A visit to the warbird factory

[David LaPell]

Yesterday was the first ever Wheels & Wings event at Hanger743 also known as the Warbird Factory in Latham, NY. So I took my son, who is an aviation nut, has taken college courses already on aviation, has had several flights in smaller planes and has a real passion for WWII aviation at his age, to see their collection.
They have on hand a T-6 Texan that was a Navy trainer, another T-6 Texan that back in the 1950's was heavily modified to resemble a Japanese A6M Zero, and this particular plane was used in the filming of Tora, Tora Tora, Midway the show Black Sheep Squadron.
They also have a Douglas A1-E Skyraider on hand, but the real treat was the FG-1D Corsair, a Goodyear produced version of the Vought F4 Corsair. This plane, Ruthless II, was made in 1945 and served with the USN until the late 1950's. It was then sold to the country of El Salvador and it did see combat when they country and Homduras went to war in the late 1960's and the Corsair still wears the bullet hole it got. It was acquired and then restored by the warbird factory.
One of the highlights was when the crew fired up the Corsair and dropped the wings for us and ran it up to idle and then throttled it up for a couple of minutes. It's amazing to wonder what a carrier deck full of those planes must have sounded like.
Since we were right near the Albany International Airport, we also got to see a lot of airplane traffic coming and going.

If you get a chance, check this place out, it's amazing the work they're doing, the mission statement of the owner is to get as many of these planes back to where the public can see them.

Navy T-6 Texan "Deja-Vu"

T-6 Texan that was modified to look like an A6M Zero for film work.

Douglas Skyraider

One of the Skyraider's four 20mm guns.

Where the Skyraider has been during it's service.

The FG-1D Corsair

The Corsair with the wings down and running.

The Corsair and collection's USN Jeep.

My son definitely approved, the Corsair has been one of his favorite planes for a long time.

The air traffic coming and going from Albany International Airport, whose terminal isn't that far away.

 

[AJ]

Glad that you had a nice visit. We have a couple here in Florida. The best is of course, the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola. Do yourself a favor and go there if you get a chance.

 

[GaryS]

Nice pictures. I'm guessing you didn't take them with a cell phone.

 

[GaryS]

Great place. One of the down sides of my son moving from the Mobile area as we can't hop in a car and drive to Pensacola for a day at the museum.

Glad that you had a nice visit. We have a couple here in Florida. The best is of course, the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola. Do yourself a favor and go there if you get a chance.

 

[AJ]

Great place. One of the down sides of my son moving from the Mobile area as we can't hop in a car and drive to Pensacola for a day at the museum.

We go when enroute to see B-I-L in Gulfport. Usually make a stop at the Museum in Mobile to see the battleship, sub etc, there.

 

[GaryS]

I only got to go to the USS Alabama once, but we made several trips to Pensacola.

We go when enroute to see B-I-L in Gulfport. Usually make a stop at the Museum in Mobile to see the battleship, sub etc, there.

 

[David LaPell]

Nice pictures. I'm guessing you didn't take them with a cell phone.

Nope,

I'm on my second Sony DSC-H300 camera. I wore the first one out, I bet I took 20,000 pics with it over 5-6 years at least. It's 20.1 megapixels and a 35x zoom. It's actually much cheaper than a cellphone with a camera with anything close for resolution, but they don't have the zoom either. One of Sony's older cameras, you can get one for about $200 new or so. I've got a Sony video camera I have that cost about the same, that's got a zoom of 60X with a Zeiss lens and excellent resolution. I try to do all my video work with that.

 

[SS336]

Looks like your son had a great time. Your pictures really tell the story.
Air museums are addicting, as are air shows and fly in's.
I have been to Rhinebeck NY museum and the Smithsonian when we lived in Ct. Pensacola Air museum when we lived in Fl. And now the one in McMinnville, Or., now that we're here. I could wander around any of them for days.
The most fun, though, was at a little air show in Tallahassee, Fl.
Got a ride in a T-6 Texan and they actually let me "fly it". Was a good 30 min flight. Me in the front cockpit. The sound and smell was glorious. Wish it was more.

 

[kmyers]

Thanks for sharing, wonderful pictures and looks like a great time for you and your son.

 

[GaryS]

My photography skills max out with a cell phone, so that's all I need. I use mine almost exclusively for pictures of things I'm working on so that I can put them back together once I take them apart.

