Warbird Information Exchange

Found this pic bopping around online- Is that a P-51 in the backrground? If so why? Anyone have access to a higher res version of this Pic?

his13 by Bryan Darnell, on Flickr

I'm gonna take a stab that it's actually a P-63...

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
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The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

I wonder if this was the 1966 open house/airshow at Carswell AFB? Wider shots of this photo do not look like Edwards or Palmdale to me. Carswell was the only time the aircraft went on a cross country for display.

This is at Dayton...the USAFM, just after delivery. Note the open drag chute bay. in the process of making the airplane safe for display...

If it's at Dayton, then it's at W-P as opposed to the old Wright Field, home of the museum.
They did tow it to the new museum location in '72.
Still that doesn't explain why the P-51 would be there..the museum example was inside.

A longshot, with the four-blade prop, are you sure it isn't an A-1?

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

Well spotted Joe.

Yes John this would be the main base area. The XB-70 was partially disassembled and moved via road to the new museum location at old wright field.

Here is a wider view of the image:



I believe I spy an Argosy and C-54 in the background.

https://goo.gl/images/fk763A

I up-sized it several times and I believe you are correct.

You're sure correct about the P-63.

I think the Douglas in the background might be a C-118.
When I was stationed there in the early '90s there was a business in downtown Fairborn, called The Weight Hangar Company. The owner was a retired USAF senior NCO. The store sold aviation related gifts, models and artwork as well as doing a good business doing going away and retirement gifts for offices at the base.

He had an Allyn 1/72 solid metal desk model of a C-118, IIRC, he was the crew chief for the AFLC CC's. '118 back in the old days. He had a scrapbook of photos showing it in pristine condition, looking very much like the aircraft in the photo.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

Thanks for that pic sandiego89!
I agree it is a P-63. The museum's P-63 was donated by Bell in 1958. Was is donated as the "Pinball" program bird it is now or did the NMUSAF modify/restore it to a Pinball bird after 1958?

Was in Dayton last week and the P-63 is nowhere to be found any more. Not on display in the WW2 gallery with the P-39, not in any other galleries. Not listed on their website.

Last time I was there it was painted orange...

Interesting.....she was still there in May when I came down for the Memphis Belle festivities.

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I was there in July and the worker by the Memphis Belle told me it was being taken out and put in storage. He said they were also considering a different paint scheme in the future. He told me the reason for removing it was to make space. He even thought that was a weird reason since they weren't really needing the space for anything. Hopefully someone can find out what is really going on.

aeroeng

A search on the NMUSAF website brought up its page confirming it is in storage at the moment.

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit ... kingcobra/

I have the NMUSAF aircraft book from my 2005 visit and only noticed last night that the P-63 is not covered in it. I found an old pic online of the P-63 at Dayton in NMF and was checking the book to see if they had a date for when it was "restored" as a Pinball bird. The aircraft was definitely on display then too...
It seems odd that an airframe that has been part of the NMUSAF since 1958 was not listed. I guess the Air Force still has no love for the Kingcobra...