On the flight line...

[jimmini]

Dose any one like old flight line shinny objects ?

[skyguyscott]

Wow, that could very well be the prettiest P-38 I have ever seen!

Of course, has anyone ever seen an ugly P-38?

[JonDNC]

Originally Posted by skyguyscott

Wow, that could very well be the prettiest P-38 I have ever seen!

Of course, has anyone ever seen an ugly P-38?

No!

[Bob662]

Originally Posted by skyguyscott

Warbirds! Well the P40 and Corsair, obviously. Is that a Steerman with floats? Not used to seeing them painted all yellow, usually the blue and yellow AAC livery. I spot the T-6. What's that dual canopy plane underneath the Corsair? Some special training variant of something else?

The yellow floatplane is a Navy N3N, often confused with the N2S Stearman. There used to be a fleet of them at the Naval Academy.

The airplane under the F4U is a T-28.

[skyguyscott]

Bob,

Thanks for the clarification on the stearman.

Look at the very bottom of the next pic, what are those two planes? You can only see portions of the nose. When I first looked at it, I thought it was one plane with a dual cockpit, like the training version of the SR-71, but then I saw it was two planes.

[jeffmc306]

My dad joined the reserves and was at Glenview Naval Station before going to Korea. I found some old photos of him servicing a Corsair. We got the opportunity to go to Oshkosh before he passed and got a shot of him standing next to a restored one - have to look for that one now!

Miss you Dad! You are my hero and I’m proud to be your son.

[jimmini]

If you liked shinny objects them here are the rest. NOTE Workmanship.

[skyguyscott]

Jeff, how fortunate you are to have such great pics of your dad. Your kids will have a great record of him in context. Note to self: take fewer "portraits", more candids. Almost all my pictures of my grandfolk and earlier are just them looking into the camera. Of course, way back then, cameras were big and film required longer exposure, hence the lack of candids in context.

Tumbleweed, that's great work on the Lightning! I can't even see the duct tape ;P Wish I had you to work on my Airstream, but no way I could afford you. Wonder what the original wrench turners would say if they could see their bird today?

[Jim & Susan]

From the folks that brought us this particular date in history, what, 78 years ago? Yes these are originals.

[Jim & Susan]

Mr. Doolittle and some other fellows has a response for Tokyo and environs flying these guys.

[Jim & Susan]

Of the warbirds from those days.

[Jim & Susan]

A few more

[Jim & Susan]

This one is kinda short by today's standards. CV6, USS Enterprise

[Jim & Susan]

CVN-65, USS Enterprise. I think the first of the nuclear powered carriers.

[Jim & Susan]

I have more (a lot more) photos from the museum. I'll get them lined up and post some later.

Couple of things about the Museum. My GPS took me three miles off to the wrong place trying to get there. Keep that in mind. There are a LOT of airframes crammed into two hangers. It's very crowded in there, so that makes it hard to get good photos (at least for an amateur like me). The good news about that is that you can walk right up the aircraft. There are no "please don't touch" placards anywhere (well, mostly). I love a museum like that. There's something important about being able to actually touch history.

There is also a static display of many planes along the flight line outside the Museum hangers (in the open air, in other words). You can only view these craft on a bus tour and the last tour leaves at 1400 hrs. I somehow missed the schedule when I first got there, so didn't get to go.

If you like airplanes or military history, this is a bucket list destination. I'll be back with more in a day or two.

Jim

[skyguyscott]

Thanks for the great shots, Jim; I feel like a kid whose Christmas has come early! I will have to get there someday. Fortunately the Navy planes wings fold up to fit them all inside. I guess if the Navy guys can fit a ship in a bottle...

Nice how they still let you walk right up to the planes. Sadly, but perhaps understandably, the USAF museum has put up barriers around all their planes; a change from when I was younger. I vividly remember one cold December weekday years ago before they expanded the new museum and I rode the bus out to the annex. There I was all alone in a cavernous hanger walking freely around the YF-12A, the Presidential planes, most of the X-planes. Can you imagine?

Today, they are just out of reach. Funny how that matches what I have always heard about how the USAF is very strict on how their pilots and mechanics treat their precious aircraft.

I was just reading the other day how the Navy had been holding the JFK in case anyone wanted to make a museum out of it, but had to let it go to scrap. It was the last CV that could have feasibly been converted as all the CVNs have to be dismantled and decontaminated and can't be used as museums. You would think they would jump on this.

[azflycaster]

This was my job for almost 4 years. Service, repair and some egress work.

[jimmini]

My years USAF 1953-1957 active duty Crew Chief SAC B-47's
66 years later still working on aircraft as a FAA Master mechanic.
Guess all the B-47 and KC-97 have been melted down and made into Airstreams

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by jimmini

My years USAF 1953-1957 active duty Crew Chief SAC B-47's
66 years later still working on aircraft as a FAA Master mechanic.
Guess all the B-47 and KC-97 have been melted down and made into Airstreams

By Jimmini, there are still a few left around!

This one is at the USAF Armament Museum at Eglin AFB in the Florida Panhandle. Susan's dad was a navigator for a short period of time in the '50's in the B-47.

[jimmini]

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

By Jimmini, there are still a few left around!

This one is at the USAF Armament Museum at Eglin AFB in the Florida Panhandle. Susan's dad was a navigator for a short period of time in the '50's in the B-47.

Yep the Castle Air Museum at the old Castle AFB Atwater Ca has one B-47 and one KC-97.