Warbird Information Exchange

I just got back from a trip to Louisville to visit my wife's aunt and uncle. On the trip, I spotted two planes and was hoping someone knew more about them:

1. Bowman Field - On the ramp there is a twin-engine plane with twin-tails. I thought it was too large to be a Twin Beech, and my thought was it was a Lockheed twin of some form. I'm not up enough of the different variations of the Lockheed twins (Ventura, Harpoon, Lodestar, etc.) to accurately identify it.

2. Standiford Field - Over by the Air National Guard side of the field, there was what appeared to be a C-54. It was definitely a Douglas four-engine product, and seemed to be too small to be a DC-6 or 7, so I'm assuming it was a C-54, although I never got close enough to confirm it.

Also, as a bonus, as we landed, Vice President Joe Biden was taxiing out from the ANG side of the field, so we got to see Air Force 2 in action. I didn't realize the Air Force still had the Boeing 707 derivative (is that a VC-137?) in service as an executive transport. I had no idea about the visit, so I was watching the plane and thinking it was a KC-135 in some kind of "retro" paint job. I guess the swarms of TSA people in the passenger terminal should have given me some kind of clue that something was going on.

During WWII Curtiss had an aircraft plant in Louisville where they built 438 C-46's as well the initial production C-76 Caravans. IIRC their factory site was at Bowman Field. Does the plant site still remain?

The Lockheed twin at Bowman Field is a Lodestar.

Couldn't find the Douglas 4-engine A/C at Standiford.

After the war the Curtis-Wright plant at Bowman Field in Louisville was used for the construction of International Harvester tractors. It was torn down in the mid 90's and became part of the runway extension. The approach end of rwy 24 is about where the old plant stood.


Walt

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I have two airframes noted outside of the ANG facility...
Aerial Visuals - Location Dossier - Kentucky ANG, 123rd AW - F-101, F-4
...but nothing on the ramp. Did you see any markings?

Mike

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Hello everyone I believe we are confusing Bowman Field with Standiford Field , The C-46's were built at Standiford Field, the old International Harvester plant site was where the new UPS runway is now. They tore the buildings down to make way for the runway.......

My wife's family lives in Louisville, and I've seen the Lodestar a number of times over the years. Even have some pics of it tucked away somewhere.

According to my FiL, it was a drug courier aircraft that landed there without clearance, dropped the drugs off for the waiting mules and was immediately abandoned by the crew. Not sure how much veracity there is to that, but it's clearly a valuable aircraft that's just sitting there intact but also derelict and has been for at least 16 years (first time I saw it was 1994).

Point taken!

While I'm more of a lurker than poster, I know that anytime I have a question, someone on WIX always has the answer.

As far as the C-54, this plane appeared to be on the ramp and not a static display. When you taxi out from the main terminal, you see a line of Kentucky ANG C-130s with their noses pointed towards the passenger terminal. If you kept looking down the line to your left, the C-54 (or other Douglas propliner) was there. It looked like it had standard ATC markings: white tail with darker paint on the leading edges, American flag on the empennage. I never got close enough to see if it truly had military markings or whether that was civilian.

Trying to combine Google Earth with my recollection, it looks to me like the C-54 was not part of the ANG ramp, rather one of the next door neighbors, either the one that is adjacent to Standiford Lane, or possibly over at Aviation Technology on Standiford Avenue.