A visit to the warbird factory

[AJ]

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.

A F4F was being rebuilt at MCAS Cherry Point (at one time there was thought of a Museum there). They had it running and it was flyable, but the FAA got wind of it and told the Wing it would be unsafe to fly, so that killed that. The neat part was an old gentleman showed up one day and said it was his aircraft. He was a Marine WW II pilot and had his logbook. Sure enough there was the BuNo. of the bird! Should have seen him preflight it, was really neat.

In the Naval Aviation Museum is a F2H-2P BANSHEE. What makes this warm my heart is I use to play on it as a kid. It sat in the park downtown in Vero Beach, Florida. Pocahontas Park to be exact, and every time we were there I and my friends played on it.

Also at the Museum is a snack bar. In the snack bar are the squadron plaques out of the Officer's Club at NAS Cubi Point, Philippines. When they closed the club there all the stuff from the "O" Club was sent to Pensacola and they used it to decorate the snack bar. Kind of neat to sit and eat and look at names of folks you know. A friends sons took a lot of ribbing from their DI's and Flight Instructors when they found out that their Fathers name was up on the wall there.

 

[Truckman]

The F-105 Thunderchief

My first assignment as a young weapons mechanic was as a loadcrew member on these vastly underappreciated and underrated air warriors......Ben

 

[Frank46]

The Sky raider was a plane that could carry ordnance to thr enemy and had long loiter times longer than the jet aircaft it operated with. Frank

 

[AJ]

The Sky raider was a plane that could carry ordnance to thr enemy and had long loiter times longer than the jet aircaft it operated with. Frank

Frank46,

All the respect in the world for the Sky Raider, but what was it's payload? I worked on A6's ours was over 7 tons of ordnance in various configurations. Some of the Sky Raider squadrons transitioned to the A6 when the time came. Just like our squadrons transitioned to the F18.

AJ

 

[M29since14]

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

Go back! It's worth the trip. I've been there three or four times and will be going back. It's one of the better uses of our tax dollars that I am familiar with. Eglin has a nice indoor museum with additional outdoor static displays. Also worth visiting and not far from Pensacola.

 

[Truckman]

Go back! It's worth the trip.

I agree...If my bank account wasn't so thin, I'd like to do a nationwide tour of the many military and firearm museums that I have yet to visit...So many places, so little time and money...Alas......Ben

 

[quikdraw67]

The Smithsonian Udvar-hazy museum is well worth a visit. Lots of cool old war birds there.

They also have a SR-71, to me that's a seriously cool plane. And the 1st 707, the grandaddy of modern commercial aviation.

I know that the Skyraider just missed service in WWII, and was used extensively by the Navy during the Korean War.

Where I think that it truly shined was the SAR missions during the Vietnam War.

The Sandy's long linger time. slower speed, and heavy armament made it ideal to protect the Jolly Greens that went into the North to try and rescue downed pilots.

"Cheating Death" tells their story.

Some of the bravest men that ever flew.