Flying Heritage Collection

[Basketcase]

awsome pics guys! thanks for sharing. Chris you had pics of a B-25(type that Jimmy Doolitle flew off the USS Hornet to bomb Tokoyo after Pearl Harbor,Douglas SBD dive bomer, the type that sent four Jap aircraft carriers to the bottom in the Battle of Midway,P-40, like The Flying Tigers flew, and a Grumman F4F Wildcat .
The Collings Foundation B-24 flew over my house last summer on it's way to an airshow in Pittsburgh. There is no sound in this world like four Pratt & Whitney Radials at tree top level. I can't imagine what the Germans thought when there was a sky full of them overhead. The Collings B-17 crashed on landing at an airport near my parents place in the mid '80s. went trhu it many times while they repaired it.
I've been in some of the planes at Wright Patterson Air Force Musuem. They are definatly not for a tall or big man. I got in a Mustang, and a German Me262 jet. Very snug fit.

 

[moparchris]

This plane was a zero from the Japanese fleet on the second wave of attacks. It was shot down and made a crash landing on Niihau. The Robinson family lives and owns the island. The family found the plane when the pilot was off looking for signs of life. When the pilot returned he saw people had discovered the plane so he set it on fire. It burned down to the frame. Later the pilot took the family hostage at gun point and demanded that they help him escape. One of the sons overtook the small Japanese pilot and accidently killed him. In 2006 the museum arranged to get the plane from the original resting place courtesy of the Robinson family. Kinda surreal seeing it in person. There was a tape playing at the exhibit that told the story and showed the original pictures of the plane before the fire.

 

[moparchris]

Thanks Basketcase. Learn something new everyday. Im glad someone here could tell us what they are! My bad!

 

[ACME A12]

One of the sons overtook the small Japanese pilot and accidently killed him.

Yeah. Right. Accidentally my a$$...

I've been to this museum also, Chris. A few times actually. Very interesting.


Boeing has a museum in Renton, WA that has a SR-71 cockpit that you can climb into. That crappy seat makes the polyethylene racing buckets in the Z-28 seem cushy...
Couldn't imagine sitting on that milk crate for hours on end...

 

[Big John]

One of the sons overtook the small Japanese pilot and accidently killed him.

Yeah. Right. Accidentally my a$$...

I've been to this museum also, Chris. A few times actually. Very interesting.


Boeing has a museum in Renton, WA that has a SR-71 cockpit that you can climb into. That crappy seat makes the polyethylene racing buckets in the Z-28 seem cushy...
Couldn't imagine sitting on that milk crate for hours on end...

I've been through that museum about 6 years ago and it was pretty cool. I don't remember the SR-71 seat though. I might have some pictures somewhere. They had a Blackbird there, but i believe it was a prototype or some sort of test "mule". It had an extra pod under the fuselage. Their website lists a M-21 an earlier version being on exhibit now.

 

[Basketcase]

[

Boeing has a museum in Renton, WA that has a SR-71 cockpit that you can climb into. That crappy seat makes the polyethylene racing buckets in the Z-28 seem cushy...
Couldn't imagine sitting on that milk crate for hours on end...

New York to London, 1 hour 54 mins @ Mach 3.3+..........not too many hours sittin on that crate!

 

[roadrunnerh]

REALLY nice pictures! Thank you for sharing them here! I enjoyed it.

 

[Basketcase]

Ah yes, another great passion of mine: ariplanes. Specifically World War II war birds. The P-51 Mustang is my favorite. (I have an RC version of one.) Favorite non WWII aircraft would be the SR-71 Blackbird. Got to watch one fly in person once, what a site! Thanks for sharing the pics.

I agree the Mustang is my favorite and I had a low level pass over me years ago by a b52, now that will get your attention

I've got several favorites. The F4U Corsair, and the P-47 Thunderbolt.

 

[Jim S.]

Thanks for the pics, very nice. We used to have SR-71s come to our F4 / F-15 bases quite often. Of course us peons couldn't get close to them.

