Photos on Photobucket- WWII SW Pac & Warminster NAS Airs

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:13 pm

Quote:

Here is a shot of Mom in the tower from 1944.

With a lineup of Brewster SB2As!

Django · **Posted:** Thu Feb 05, 2009 5:14 pm

Those are pretty cool pics Robbie. Thanks for sharing them with us!!!

I don't recall ever seeing a PB4Y or B-24 ever with the post-war national insignia. Neat.

Cool to see all the Bearcats with the B-29. Especially the in flight overhead shot.

That's not a P-61 per se... isn't it the F-15 Reporter? There was only 1, right?

What's with the modified nose glazing in the B-29?

airnutz · **Posted:** Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:46 pm

51fixer wrote:

There is a web site I saw not to long ago that featured China Lake operations year by year from 1943 on. There was some pics of Johnsville marked aircraft doing test work at China Lake in 1940s.

Here it is...
www.chinalakealumni.org

Thanks for the pics..neat stuff Robbie!

airnutz · **Posted:** Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:02 pm

Django wrote:

That's not a P-61 per se... isn't it the F-15 Reporter? There was only 1, right?

There were 38 of them. There is purportedly one left intact after crash landing in Greenland....perhaps under the snow.
6106N, 4638W near Narsarsuaq

Quote:

What's with the modified nose glazing in the B-29?

I presume a lightening feature of the weight reduction program resulting in the B-29B model. Discussed here courtesy of Mr. Baugher...
http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b29_5.html

jdvoss · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:37 am

Robbie:

I once did see a color photo the subject PB4Y-1 Liberator and it sported a high visibility YELLOW paint scheme. Great photo collection! You might consider submitting some of the NAS Warminster photos to www.airfields-freeman.com as he (Paul Freeman) is always looking for WWII era photos for his airfield website.

I've attached a photo of a NAS Johnsville (later Warmister) F6F-5K for your review.
[img][img]http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/jdvoss/hrF6F5K.jpg[/img][/img]

Jiggersfromsphilly · **Joined:** Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:15 pm **Posts:** 951

John,

That same picture of the F6F is already posted at Paul's site.

Here is a link to a copy of a 1943 Edition of the Brewster Builder. There are some great shots of the Buccaneer at Vero Beach NAS, on page 7 of it.

Here is the link.

http://www.navairdevcen.org/PDF/Brewste ... -15-43.pdf

.

John Dupre · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:47 pm

That is not just any T-6. I think it is actually an SNJ painted in Japanese markings as used by the Blue Angels in the early years. I think those are BA Bearcats that are parked near the SNJ which was known as Beetlebomb.

Jiggersfromsphilly · **Joined:** Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:15 pm **Posts:** 951

Here is a link to the 1947 Philadelphia World Airshow.

It shows the Curtiss Pusher and the Jato assisted takeoff C-54 as seen in Robbys pictures.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ... 01035.html

Robbie Roberts · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:23 pm

Jiggersfromsphilly wrote:

Here is a link to the 1947 Philadelphia World Airshow.

It shows the Curtiss Pusher and the Jato assisted takeoff C-54 as seen in Robbys pictures.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ... 01035.html

I'm going to have to say, based on content of this article, that the photos I had thought were taken at Warminster/Johnsville NAS, most likely were taken at this show at PNE. I would like to see photos of the PNE tower at that time, as well as the field side of the current "old" terminal(my term), which may have been modified to remove the original tower.

Thanks for the heads up on the article! It matches many of the photos for description.

My dad is in his mid 80s, so he may not be recalling exactly which airport they were taken at, and I doubt they had too many shows in the same period at different airports within 20 miles...

Also, they ARE the "Blue Angels" and "Beetlebomb" in the photos, we've already determined!

Robbie

airnutz · **Posted:** Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:15 pm

Robbie Roberts wrote:

Jiggersfromsphilly wrote:

Here is a link to the 1947 Philadelphia World Airshow.

It shows the Curtiss Pusher and the Jato assisted takeoff C-54 as seen in Robbys pictures.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ... 01035.html

I'm going to have to say, based on content of this article, that the photos I had thought were taken at Warminster/Johnsville NAS, most likely were taken at this show at PNE.

Thanks for the heads up on the article! It matches many of the photos for description.

My dad is in his mid 80s, so he may not be recalling exactly which airport they were taken at, and I doubt they had too many shows in the same period at different airports within 20 miles...

After seeing the Flight Journal link Jiggars provided, a similar conclusion crossed my mind...BUT. There was no mention
of the PBY Jato launch. The huge C-74 Globemaster I is not mentioned...tho in such a small article this may be expected.
I also found it hard to believe your dad would miss a shot of the the GORGEOUS Republic Rainbow and the A-26 "Reynolds Bombshell"
...and there is evidence of neither in the background shots.

