Another Gate Gaurdian

[Chunks]

Saw this at the entrance to the Huntington Airport last week. Just couldn't get that punk out of in front though



Chunks

[mustangdriver]

Cool stuff man.

[P51Mstg]

Cool, Huntington ...... Where?????????

Thanks

Mark H

[Chunks]

Huntington, Indiana.

Chunks

[6trn4brn]

Back in the good old days of Dan Quayle, this Starfighter was unceremoniously removed from the Grissom Air Museum to be plunked down there at Huntington...which also happens to be the home of the former VP. Don't know all the specifics, but do know that the gang at Grissom Air Museum were not very happy to lose this plane as they almost had the entire -100 series on display. That's politics for ya

(Not sure if Quayle still nests in Huntington anymore...)

[Tim Savage]

Back in the good old days of Dan Quayle, this Starfighter was unceremoniously removed from the Grissom Air Museum to be plunked down there at Huntington...which also happens to be the home of the former VP. Don't know all the specifics, but do know that the gang at Grissom Air Museum were not very happy to lose this plane as they almost had the entire -100 series on display. That's politics for ya

(Not sure if Quayle still nests in Huntington anymore...)

That is not correct. The F-104 did not arrive here until well after Quayle was out of office, had moved to Arizona, and the Clintons where in the White House.

At the time Grissom had been realigned and the future of the entire museum was up in the air because of the new USAFM requirement that they have a full time manager/curator position. If I recall, it wasn't the only airplane to leave around that time. In addition, I know of one very established museum in the midwest that was offered the B-17 if the Grissom folks didn't get in compliance with their directives of the time.

[6trn4brn]

Tim...have you been over to Grissom recently? I guarantee you will not see an aircraft on the grounds there with mold growing on it like the picture shows this Starfighter to have! I was told that Quayle pulled a few strings to get the Starfighter moved over there to Huntington. Any plans to clean the mold off of it in the near future? Might not want the NMUSAF see her in that shape!

Anyone who has ever spent some time at Grissom will tell you that the planes there are taken care of exceptionally well with what little resources they have to work with.

(OMG...I sound like stangdriver defending the NMUSAF )

[mustangdriver]

Now I got ya. ha ha

[Tim Savage]

Tim...have you been over to Grissom recently? I guarantee you will not see an aircraft on the grounds there with mold growing on it like the picture shows this Starfighter to have! I was told that Quayle pulled a few strings to get the Starfighter moved over there to Huntington. Any plans to clean the mold off of it in the near future? Might not want the NMUSAF see her in that shape!

Anyone who has ever spent some time at Grissom will tell you that the planes there are taken care of exceptionally well with what little resources they have to work with.

(OMG...I sound like stangdriver defending the NMUSAF )

Yep, I have been to Grissom recently and the displays and aircraft look great. You will note from my post that I wasn't bashing Grissom only pointing out that at one time, as the base was being BRACed that their was some question as to whether the musuem was going to continue...at least in the mind of the USAFM folks of the time. From what I was told from folks from multiple museums they were out actively looking for homes for the aircraft if Grissom couldn't meet the regs.

While it may have been possible that Quayle pulled strings to get the airplane moved, I seriously doubt it. As I mentioned before he was out of politics and down in Arizona before the airplane moved and a new administration had taken the reigns.

I don't have anything to do with the Starfighter here. Frankly, it would be fine with me if it was still at Grissom. Nobody is taking care of it here.

[mrhenniger]

Cool, Huntington ...... Where?????????

Thanks

Mark H

It is in the locator at...
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Locator.php ... TheResults

Mike

[6trn4brn]

Hey Tim...sorry if I got my dander riled up a bit...a la stangdriver When I still lived there in Indiana, I would make the 130 mile round-trip every weekend to do whatever I could to help out there at Grissom. I took great pride in helping to make all of the displays and aircraft look as good as possible...sometimes staying well after the museum closed, so that I could sit inside the fenced in part and listen to the girls talk to me. I got caught once fondling the F-14 Had the pleasure of talking to a couple of B-58 pilots that flew the Hustler on display. And Rollie (the former ball turret gunner from the Bloody 100th) is just about the nicest fella you will ever talk to anywhere...bar none!

So, my point about the Starfighter is that if someone put the effort into moving it away from Grissom where it was very well taken care of, why would they just dump it over there in Huntington with no plans to care for it at all??? In the picture posted, it looks horrible with that nasty mold growing up from the bottom and the dents on the intakes. She just looks so forlorn...much like the F-84 behind the American Legion in South Whitley. So sad

Yeah...I have that airplane-itis disease pretty bad...loved my time volunteering at Grissom...

[John Kerr]

The F-104 wasn't the only aircraft to leave Grissom in that time frame.
Attached are a couple of photos of F-86H, Ex N205P, 52-2058. Short History on this aircraft:
Severed with West Virginia ANG.
Flown to Purdue University late 1950's or early 1960's.
To Happy Hollow Park for display and damaged by vandals during a anti-war ralley.
Acquired by Civil Air Patrol and placed on display at airport in Lafayette, )IN. (Photo 3) Airport closed and now a Auto Plant. Aircraft went to Grissom. mid 1980's.
In 1990 was acquired from Grissom by the West Virginia for display.
All photos by John R. Kerr

[6trn4brn]

Hello Mr Kerr...thank you for those pix and info on the F-86. I was not aware that they ever had one at Grissom. There is a nice F-100 in that spot now. Nice to also see a partial of Passionate Paulette still wearing her Catch-22 makeup.

I guess I should have spent more time inside the museum talking to the founder (now deceased) and the other fine volunteers. I can't splain it well enough, but when I was there, I wanted to be out amongst the girls or talking to visitors. I did overhear a conversation one day about the political wrangling that supposedly went on and the subsequent loss of the F-104. With the F-100, F-101, TF-102 and F-105, the Starfighter would have fit in well.

Do you (or John R) have anymore pix of the planes on display from yesteryears? I have some 35mm pix that I took back in 1985 when I was stationed at Grissom. Don't see the F-86 in any of them. The Starfighter looked much better in natural metal finish!

[John Kerr]

Here are a couple of more departed airframes that were once at Grissom AFB, IN. Also going to post some photos of the many faces and markings on the B-17 and B-25 that are still presently there. You will note that in some of the photos all the aircraft are mounted on concrete, this was done to get them out of the snow in the wintertime. All photos by me.
A short history (not complete)of the F-84F 51-9381.
599TFW McDill AFB, FL 1962 during Cuban Crisis
366TFW Holloman AFB, NM 1964
Displayed at Grissom AFB from the 1970's to 1993
1993 to Merrill Airport, WI for display.
1. August 1983

2. August 1990

[John Kerr]

The F-104D when at Grissom. 57-1322
1. March 1978

2. August 1990