Warbirds from the 60's

[mike furline]

I stumbled across this webpage, lots of great pics from the 60's. http://www.dhc-2.com/current_cover_page.htm

Marana 1968
http://www.dhc-2.com/Marana.html

Stateside 66
http://www.dhc-2.com/Stateside_66.html

Stateside Aventures 68
http://www.dhc-2.com/Stateside_Adventures.html

Monthan Memories
http://www.dhc-2.com/Monthan_Memories.html

[Warbirdnerd]

Thanks Mike, there are some real gems on those pages including this shot of Yankee Lady from her working days...

[Speedy]

I noticed in the Stateside 66 album is a pre-CAF Texas Raiders too. Very nice, Mike!

[Speedy]

I noticed in the Stateside 66 album is a pre-CAF Texas Raiders too. Very nice, Mike!

[UC61K]

Very Cool Pictures. Being a young boy in the late 60-70's I lived near O'Hare Int'l Airport near Chicago and would lay in the front lawn and watch all those Airlines fly over daily. Every Once in a while I would see a KC-97 or KC-135 or perhaps a prop-liner. I was hooked on airplanes and still in the industry today.
Thanks for the memories!
Jim C
Midwest Aeronautiques
UC-61K USAAF # 43-14964 / RAF #HB-690

[Warbirdnerd]

What a sad looking Mustang. Notice the missing exhaust stubs and what appears to be severe corrosion on the clamshell doors...
Lost in a takeoff accident in 1974.
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief ... 137&key=0#

[Steve T]

Wow, those are terrific. Mr Aird and his buddy Tom did us all a service by catching all these gems when they were still--if barely, in some cases--there to be caught!

Amid the working Warbirds here is the first photo I have ever seen of Invader N9163Z intact. As Neil notes in the caption to that shot, this Invader sat atop the Mackie's Van and Storage building in Oshawa, Ontario, for many years as an eye-catcher for traffic on Highway 401. In the late nineties it was removed and went to the Guild of Automotive Restorers classic-car shop at Bradford, Ontario (near Barrie); the Guild had in mind making it the centrepiece of a parkette next to their facility but nothing came of the idea and the 26 has since moved on, to where I know not...Thanks for the vector to the photo site!

S.

[GARY HILTON]

Mike, thanks for the great pics! I have been drooling all over myself from the Lodestar and Harpoon pics! Please dig up more!

Gary

[C VEICH]

What a great collection of photos, thanks for sharing the links Mike. The Falcon Field pics were particularly interesting. When I first visited Falcon Field in about 1980-81 it didn't look much different than in the pics! I can still remember at least three B-17 tankers on the field as well as one or two PB4Y's among the DC-4's and 6's as well as all the Harpoons. Even though I was very young I can still remember how odd it seemed that on one side of the field was "Sentimental Journey" which was being lavished with attention while on the other side of the field were three more Fortresses languishing away in open storage. I sure regret not making an effort to document those days with a camera.

[The Inspector]

Your Stateside 68 collection shows, if you know your airlines, WEST COAST, BONANZA, and PACIFIC banding together to become AIR WEST, then HUGHES (yeah, THAT Hughes) AIR WEST and the screaming bananna color scheme (and the astigmatism eye test seat rags). NORTH CENTRAL, OZARK, and one other merging into AIR WEST to become REPUBLIC (nice people, awful paint job! ) and eventually merged into NORTHWEST, somewhere I have a photo of a brand new 757 sitting at Renton Muni in NORTHWEST striped paint, red tail and all with a REPUBLIC logo over the windows and the final curtain call for 'Herman' in the cheat line under the cockpit windows, now it's all DELTA.

WEST COAST was the first carrier to lose a DC9 (l/n 45794 N 9101 on Oct. 1, 1966 ) in a crash near Mt. Hood in Oregon one week after entering service.

A truckload of memories there buddy-

[SaxMan]

I believe the cemetery pictured in the Stateside 66 collection is Beth David in Elmont, Long Island. It would be directly on the approach (or departure) from Kennedy's Runway 22L/4R, Besides having quite a few of my relatives from my mother's side (including both maternal grandparents and my great grandparents) buried there, comedian Andy Kaufman is also interred at Beth David.

[jtramo]

What a sad looking Mustang. Notice the missing exhaust stubs and what appears to be severe corrosion on the clamshell doors...
Lost in a takeoff accident in 1974.
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief ... 137&key=0#

Our local DE and Flight school owner Billy Gibson bought this -51 right around the time of this picture and gave it a very nice civilian paint scheme. I'll never forget his stories about Mustang ownership and how he let Hoover borrow his to pace the 73 Miami Air Race. He said he thought he made a killing when he sold it for something crazy like $30k (don't remember the exact amount) because he bought it rather cheap in the condition that picture seems to show. Same story as the guy who owned the Hemi Cuda. Coulda kept it but who knew?!

Billy was a great guy. The type that has forgotten more then you will ever know. If you were keen enough to hang out and listen, you could really learn something.