Basket case
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Who Likes Aircraft ?
- Thread starter Auggie56
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Basket case
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XS22J8R
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I grew up in Glenview Illinois and the Glenview Naval Air Station was less than a mile north of my parents house.
I literally had a little air show going on regularly in my back yard! I would get goosebumps when I would hear the distant sound of an approaching jet, and stubbed a few toes and bumped my knees many times jumping up and rushing toward the back of the house to get there in time to see a fighter or attack plane in the "break" over the house.
In the late 80s I started heading up to a few choice vantage points along the north side of the base where I could get good pictures of planes taking off and landing. I saw almost everything the military flew back then. One of my favorites was the A3 Skywarrior "whale', it wasn't sexy or fast, but because it was almost retired and very rare then, and I only got a chance to photograph a couple. Here is a tanker version that I saw takeoff in 1989. And a video of what was probably the last flight of an A3, one that had been used as a test plane and then flown to NAS Widbey Island to be put on display in 2011.
I literally had a little air show going on regularly in my back yard! I would get goosebumps when I would hear the distant sound of an approaching jet, and stubbed a few toes and bumped my knees many times jumping up and rushing toward the back of the house to get there in time to see a fighter or attack plane in the "break" over the house.
In the late 80s I started heading up to a few choice vantage points along the north side of the base where I could get good pictures of planes taking off and landing. I saw almost everything the military flew back then. One of my favorites was the A3 Skywarrior "whale', it wasn't sexy or fast, but because it was almost retired and very rare then, and I only got a chance to photograph a couple. Here is a tanker version that I saw takeoff in 1989. And a video of what was probably the last flight of an A3, one that had been used as a test plane and then flown to NAS Widbey Island to be put on display in 2011.
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XS22J8R
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Though my overall favorite plane to see was the F14. Glenview NAS was a reserve base and had a couple P3 squadrons based there, Marine KC130s, a couple C9s, Army reserve helicopters and and a few other odds and ends. The cool stuff was all transient, so you never knew what might show up on a weekend to visit, or make a fuel stop. F14s were regular visitors. Here was one of the prettiest ones I saw. VF143 "Pukin Dogs" CAG bird
XS22J8R
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Close second for favorites was the F4 Phantom. I am glad I got to see a number of them because they were in the process of being phased out, so I got pictures in the twilight of their career in the US military. I got a scanner for Christmas and have been scanning my old pictures of the airplanes I saw at the base and at all the shows and open houses I used to attend back then. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed as I've scanned about 600 pictures so far, and have only got through most of 89 and part of '90, I bet I will have 2500-3000 pictures by the time I finish if ever! And then I need to figure out what to do with the scans, try to organize and put in Flickr albums. This will take forever!
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I don't think I have ever seen a picture of that 'plane before. What is it? It looks to have an inverted V-12 in it like a Mercedes engine in a Me-109. The Japanese did not use a lot of water cooled inline engines in their aircraft, preferring radials.
Basket case
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Wing Commander James Edgar ‘Johnnie’ Johnson DSO & 2 Bars, DFC & Bar, commanding No. 144 (Canadian) Wing, on the the wing of his Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX with his dog Sally, at Bazen. July 31st, 1944.
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