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Old Birds

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2nd "retirement"

BoeingDiesel

TDR MEMBER
I took my grandson to the airport today so he could sit in some the cockpits of 51s’, F4U and the F6F. He, my grandson, has a love for flying that reminds me, of me, fifty years ago. Needless to say, Grandpa will be subsidizing his flying lessons. We ended up in the bone yard when I came across these old war horses. What a shame that these beautiful old girls have fallen into such a state of decay. The first is a McDonnell-Douglas F4J and the next is Republic F105. The F4 was a multi role platform and, on many sorties, flew CAP for the F105s’ over SEA re; “Operation Linebacker. ” The 105 “Thud” was a beast and never received its due in the annals of history. The F4 had brute power under burner and could take a beating. We referred to [her] as the Douglas Diesel AKA [Boeing Diesel] as she was always blowing smoke trails. Those were the days…? You bet!

Just thought I’d share the day.





F4J.jpg
105Thud.jpg


F4J.jpg


105Thud.jpg
 
In my head, planted on a couple of remaining memory cells, there are several aircraft that have a truely memorable sound: Among them are the B-52 and KC-135 during water takeoff, the SR-71, and the F-105 and F-4 on a high speed low level pass. It is so sad to see the state of disrepair these old girls are in. Although they do remind me of some of the "cann'" queens that sacrificied their pieces/parts to keep their sisters in the air back in the good ol' days.
Are these sweet girls scheduled for a makeover sometime in the future?
 
They dont look so bad!!!!! just a couple cans of spray paint! and good to go :-laf

The F4 proves that with enough HP a brick can FLY!!!! I still hate GE engines (Dirty Bas***s)

The 105 was the only fighter that a 6ft 6in 43131C could stand upright and still have trouble reaching it without a ladder.



Use to take Jet A out to Mojave Airport, there was an old bone yard that had two of the first F111's in the scrap heap :{



Don't know if it's still around but in Harlingen Tx there were 2 things that when I was trucking, I HAD TO HAVE were the BEST RUBY RED GRAPEFRUIT IN EXSISTANCE!!! and a walk around of the Home Base of the Confederate Air Force, The ARMY,Marines had the smell of Napalm in the air, The Navy had the Salt Air, The Air Force had the smell of AVGAS and a slip and fall on the oil puddles of Recips :-laf





Thanks

BIG
 
In my head, planted on a couple of remaining memory cells, there are several aircraft that have a truely memorable sound: Among them are the B-52 and KC-135 during water takeoff, the SR-71, and the F-105 and F-4 on a high speed low level pass. It is so sad to see the state of disrepair these old girls are in. Although they do remind me of some of the "cann'" queens that sacrificied their pieces/parts to keep their sisters in the air back in the good ol' days.

Are these sweet girls scheduled for a makeover sometime in the future?



The BUFF and Fat Al'... still going with no end in sight. I once saw a KC130 do a RATO [maybe JATO??] departure... quite the sight and also watched a film of the KC do a carrier trap ignoring the wire. They must have went full beta when contacting the deck.



The B36 is a little before my time but must have been quite the platform.
 
They dont look so bad!!!!! just a couple cans of spray paint! and good to go :-laf

The F4 proves that with enough HP a brick can FLY!!!! I still hate GE engines (Dirty Bas***s)

The 105 was the only fighter that a 6ft 6in 43131C could stand upright and still have trouble reaching it without a ladder.



Use to take Jet A out to Mojave Airport, there was an old bone yard that had two of the first F111's in the scrap heap :{



Don't know if it's still around but in Harlingen Tx there were 2 things that when I was trucking, I HAD TO HAVE were the BEST RUBY RED GRAPEFRUIT IN EXSISTANCE!!! and a walk around of the Home Base of the Confederate Air Force, The ARMY,Marines had the smell of Napalm in the air, The Navy had the Salt Air, The Air Force had the smell of AVGAS and a slip and fall on the oil puddles of Recips :-laf





Thanks

BIG



One of her nicknames was the "Flying Anvil," but I'll tell this, you could pull her up into the vertical and stab the burners on the J79's and she would just keep on going.

And... just to add a little humor to this... real men get aboard with a hook!
 
One of her nicknames was the "Flying Anvil," but I'll tell this, you could pull her up into the vertical and stab the burners on the J79's and she would just keep on going.
And... just to add a little humor to this... real men get aboard with a hook!

Maybe so on the HOOK but I had a need for the ER'S on the end of the hook to get thru that mess I was in, and YA JUST COULDNT GET THAT ON BOARD SHIP!!!!
 
The F106 (Lawn Dart) could get with it too. F4's were no fun to work on but fun to watch take off, and very loud in AB. We would wake up all of North Highlands doing late night AB runs at McClellan AFB. In AB, the F111's would shake the ground so much it felt like you could move like those football vibrating games of old. Kind of scary when stand next to it. Cleaned out many a pigeon nests from the nose dock framework.
 
The F111's two Pratt Whitney TF 30's with 5 stages of afterburner could rattle the windows in the house. :-laf I thought it was fun to install a new engine and take them down to the End of Runway chain them down and do an engine run test with the engine tech. Talk about something that a kid out of High School would have NEVER got to do any other way it kind of makes it all worth it.



BIG
 
I'm not really an airplane or flight enthusiast but the Air Force Musem of Flight at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, OH is a museum that everyone should tour at least once. I visited it probably 15 years ago but would enjoy seeing it again.
 
Wright-Patt'... that is an aviators paradise. You could always tell who the visiting pilots [past / present] were as they couldn't talk without using their hands to describe a situation. :-laf
 
You just haven't lived till you hear 8 screaming J57's with water injection on a B-52 on take off at 65 below zero. There was this FB-111 that stopped over at Loring and went out on a training mission and one of the locals shot it down :eek:. The FB-111 occupants survived altho it was winter and it took a few days to clear a road to recover what was left of the plane. When some UFO's were spotted hanging around the nuclear SAC base a squadron of F-106's were brought in. Seem's like launching a B-52 after the UFO's just wasn't going to work :-laf. We had our share of F-4's, 105's, AWAC's, U-2's,helicopters and Presidential 747's visit.

Dave
 
Don't know if it's still around but in Harlingen Tx there were 2 things that when I was trucking, I HAD TO HAVE were the BEST RUBY RED GRAPEFRUIT IN EXSISTANCE!!! and a walk around of the Home Base of the Confederate Air Force

Big- the ruby reds are still there but the CAF (now called the Commemorative Air Force) moved to Midland, Texas some years back.
 
Big- the ruby reds are still there but the CAF (now called the Commemorative Air Force) moved to Midland, Texas some years back.

Didn't know that, but worth a trip for the Ruby Reds. I have a need to eat lots of citrus because of problem that I picked up living for a short time in a 3rd world part of the Planet. Those Ruby's are the BEST!!!! There is a company down that way named Pittman Davis that packages it up as gift packs kind of expensive but WELL WORTH IT IMO

BIG
 
I think your grandson is very lucky because he has a grandfather like you And these jets are very cool although they become old and out of order but their stories remain the same
 
I think your grandson is very lucky because he has a grandfather like you And these jets are very cool although they become old and out of order but their stories remain the same
 
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