Some neat old warbirds

[Absalom]

Not too many of you are going to find themselves there, but if you're ever in Central Oregon, you should swing by the Madras airport and visit the Erickson Aircraft Collection.

Now it ain't the Smithsonian or Seattle's Museum of Flight, but for a purely private collection, he's got a few pretty impressive warbirds on display, most still airworthy and being flown.

Most of the collection used to be kept in the Tillamook Air Museum on the Oregon Coast, but the moist salt air blowing in from the ocean made preservation very expensive, so the collection was moved some years ago to the dry high desert climate of Madras, pretty much ideal to keep corrosion at bay.

Here are a few hightlights:

A B-17G that had just come back from a flight to British Columbia.

A P-47D Thunderbolt.

A P-39 Aeracrobra; this one was a lend-lease plane being ferried to Russia in a flight of two; both got into weather and crash-landed on the ice of a Canadian lake. The pilots were rescued. Decades later this plane was recovered from the lake and restored.

And the B-25 "Heavenly Body". In 1992, this plane was one of two to become the first B-25's in 50 years to lift off an aircraft carrier when they took off from the USS Ranger in San Diego to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid.
(The 5th picture is a wiki photo of the event.)

 

[Faulkner]

Very cool. I was always fond of the Thuds.

 

[Watchdog]

Aren't they beautiful?! I'd love to see them, especially the B-17 and the B-25.

Wouldn't you love to be a pilot and be able to fly one.

Thanks for posting those photographs.

 

[Boudiepitbull]

Yes, very cool indeed! I think planes of that era really represent the pinnacle of piston driven flight. In Rhinebeck, NY there is an aerodrome with a collection of primarily WW1 and pre WW1 planes and maybe a few representive planes from the barnstorming days. As they taxi by you can actually feel the power of the engine throb in your chest. There is also an amazing assortment of tanks and armor in the Muckleberg Collection in the UK. If you're a gearhead, just the smell of the oil and grease in the display halls is intoxicating. There are also quite a few who say some of the tanks and armored vehicles are extremely haunted, but I'll leave that to you decide...

 

[Targets Guy]

Very nice. I can look at old war birds all day.

 

[Targets Guy]

 

[Targets Guy]

 

[A-37]

Aren't they beautiful?! I'd love to see them, especially the B-17 and the B-25. Wouldn't you love to be a pilot and be able to fly one."


Yes, it was fun. That guy under the prop dome is me (Reese AFB, Lubbock TX, 1958)

 

[CustomChevyGuy]

very cool photos. Thanks for sharing.

I'm going to have to dig up some pics from the Cavanaugh Flight Museum visited in Dallas last year. They seemed to have all generations of planes and jets from the major conflicts, filling 4 hangers and more parked on the tarmac outside waiting to be made air worthy again. Here's their webpage Cavanaugh Flight Museum - Home

There's also Wings over Miami, at the Tamiami Airport, which has a continually rotating collection of warbirds. I worked a few miles east of the airport and used to see the old planes flying in and out for all of the shows and events they had going on thru the year. I can't tell you how cool it is to look up and see an old time bomber, or fighter buzzing overhead. Wings Over Miami | Wings Over Miami… where history takes flight!

 

[rwsmith]

In short.....

I love this stuff.

 

[Texas Star]

Used to see many B-25's when I was a kid, at a nearby air base. They still had a few, I think for generals to ride in.

They were probably nostalgic about them.

 

[cowboy4evr]

If you have about 4 days to kill , visit the Pima Air Museum in Tucson Az . It has lots and lots of war birds from WWII , Korea and Vietnam . They have a guided tour that has Vietnam era pilots hosting it .
They also have several of the prop driven presidential planes besides a large collection of private a/c , some pretty famous . It is real easy to get to . Get on Interstate 10 , turn off on the Valencia Rd Exit , go east for a couple of miles , can't miss it . It sits on 80 acres and has over 300 historical a/c .

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Have been to the Pima several times.
If you are over in the Zona Zone, it's a must see.
We have a super neat not very well known air museum here in NM.
It's down in S NM in not far from El Paso.

War Eagles Air Museum

 

[Cyrano]

A few more pix from the War Eagles museum. Guessing game: what make is that camera?

 

[Texas Star]

Have been to the Pima several times.
If you are over in the Zona Zone, it's a must see.
We have a super neat not very well known air museum here in NM.
It's down in S NM in not far from El Paso.

War Eagles Air Museum

Thanks! That F-86 Sabre is a South African one. I didn't realize that any were in the USA. I have a book on the South African AF and they began using the F-86 in Korea, where they and Australia supported US air forces using the same planes, F-51 and F-86. SA used the Sabre for many years, even after their front line fighters became the Mirage IIICZ and the later Cheetah. They now use the Swedish Gripen as a first line fighter.

But the Sabre has a large following there, as it does here. I think they still appear in air shows. Their WWII planes were mainly P-40's, Spitfires, and P-51 Mustangs. I love their paint schemes. They are probably the most colorful Sabres.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Thanks! That F-86 Sabre is a South African one. I didn't realize that any were in the USA. I have a book on the South African AF and they began using the F-86 in Korea, where they and Australia supported US air forces using the same planes, F-51 and F-86. SA used the Sabre for many years, even after their front line fighters became the Mirage IIICZ and the later Cheetah. They now use the Swedish Gripen as a first line fighter.

But the Sabre has a large following there, as it does here. I think they still appear in air shows. Their WWII planes were mainly P-40's, Spitfires, and P-51 Mustangs. I love their paint schemes. They are probably the most colorful Sabres.

The Santa Teresa, NM had a pretty good collection.
I expect that they are not that well funded and display planes the way they arrive.
Here's an ex-Texas ANG Mustang with added second cockpit.