That's the great benefit of cell phone cameras. I don't have to send the pictures out to be developed and there is essentially no cost to take more pictures than I need.

Nope,

I'm on my second Sony DSC-H300 camera. I wore the first one out, I bet I took 20,000 pics with it over 5-6 years at least. It's 20.1 megapixels and a 35x zoom. It's actually much cheaper than a cellphone with a camera with anything close for resolution, but they don't have the zoom either. One of Sony's older cameras, you can get one for about $200 new or so. I've got a Sony video camera I have that cost about the same, that's got a zoom of 60X with a Zeiss lens and excellent resolution. I try to do all my video work with that.

 

[AJ]

My photography skills max out with a cell phone, so that's all I need. I use mine almost exclusively for pictures of things I'm working on so that I can put them back together once I take them apart.

That's the great benefit of cell phone cameras. I don't have to send the pictures out to be developed and there is essentially no cost to take more pictures than I need.

I use a cell phone for most of my pictures. I do have a Cannon Rebel EOS T6 with a couple of lenses (50 MM & a 80-210 MM Zoom). Mostly it sits on the shelf.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

AJ , I'm surprised you didn't catch it . Did you see the squadrons the sky raider was attached to ? The VAQ is the same as our VMAQ , and you know what that is .

 

[AJ]

AJ , I'm surprised you didn't catch it . Did you see the squadrons the sky raider was attached to ? The VAQ is the same as our VMAQ , and you know what that is .

CPM,

I spent time in VMCJ-2 as a Electrician on EA6-A's and was back to VMAQ-2 as the 1stSgt. of Det. Yankee.

AJ

 

[cherrypointmarine]

I was in Det A , the first Det to the Midway with the EA-6B . I had buddies that were Det B , then we were all back at CP . Before the cruise we were at NAS Whidbey Island with VAQ-129 until we got the first EA-6B .

On a side note , the Colonel in charge , a Col. Moore , lives near me . Another ret. officer saw my plate , a MC plate , VMAQ2 , and started talking to me one day at Publix .

 

[AJ]

I was in Det A , the first Det to the Midway with the EA-6B . I had buddies that were Det B , then we were all back at CP . Before the cruise we were at NAS Whidbey Island with VAQ-129 until we got the first EA-6B .

On a side note , the Colonel in charge , a Col. Moore , lives near me . Another ret. officer saw my plate , a MC plate , VMAQ2 , and started talking to me one day at Publix .

Check your PM's.

 

[Truckman]

The best is of course, the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola. Do yourself a favor and go there if you get a chance.

The one time in my life I was in Pensacola was when it was closed because of hurricane damage...Just my luck......Ben

 

[TheHobbyist]

Good memories being built, great job, Dad.

My favorite is the Corsair's.

 

[bigwheelzip]

I took my son, who is an aviation nut, has taken college courses already on aviation, has had several flights in smaller planes and has a real passion for WWII aviation at his age, to see their collection.

There's a few military aviation places downstate on Long Island that might interest your son.

The Cradle of Aviation Museum at the historic former Mitchell Field in Garden city. The airfield is gone, but the static display is good.

Grumman's Bethpage airfield is gone, and it's Calverton airfield is closed, but their assembly hall "Plant 6" is still standing. There is also a static F-14 and A-6 on display at the Calverton Field north perimeter on Route 25 in Grumman Memorial Park.

The American Airpower Museum is in an old hanger on the functioning airfield that remains at the former site of Fairchild Republic Aviation in Farmingdale, who produced the "Thunder" planes.

The P-47 Thunderbolts:

The F-84 Thunderjet

The F-105 Thunderchief

The A-10 Thunderbolt II

 

[AJ]

Grumman's Bethpage airfield is gone, and it's Calverton airfield is closed, but their assembly hall "Plant 6" is still standing. There is also a static F-14 and A-6 on display at the Calverton Field north perimeter on Route 25 in Grumman Memorial Park.

A friend of mine had the onerous job of helping to oversee the dismantling of Grumman's Bethpage Plant. He (like I) had worked on A6-A's and A6-E's for 20 years while in the service.

 

[Baggy Wrinkle]

A couple retired aviator friends were surprised when they visited aviation museums and found aircraft they had flown during training or in regular service on display. One was an HH-52 helo flown out of CGAS Houston now on display at the Smithsonian Dulles and the other was a T-6 flown out of NAS Pensacola now at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Both guys said seeing these birds as museum pieces made them feel like fossils.