Picture Requests: Post-War NART Reserve Warbirds

[Rob Mears]

I've been doing basic internet searches for 1950's era Naval Reserve Squadron warbirds (Corsairs, Bearcats, Tigercats, etc.) and have had very little luck. It seems like I've seen jillions of these photos over the years, but now that I'm actually looking for them...nada! There's very little to be had via Google, etc.

If any of you guys have some classic Navy Reserve Squadron photos you'd like to share, I'd love to study the various schemes and configurations of markings, etc. I'm especially interested in what tail letters were assigned to what squadrons (cities). There was actually quite a fascinating array of radial engine types that flew in these colors. It should make for an interesting thread if photos from that period are in fact as prevalent as I hope they are. Thanks!

[jdvoss]

Here are the associated tail letters assigned to Reserve NAS's (circa 1950).

D - Dallas
A - Anacostia
L - Akron
C - Columbus
V - Glenview
I - Grosse Ile
F - Jacksonville
L - Los Alamitos
M - Memphis
E - Minneapolis
X - New Orleans
H - Niagra Falls
R - New York
H - Miami
K - Olathe
F- Oakland
T - Seattle
Z - Squantum
U - St. Louis
P - Denver
S - Norfolk
W - Willow Grove
T - Birmingham

[Stoney]

Jacksonville and Oakland used the same letter?

[Jack Cook]

I may have a few left so I'll try to dig them out.
Salem's reserve unit had SNJs, SNBs, TBMs, and FGs which
carried the 'T' since they came under the authority of the
NAR at Seattle ie Sand Point.
I've always thought it sorta dumb that the MOF has the 'T'
Corsair recovered from Sand Point after it's ditching and painted
in some innaccurate scheme with Norfolk 'S'. I've been waiting for
them to get a clue and put it's correct marking back on.

[jdvoss]

Yes, Los Alamitos and Akron shared the "L" code . Seattle and Birmingham shared "T" and Jacksonville and Oakland shared "F". Seems a bit strange as as there certainly less reserve air stations than there are letters in the alphabet. My source of information was from the book, Navy Air Colors Vol 2. 1945-1985, p.21 which was published by Squadron/Signal Publications. The book has a number of photos of reserve aircraft of the 50's from various bases across othe country (F6F, AF, HUP, FG, TBM, et.al.). My "Air Explorer" group had a tour of NAS Los Alamitos during the mid 1950's and we were all given an "orientation flight" in a R5D of VR-776 tail code letter LR. Great experience for a group of early teenagers.

For additional sources of reserve A/C photos you might search www.1000aircraftphotos.com and also the U.S. Naval Institute in Annapolis MD (photographic division). The USNI is a private organization and is not to be confused with the Naval Academy. Also, you might wish to contact W.T Larkins as he surely has photos of reserve A/C of NAS Oakland.

[mazdaP5]

don't know if this will much help, but it's in my archives since I will build an RC version one day.

[mazdaP5]

The insignia and striping is essentially done the same as on the SNJ here.
http://www.warbird-photos.com/flight-f8 ... index.html

[mazdaP5]

http://awpics.com/AshorePatches.html

[Rob Mears]

Does anyone know the tail code letter used by the NART squadron in Atlanta?

[mazdaP5]

[jdvoss]

Here are two more Naval Reserve base codes that I found in another source ( Color Schemes and Markings US Navy Aircarft 1911- 1950 by Bill Kilgrain, pg 150.).

B - Atlanta
N - Spokane

[The Inspector]

Jack;
In reply to your question about the markings on the MoF Corsair fished out of Lake Washington, the MoF allows the sponser to dictate what colors and or markings go on the aircraft they are sponsering, which will go a long way towards explaining why BOEING BEE the F model still hidden from sight over in Plant 2 is a 'factory fresh' airframe thats alrready been named.

In the act of giving the' sponsers' a tongue bath, the MoF has bargained away it's future claims to 'legitimzing' future markings accurately, but what can you expect out of an organization who's avowed policy is ' gee....why would an airplane museum want to have airplanes that can fly?'

[jdvoss]

For additional historical information on 50's Reserve Naval aviation as well as an occasional photo I suggest that you review back issues of Naval Aviation News. They are available "on-line" in a PDF format. The December issue of each year provides a thorough index of the year's articles.

[Rob Mears]

Thanks for the excellent reference jdvoss.

Here's a couple of images from Ron Olsen's excellent photo collection. As fate would have it, I just found out that this particular FG-1D was flown by the father of fellow WIXer "Hellcat" out of NAS Grosse Ile back in the day. Very cool discovery!