Interesting seat: the rest of 53-1339 is located at Martin State Airport, MD (ANG entrance), preserved as a gate guard. Last time I saw the aircraft it had a seat fitted, but I think there is an intriguing story behind your example. I hope that a bit of provenance may help you sell it (I wish I had space or I'd take it!)
53-1339 was built at NAA Columbus, OH as an F-86H-10 with c/n 203-111.
It was delivered on April 25, 1955 to 413th FDGp, then to:
479th FDW September 12, 1955
to 413th FDGp October 27, 1955
to 312th FBW April 14, 1956 (Wendover TDY June 9 thru 21, 1956)
to 83rd FDW February 1, 1957 (Eglin TDY March 6 thru April 7, 1957 and also May 11 thru 22, 1957)
to 3525th CCTW June 3, 1957 (transient maint), then to Southern California Aviation at Ontario CA on July 10, 1957 for overhaul.
On its way back east it stopped at 2750th ABW Wright-Patterson on October 17, 1957 for transient maint, before being delivered to 104th FIS MD ANG on January 27, 1958. I'd like to know what the 3-month transient maint at Wright Patt was for: more than just an engine change for sure!
104th FIS became a TFS on December 1, 1958 and there is record of further overhaul/maint with Middletown Air Materiel Area from October 6 thru 7, 1959.
Whilst with the 104th, 53-1339 was written off on June 27, 1960 after running out of fuel on a gunnery mission to Phelps Collins ANGB in Michigan. The aircraft flamed out and crashed in a swamp 9 miles west of Alpena, MI. Pilot 2/Lt David Fitzwilliam Woods was uninjured and the remains of the aircraft were supposedly taken back to Martin Field and placed on display as '31416'.
So I strongly suspect that your seat comes from that June 27, 1960 incident, though I don't know if Woods ejected or not. I'm sure a newspaper search would render that info pretty quickly.
I also do wonder if the Martin State Airport F-86H really is 53-1339...
|