Posted on 05/05/2017 4:10:33 PM PDT by DAC21
A-10s have been running simulated strafing runs over my house all week.
Thanks, the negative was not in good shape when I scanned it.
The most interesting plane they flew that day was an old F-80 shooting star.
Barksdale is where that very aircraft was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Corps when shiny and new, so it's fitting that Doc begins its second career there.
I think a PBJ (Marine version of the B25) from CAFSoCal will be there. Not your typical Mitchell.
Now if FiFi and/or Doc (B29’s) are there, you’ve got one heck of a collection in one place!
I went inside FiFi, which was the first refurbished flying B29 before Doc came back into service. If you get a chance to see and go in Doc, do it! Quite an experience.
They are the only two flying in the world, if I understand right.
You might want to move out for a while, they may be waiting for ammunition........
I’ve got two BlackHawks and a Chinook buzzing over mine, you win.
My dad was a aeronautical engineer at Lockheed from 1939 to 1952 and worked on the P-38. Later worked with Kelly Johnson at Skunk.
Thanks for the post!
What I’m posting is largely from memory so if the facts are somehow skewed, just say so and post the corrections.
Sometime back, a wealthy owner of a grocery store chain, in Kentucky, went over to Greenland, on an expedition to recover a P-38 Lightning, that was entombed in ice, 250’ underground.
This particular gentleman flew one of the several P-38’s that had to make an emergency landing on Greenland, due to hazardous weather encountered on their flight, which forced all of the P-38’s in the group /to the ground in said landing.
The pilots spent a couple on weeks on Greenland, and were eventually rescued by a passing ship.
Decades later, an expedition was launched to retrieve the P-38 that this particular pilot flew.
Sophisticated sonar was used to locate the planes, which were buried under 250’ of ice and snow.
A kerosene heater 5’ in diameter and resembling a giant plumb bob, was used to melt a shaft down to the subject aircraft. Workers were lowered down to the plane, and using a steam, power washer like- spray device, melted a cavern large enough to allow for the dis-assembly of the aircraft.
Due to the effects of the crushing weight of 250’ feet of ice and snow, the subject aircraft was determined to be damaged beyond repair.
Since there were several other aircraft in the same flock forced down, an expanded search found another aircraft in sufficient condition to warrant salvage.
The target aircraft was painstakingly disassembled into pieces that could be brought to the surface via the 5’ diameter shaft.
The aircraft was shipped to Middlesboro, Kentucky, and over 10 or more years rebuilt into flying condition by volunteers and staff.
Today, this bird is known as Glacier Girl, and has (or had) the distinction of flying the airshow circuit as one of the stars of the Heritage Flight.
One hell of a story if you ask me.
I went to the hangar in Middlesboro, where the aircraft was being restored, during it’s final months of restoration. To me- it was kind of like visiting Liberty Hall, or Cape Canaveral (Kennedy Space Center).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_Girl
http://p38assn.org/glaciergirl/index.htm
http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/glacier-girl-the-back-story-19218360/
https://www.damninteresting.com/exhuming-the-glacier-girl/
I think that was the first fighter jet I ever seen. A couple of them were practicing over our area back in the 50’s. By then they were known as T33’s. Beautiful aircraft.
Nah, they do this on a regular basis every few years.
I took this photo nearly 30 years ago. It is in rough shape but at least it is one I took myself.
That F-80 surprised me when it flew by then zoomed up then around. Pretty spiffy performance for a plane that first flew in 1945.
My pappy was a P51 flight mechanic during the war and he worked at Lockheed for awhile around the time when Korean war broke out. He didn’t like it and we came home to good old boring Illinois. He may have crossed paths with your dad at the time.
I was lucky - my office was in Addison at that time, so I got to see FiFi take off and land pretty regularly. CAF has since moved the bombers to another field - eventually I think they'll be at CAF's new HQ at the old Redbird airport. Close enough to visit whenever, but no longer right across the street. :-(
The F-18 is a carrier based aircraft and has a fairly low stall speed I would think. Those swept back wings on the mig and f-86 are not conducive to low speed flying.
years ago i had the pleasure of watching classified air shows for brass at Langley/NASA afb..amazing stuff
A-10s fly over the Lake of the Ozarks in pairs nearly twice a week.
In the early 60s, Eglin AFB put on a public fire power demonstration at Range 52.
They first had a dry run, then a week or so later, a wet run which was done in front of the public. It was an incredible show. There were stands for maybe 5000 people.
They fired all kinds s machine guns, bombed fake factories, strafed, launched missiles then shot them down. It lasted around 2 hours. A C-130 would land in a field full of scrub growth. It would then reverse it’s props and take off. An F-104 would fly right in front of the stands and break the sound barrier. Probably damaged a lot of people’s hearing but back then no one cared.
A week or so later they put on the same show for dignitaries. President Kennedy attended one. Maybe the most incredible show one could ever view.
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