Flying Leatherneck Museum at NAS Miramar-Closing

[Warbirdnerd]

Sad News. They had an active volunteer crew and an impressive collection.
https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/ ... ermanently

[wendovertom]

This is sad news. As I look at many military base museums it makes me wonder how many more will follow. All except the bigger ones like the national level museums. A museum is often seen as a expendable cost as they often don't charge admission and gift shop sales don't cover a whole lot (neither do admission fees).

Tom P.

[Warbirdnerd]

Quite a few aircraft up for assignment I suppose many of the ones that the USS Midway Museum does not already have will end up there.

Their aircraft collection- from Wiki
On Display-
Beechcraft T-34B Mentor 140688
Bell AH-1J Sea Cobra 157784
Bell 214ST 28166
Bell UH-1L Iroquois 157824
Boeing Vertol CH-46E Sea Knight 154803
Douglas A-4C Skyhawk 148492
Douglas A-4F Skyhawk 154204[
Douglas A-4M Skyhawk II 160264
Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk 158467
Douglas F3D-2 Skyknight 124630
Douglas F4D-1 Skyray 139177
General Motors TBM-3E Avenger 53726
Grumman A-6E Intruder 154170
Grumman F9F-2 Panther 123652
Grumman F9F-8P Cougar 141722
Hawker Siddeley AV-8C Harrier 158387
McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee 124988
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet 161749
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet 163152
McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II 157246
McDonnell Douglas RF-4B Phantom II 151981
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 81072
North American SNJ-5 Texan 90866
Northrop F-5E Tiger II 741564
Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler 161882
North American Rockwell OV-10D Bronco 155494
Sikorsky CH-53A Sea Stallion 153304[
Sikorsky HRS-3 Chickasaw 130252
Sikorsky HUS Seahorse 150219
Vought F8U-2NE Crusader 150920
Vought RF-8G Crusader 144617

In storage
Bell HTL Sioux 64-15338
Bell UH-1N Twin Huey 159198
Stinson OY-1 Sentinel 42-14918
Douglas A-4B Skyhawk 142879
Douglas SBD-1 Dauntless 1612 – Under restoration
Kaman HOK-1 Huskie 139990
Lockheed TO-1 33840
North American PBJ-1J Mitchell 44-86727 – Under restoration
Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever 128596 – Under restoration
Vought RF-8G Crusader 146858
Vought F4U-5N Corsair 122189
General Motors FM-2 Wildcat 16278

[bdk]

I think that SNJ flew in about ten or fifteen years ago.

[Craig59]

That’s a darn shame. I always wanted to visit, especially after they completed the restoration of their HRS-3 and I was also looking forward to the completion of their B-25 as a PBJ.

I hope they find homes for their vast collection.

[JohnB]

I hope some of the rarer helicopters find homes...The HTL (H-13), HOK (H-43A), Piasecki HUP, HRS.

Anyone know why they have a Bell 214ST?
The list seems to indicate a BuNo...but I'm not aware of any being in U.S. Military service. So a service test item?

[dusttinbound]

I hope some of the rarer helicopters find homes...The HTL (H-13), HOK (H-43A), Piasecki HUP, HRS.

Anyone know why they have a Bell 214ST?
The list seems to indicate a BuNo...but I'm not aware of any being in U.S. Military service. So a service test item?

Pure guess but the military has several as a war trophy from the Iraqi Military during first Gulf War.

[old iron]

Pure guess but the military has several as a war trophy from the Iraqi Military during first Gulf War.

Sure-nuff, here is a picture, from that museum, in Iraqi markings:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/542261611355001431/

[old iron]

Several years ago, NASM deaccessed their Sikorsky Sea Horse because they desired potential replacement with another that had a combat record. The Flying Leatherneck Museum has one with a good record:

https://flyingleathernecks.org/project/sikorsky-uh-34d-hus-seahorse-helicopter/

The picture suggests this one has been outdoors for a while, but I would guess that a Marine unit would spiff this up for Udvar Hazy.

[Scott Rose]

http://museums.warbirdsresourcegroup.or ... useum.html

[maradamx3]

Losing another one. darn! Seems like every other year or so a museum is closing. I'm glad I got to visit this one (never made it to Chanute). I remember my visit to FLM as a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Driving in I was looking for "Fightertown" on the hangars, then pulling into the museum parking lot there were planes on the left and planes on the right. A great display of A-4 Skyhawks. Hope all the birds get new homes. Wonder if Castle, March, or Palm Springs' museums will be shopping?

[wendovertom]

If Wendover had the money, I'd be "shopping" as well. Wendover hosted the aggressor units for Red Flag in the mid 80's. Its a stretch but the Aggressor F-5 would sort of fit in - LOL. I wonder how much it would cost to disassemble, move and reassemble an F-5?!

Tom P.

[Craig59]

I see that the HRS-3, Bureau Number 130252 is on loan from the National Museum of the USMC near Quantico. It would certainly be nice if they brought this one back for display in their Korea display as the “HRS-1” which used to be displayed in the rotunda was actually discovered to be a HO4S-3, BN 138508.

[Pat Carry]

Quite a few aircraft up for assignment I suppose many of the ones that the USS Midway Museum does not already have will end up there.

Their aircraft collection- from Wiki
On Display-
Beechcraft T-34B Mentor 140688
Bell AH-1J Sea Cobra 157784
Bell 214ST 28166
Bell UH-1L Iroquois 157824
Boeing Vertol CH-46E Sea Knight 154803
Douglas A-4C Skyhawk 148492
Douglas A-4F Skyhawk 154204[
Douglas A-4M Skyhawk II 160264
Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk 158467
Douglas F3D-2 Skyknight 124630
Douglas F4D-1 Skyray 139177
General Motors TBM-3E Avenger 53726
Grumman A-6E Intruder 154170
Grumman F9F-2 Panther 123652
Grumman F9F-8P Cougar 141722
Hawker Siddeley AV-8C Harrier 158387
McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee 124988
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet 161749
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet 163152
McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II 157246
McDonnell Douglas RF-4B Phantom II 151981
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 81072
North American SNJ-5 Texan 90866
Northrop F-5E Tiger II 741564
Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler 161882
North American Rockwell OV-10D Bronco 155494
Sikorsky CH-53A Sea Stallion 153304[
Sikorsky HRS-3 Chickasaw 130252
Sikorsky HUS Seahorse 150219
Vought F8U-2NE Crusader 150920
Vought RF-8G Crusader 144617

In storage
Bell HTL Sioux 64-15338
Bell UH-1N Twin Huey 159198
Stinson OY-1 Sentinel 42-14918
Douglas A-4B Skyhawk 142879
Douglas SBD-1 Dauntless 1612 – Under restoration
Kaman HOK-1 Huskie 139990
Lockheed TO-1 33840
North American PBJ-1J Mitchell 44-86727 – Under restoration
Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever 128596 – Under restoration
Vought RF-8G Crusader 146858
Vought F4U-5N Corsair 122189
General Motors FM-2 Wildcat 16278

I wonder how many will be scrapped?

[ZRX61]

How many are on loan from Pensacola etc?