Griffiss AFB Airshow Pic's (1970 ?)

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

Hi Guys,

Try these out....Hey...I'm on a roll here

Paul

[P51Mstg]

Some of those pics must have been from the later 1970s after the Boys from Syracuse got the A-37s. (Maybe 1974 or so).

The F-106s were cool. I grew up near there, spent a lot of time on base with my father.

Mark H

[Ztex]

Cool!

Thanks

Some of those pics must have been from the later 1970s after the Boys from Syracuse got the A-37s. (Maybe 1974 or so).

The F-106s were cool. I grew up near there, spent a lot of time on base with my father.

Mark H

I think that the NY ANG "Boys from Syracuse" did get their A-37s earlier than 1974. They retired their F-86H's in the 1970/71 time period and were transitioning to the A-37B's. The MD ANG at Middle River, MD was the other F-86H unit that gave up their Sabres for the Dragonflys around the same time - although it may have have been slightly earlier than the NY unit - I think the Syracuse unit at Hancock Field may have retired their Sabres last.

I remember talking to a young 2d Lt pilot from the NY ANG who had brought one of the last F-86H's to Pax River, MD for static display at an air show in July 1970. He said that the pilots in general loved the Sabre and wished they could "fly it forever" rather than transition to the A-37s.

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

[Don Martin]

Hey Paul, were you stationed there at that time? I have a friend who was there about that time
Don

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

Hi Don,

Well.....I gotta be honest on this one. I am only 46 now. And I am pretty sure the Uncle Sam didn't take folks who were in their single to VERY early digits then or now. But I did grow up (till I was 10 or 11) back in the Utica/Rome area, until my Dad took a work transfer with the Mohawk/Allegheny Airlines merger when we moved to the Pittsburgh area. The shots are my Dad's and basically it was, and still is a goal of mine to convert his old...and I am talking 45 plus years old or so....35mm slides converted over to jpegs on CD-Roms. Many of his photo's that are on the slides are from Mohawk Airlines back from the late 50's to early 70's. Some, also what I have done thus far, are from his military time in German. And the rest....well....let's just say that there are quite a few slides that are family oriented. I have only done about 4 racks of slides so far. But it is my intention to do them all. And believe me, this is no task for the faint of heart as there is a whole slug of slides and slide racks to go through. Hopefully I can get to them before the slides become too far gone to get anything out of them. If you look at the recent thread about the C-119's in Germany...take a look at the photo's closely......there is evident distortion, discolorization, and most of all, dirt that has gotten between the slide and the glass plates.

You gotta remember that these slides were done WAY WAY WAAAAY before todays current photographic technologies. And I am slowly trying to get the slide racks and slides away from my folks to have them converted before they just finally go bad.

Sorry I was so long winded but.....I wasn't in the USAF....but like the commercial says....I DID stay at a Holiday Inn Express one night (meaning I visited Griffiss for airshows that my Dad took me too.)

Paul