 

[mcmopar]

Ah yes, another great passion of mine: ariplanes. Specifically World War II war birds. The P-51 Mustang is my favorite. (I have an RC version of one.) Favorite non WWII aircraft would be the SR-71 Blackbird. Got to watch one fly in person once, what a site! Thanks for sharing the pics.

I agree the Mustang is my favorite and I had a low level pass over me years ago by a b52, now that will get your attention

I've got several favorites. The F4U Corsair, and the P-47 Thunderbolt.

One of the adversary planes you just don't see is the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hein. It looked a lot like the Italian Macchi Folgore (Falcon) and similar to the P-51. While not as fast as the Mustang it was still a fine combat airplane.

 

[ACME A12]

Thanks for the pics, very nice. We used to have SR-71s come to our F4 / F-15 bases quite often. Of course us peons couldn't get close to them.

I used to see SR-71s on a regular basis when my dad was stationed at Kadena on Okinawa. Perimeter Road (which ran out around the flightline) was about the only place on base that I could quickly crack the throttle open on my Duster. I got caught once, but that is another story. Sometimes while out on Perimeter Road I'd see the hangar doors quickly open up, a Habu would roll out, immediately hit the runway, and in a matter of seconds be gone. They wasted no time getting them in the air; I remember that very clearly. Because they launched from the basically same location every time, the Japanese built some bleachers on the outside of the base's perimeter fence and would sit out there for hours with their cameras waiting for a Habu takeoff. The fence prevented them from seeing them on the ground, but as soon as they cleared the fence it was open season for the aircraft paparazzi.

One of the Jet-Macs that worked on the Habus owned a B5 '72 Duster Twister so naturally as the only two Duster guys on the island we hung out a little despite our 15-20 year age difference. He used to tell me all kinds of stories. His car had the Twister black-out hood treatment...and was painted with the radar-absorbing semi-flat black paint that covered some parts of the Habu. I wonder where he got that...???!!! He was the first guy to ever tell me about the Habu Starter Stand that they used to fire the aircraft; it had two Buick 455s that powered it...

Lastly...you guys do know that the precursor to the SR-71 was the...A-12...

:jester:
ACME

 

[glhcarl]

Ray,

Since you were driving a Duster I know you were on Okinawa long after I left. In the fall of 1968 I could have been one of the guys that opened the hanger door to let the SR-71 out. I joined the UASF in November 1965 and after tech school (airframe/sheet metal repair) I was assigned to the 4200th (later 9th) Field Maintenance Squadron at Beale AFB. The SR-71 was the first airplane I ever worked on. Went to Kadena in August of 1968 for a three month temporary assignment, stayed until January 1969, so the married guys didn't have to come over on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I remember when I was getting ready leave for Okinawa I was told don't tell your wife, mother, father, sister, brother, girlfriend or anyone where you are going. On the way over, in a KC-135, we stopped in Hawaii and one of the crew picked up a Time magazine. It had a story on the SR-71 flying over Viet Nam out of Kadena? The perimeter road, ran behind our hanger. Whenever we would start the SR-71 engines (using the Buick start carts) a flag would go up on a pole just on the other side of the road and a Russian fishing boat would start moving across the bay at the end of the runway. There was a gift shop in Koza that was like five stores high, and on top of the roof thet had one of those telescopes that you put money in. There was an arrow drawn on its base that lined up with the SR-71's hanger.

 

[ACME A12]

Ray,

Since you were driving a Duster I know you were on Okinawa long after I left. In the fall of 1968 I could have been one of the guys that opened the hanger door to let the SR-71 out. I joined the UASF in November 1965 and after tech school (airframe/sheet metal repair) I was assigned to the 4200th (later 9th) Field Maintenance Squadron at Beale AFB. The SR-71 was the first airplane I ever worked on. Went to Kadena in August of 1968 for a three month temporary assignment, stayed until January 1969, so the married guys didn't have to come over on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I remember when I was getting ready leave for Okinawa I was told don't tell your wife, mother, father, sister, brother, girlfriend or anyone where you are going. On the way over, in a KC-135, we stopped in Hawaii and one of the crew picked up a Time magazine. It had a story on the SR-71 flying over Viet Nam out of Kadena? The perimeter road, ran behind our hanger. Whenever we would start the SR-71 engines (using the Buick start carts) a flag would go up on a pole just on the other side of the road and a Russian fishing boat would start moving across the bay at the end of the runway. There was a gift shop in Koza that was like five stores high, and on top of the roof thet had one of those telescopes that you put money in. There was an arrow drawn on its base that lined up with the SR-71's hanger.