I went back to the album and the FJ and realized the JATO C-54 is a different bird than the FJ photo..note
the reserve colors of the tail and wings in the FJ pic, which are lacking in your Dad's photos?

Heres a shot of the Warminster tower in the mid 70's which looks to be the same as the one your Dad took....
www.navairdevcen.org/Pix_misc/towerside ... 019764.htm

Hope this helps!

PS..Tho I've looked I haven't found any vintage PNE or Philly International shots yet, either.

Jiggersfromsphilly · **Joined:** Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:15 pm **Posts:** 951

Just a couple of observations. On page 2 of this thread, I haveprovided a picture from 1966 of the tower inthe background of a Neptue on the ramp at Johnsville. There is no substantial structure surrounding it like the one in Robbies.

The tree line in Robbies picture is too close to the tower to be Johnsville. It matches completely the one at NorthEast Philly behind the terminal/old tower building on the south ramp.

The main runway at Johnsvile runs at a 45* angle to the flight line . This is visible from Mr Freemans aerial pictures.

The photo on the front of the May 1944 Brewster Builder, is the original tower and in the pictures of my mother you can see the roof supports that are in the picture on the front of the Builder.

The New tower at Johnsville has a railed walk way completely around the Greenhouse part of the tower. Where as the one in Robbies picture does not.

The words on the front of the building are too distorted to really get a clear read on.

In Butch Voris's biography he talks about the Blue Angels putting on a show at the Grumman Bethpage field on May 26,1947 the moving on to Philadelphia for a show on May 28th 1947.

I will keep digging to find my pictures of NE Airport.

airnutz · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:16 pm

Yeah Jiggers..after I posted last night I figured I'd over-rotated in the deductive reasoning department.(on a couple of levels) :roll:

Interesting thread though...beats the he11 out of crossword puzzles!

Jiggersfromsphilly · **Joined:** Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:15 pm **Posts:** 951

It is intersting and the conclusive evidence is out there. I hope Robbie ,that you take no offense at the search. I mean no disrespect to you and your father. I am curious because I have walked the ramps at both Ne Philly and NAWC Warminster , formerly NADC Johnsville, many times. I have attended airshows at both.

If I can get my stupid Photobucket account to work, I have some great photos regarding both places. The ones that show the towers at both, alas, are still missing.

airnutz · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:54 pm

airnutz wrote:

There was no mention (in the FJ article)
of the PBY Jato launch. The huge C-74 Globemaster I is not mentioned...tho in such a small article this may be expected.
I also found it hard to believe your dad would miss a shot of the the GORGEOUS Republic Rainbow and the A-26 "Reynolds Bombshell"
...and there is evidence of neither in the background shots.

Several reasons this may have happened..Dad didn't have enough film/didn't go there/same bird(s) weren't there
when he was/didn't have the same interests/misplaced photos etc etc etc...

As for the Flight Journal incomplete report...maybe the PBy wasn't mentioned by the reporter for some of
the above reasons as well as the C-54 by its size being squirted off the ground caught his attention moreso.

Quote:

I went back to the album and the FJ and realized the JATO C-54 is a different bird than the FJ photo..note
the reserve colors of the tail and wings in the FJ pic, which are lacking in your Dad's photos?

Not Reserve Colors but Red Arctic conspicuity colors. Still a different bird than what appears what was at the show..."stock photo"
handed out to the press the AF?...different bird different day?..more on that later.

airnutz · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:07 pm

Jiggersfromsphilly wrote:

I am curious because I have walked the ramps at both Ne Philly and NAWC Warminster , formerly NADC Johnsville, many times. I have attended airshows at both.

Yeah..I get "target fascination" poring over Robbies photos, squinty-eyed with my jewelers lenses looking at
background stuff, a/c details etc. and almost begin to argue counter-point with a guy who's been there..as well as his
Mom WORKED there..and his name is Jiggars...from PHILLY! :lol:

Quote:

If I can get my stupid Photobucket account to work, I have some great photos regarding both places. The ones that show the towers at both, alas, are still missing.

I'm looking forward to that Jiggars. I've scrutinized the display area across field beyond the taxi path in front
of the bleachers etc, beyond runway. I've got an idea of the layout and a lot of the lineup, but I'm not sure how it all lays
on the field plan. Don't try 'splain'n without a drawing with circles and arrows..it'll just blow my little dyslexic brain out! :oops:

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Photos on Photobucket- WWII SW Pac & Warminster NAS Airs

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