struck off charge”, i.e. removed from the Navy’s active inventory), loaned to a succession of civilian defense contractors (Westinghouse, Hughes, and Raytheon), and ended her days as a spare parts source supporting those contractors’ test fleets of Skywarriors. She was finally completely stripped of all useful parts by Raytheon in 1999 and scrapped by the Navy at Van Nuys, CA. While on loan she was registered as N547HA, N576HA, and,N574HA.

19/11/2023

11/3/85, Edwards AFB, CA. "Flight Test Rhino"

NF-4C Phantom II 63-7409 was on static display at the 1985 Edwards AFB open house. Spending most of her service life with the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards, 7409 was retired to the AMARC boneyard in April 1991. She was finally salvaged (i.e., scrapped) in May 2000.

16/11/2023

Edit: Updated starboard-side profile view with 10/1/23 photo.

5/28/23, American Heritage Museum, Hudson, MA. “P-40B Pearl Harbor Survivor”
P-40B 41-13297 (c/n 16073, NX284CF) was on indoor display at the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA. She was positioned in such a way that with a long reach it was possible to obtain a number of photos of her cockpit while standing on the museum floor.
She was delivered to the USAAF in March 1941 and stationed at Wheeler Field, Oahu. Damaged in a ground-loop accident on 10/28/41, she is believed to have been undergoing repairs in a maintenance hangar during the December 7th Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She escaped the attack with no further damage and her first post-repair flight was on 1/9/42. Sadly, she crashed in the hills near Pearl Harbor on 1/24/42, taking the life of her pilot, Lt. Kenneth Sprankle.
After the crash and the recovery of Lt. Sprankle’s remains, the wreckage remained at the wreck site until 1985 & 1989 when most of the wreckage was recovered with the intent to build an airworthy P-40B. This effort came to fruition on 1/12/07 with the post-restoration flight. She was damaged again in a landing accident on 10/29/14 and on 1/29/16 ownership passed to the Collings Foundation of Stow, MA. She is said to be the only surviving December 7th Pearl Harbor aircraft which is still flying.
Further details of 41-13297’s history can be found at the Aerial Visuals website (https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=23711) from which the details given here were extracted.

14/11/2023

7/25/92, Westover ARB, Chicopee, MA. “Fuddy Duddy: Engine Start & Taxi”
B-17G N9563Z (44-83563, c/n ) participated in the flying program of the 1992 Westover Air Reserve Base Airshow. She's seen here being taxied to the active runway. She's painted in the 1945 markings of "Fuddy Duddy", an aircraft of the WWII 447th BG. The 447thBG was based at Rattlesden, UK with the famous 8th AF ("The Mighty Eighth") from 11/30/43 through 8/2/45.

N9563Z was originally delivered to the USAAF as B-17G 44-83563 on 4/7/45 and placed in storage immediately. She was pulled from storage a month later and assigned to cargo and passenger-carrying duties until retired by the USAF as a VB-17G in June 1955. She had colorful subsequent history including appearing in movies including "The War Lover" and "Tora!, Tora!, Tora!".

At the time of these photos, Fuddy Duddy was operated by the National Warplane Museum of Geneseo, NY. She's been with the Lyon Air Museum in Santa Ana, CA since 2009 (see http://www.lyonairmuseum.org/exhibit/boeing-b-17-flying-fortress).

10/11/2023

10/01/23, American Heritage Museum, Hudson, MA. “Messerschmitt!!”

Me 109G-10 Wrk No. 610937 is on indoor display at the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA. She’s currently owned by the Collings Foundation as N109EV. I have found conflicting narratives regarding this particular airplane’s history. They agree however that 610937 was manufactured as (or upgraded to) a G-10 in Germany during WWII. Although none of my references indicate that 109’s ever used a pale blue paint for the cockpit, it’s clear that she’s been restored beautifully. She’s painted in the distinctive “tulip nose” marking carried by Erich Hartmann.

Planes_Trains_Ships