Small world, huh Carl? Next time we get together we have something else to talk about... I'm heading up to Atlanta next week...planning on going by the Bayer Boys on Wednesday afternoon...Brian has a passenger side splash shield for me and I'm supposed to look at a Duster he thinks I might be interested in... What are you doing then?

 

[glhcarl]

Small world, huh Carl? Next time we get together we have something else to talk about... I'm heading up to Atlanta next week...planning on going by the Bayer Boys on Wednesday afternoon...Brian has a passenger side splash shield for me and I'm supposed to look at a Duster he thinks I might be interested in... What are you doing then?

Sent PM.

 

[george68hemirr]

BACK IN 1971-72 in thailand WE HAD A SR-71 TOUCH DOWN AND TAKE OFF AND WERE TOLD NO PICTURES.....what a bad looking plane ...this one had a playboy bunny painted on back by the rudder....i was told when they first tested the plane the pilot took off ...then gave it full throttle ...it went straight up and ripped off the landing gear....talk about balls
you guys were talking about the b-52s....at our base which was the largest b-52 base in southeast asia....this was when the war was hot and heavy....there was so many b-52s they were parking them on the taxi-ways...after work we used to hang out at the drive -in which was at the end of the runway....bleachers-beach-water....they would have a ball game on take off....3 b-52s would take off....one after the other,,,,as soon as it lifted off the next would go......you could here the water injection for more thrust...when this thing got off the ground you could see the wings slop down with all those engines and loaded with 750lb and 550lb bombs in there bomb-bay ....the black smoke bellowing in the air from those 8 engines....the ground would shake when they passed over our heads....something i will never forget
i was trained to work on them but got stuck working on the kc-135s....we used to do 1 plane per day...but when this went nuts we did 2-3 planes a day....only repair red x items....to keep them in the air

 

[ACME A12]

i was trained to work on them but got stuck working on the kc-135s....

I went up in a KC-135R once back in '87. We were to refuel a B-1B somehwere over Kansas. We lost cabin pressure while at altitude. The boom operator of all people figured out what was going on just as everyone was about to black out and saved the day. The mission was scrubbed, we dove to a lower cruising altitude, and we high-tailed it back to base. As soon as we got down on the groung they rushed us to the hospital by ambulance. Spent the entire rest of the day there as they checked us for nitrogen in the blood and all of that mess. My only refueling flight was a nightmare... :loco:

 

[69hemibeep]

I got gas in a plane once and your right ,its not a good thing :lmao: :lmao:

 

[george68hemirr]

i was trained to work on them but got stuck working on the kc-135s....

I went up in a KC-135R once back in '87. We were to refuel a B-1B somehwere over Kansas. We lost cabin pressure while at altitude. The boom operator of all people figured out what was going on just as everyone was about to black out and saved the day. The mission was scrubbed, we dove to a lower cruising altitude, and we high-tailed it back to base. As soon as we got down on the groung they rushed us to the hospital by ambulance. Spent the entire rest of the day there as they checked us for nitrogen in the blood and all of that mess. My only refueling flight was a nightmare... :loco:

back when i went to kadena air base.,okinawa...did the alltitude chamber to get on flying status we had to reconize our symptoms when we lost cabin pressure.....this broad in there with us started taking off her close.....that was her symptoms...i didnt make it through because i had a bad head cold and would blow out my ear drums if i stayed in any longer..so i never got it...flying status was great for a tax free check at the end of the month

 

[Basketcase]

i was trained to work on them but got stuck working on the kc-135s....

this broad in there with us started taking off her close.....that was her symptoms...i

 

[george68hemirr]

pictures in the brain....cant download from there :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: