Odds & ends

Odds and ends This page is where I will post images online before I get a dedicated page built for them. Consequently, pictures will change from time to time.

During the height of the Cold War many SAC bases had Fighter Interceptor Squadrons units on base. Many others, like Biggs Air Force Base had detachments rather than a full squadron. During part of the time Biggs was a SAC base the 331st FIS from Webb Air Force Base kept a detachment on alert at Biggs AFB.

F-102A Delta Dagger 331st FIS Webb Air Force Base

The artwork above illustrates the F-86L Sabre, F-102A Delta Daggers and F-104A Starfighters that operated at Webb AFB during the late 50's, early 60's.

55-2925, an F-100D of the 118th TFS, CT-ANG, MASDC in October, 1979. Can you make out the shape of a bird in the tan paint?

F-102A 56-1008 that had served with the same unit several years earlier. Both aircraft have a bird shape on the tail.

(Left and center) TAC-1, an F-15B (73-0108) serving with the 58th TTW in September 1979. The aircraft was still painted in the obsolete "Air Superiority Blue". After retirement the airframe was placed on display at Luke AFB and in August of 2004 the aircraft was repainted in the "Air Superiority Blue" scheme.

(Right) 71-0282 and 73-0113, both early F-15As in storage at MASDC in 1978, also in Air Superiority Blue.

NASA has used two Super Guppies for support of various space programs. The first (N940NS) was modified from one of two XC-97Js, serial 52-2693. Additional parts came from two B377 Stratocruisers. The XC-97J was powered by Allison T-34P7 turboprops, where as earlier Guppies had been powered by the original R-4360s of the B377/C-97 family. When conversion was completed by Aero Spacelines the aircraft was certified as a "B377SG". Aeros Spacelines operated the Super Guppy from 1966 until NASA bought it in the late 1970s and registered it as N940NS. The Super Guppy was retired to AMARC in 1991 and is now displayed at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. From supporting the Gemini and Apollo programs to various other NASA programs, the first Super Guppy has hauled almost every type of cargo imaginable. Nasa originally based the Super Guppy at Ellington AFB, but moved the airplane to the El Paso International Airport in the late 1980s to reduce corrosion.

The second NASA Super Guppy is N941NA is also converted from various Stratocruiser parts. It was originally built by Aero Spacelines for Airbus Industries and designated as a B377SGT-201. This Super Guppy stayed with Airbus from 1980 until 1997 when NASA purchased it to fill the void left when N940 was retired. This is one of four "Super Guppy Turbine" aircraft, the name denoting aircraft powered by the Allison T-56 turbo prop engine. Like the first NASA Super Guppy, this one also was originally based at Ellington and also relocated to El Paso in 2006.

    N940 is shown transiting ELP in 1979 in the first two photos. The third photo shows her taking off in 1991.
    Of interest is that the main gears break ground before the nose gear does.
    The final photo shows N940 on display at Pima in June, 2007.

    The first and second photos show N941 shortly after arrival at ELP in November, 2006.
    About once a month N941 will be flown for proficiency if there are not missions scheduled. This is N941 on one of those flights in January, 2007.
    Sitting with the flaps partly down N941 receives maintenance on a hot July day in 2007.

A rather unique Thud on display at Lackland AFB in May, 1980. JF-105B 54-105 which was ordered as an RF-105B. When the USAF chose the RF-101 as its new recon airplane the three RF-105Bs were finished as JF-105Bs. Though they had special recce noses cameras were never carried and the three aircraft were used for test and evaluation. This aircraft has since been repainted in a more accurate finish.

(Left and center) The MS Tjisadane, the Dutch motor ship my father shipped out on to the South Pacific during WWII. This vessel had a very active career as an army transport in WWII and after, but was finally scrapped in 1962.

(Right) The Tjisadane in post war service.

I am not sure of the identity of this ship, but I believe it to be the SS Santa Rosa, of the Grace Line while operating as a troopship during WWII. If anyone has any confirmation of this please email me.

Remember when even tanks had some color? 3rd ACR M60A1 at Biggs Army Airfield in 1973.

B-25J 44-86880 modified and painted to resemble Doolittle's B-25B and displayed as if onboard the USS Hornet. This full size "diorama" is at the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredricksberg, Texas. An electric eye is tripped as visitors enter the area where the aircraft is displayed starting the the announcement "Army pilots, man your planes". The props then start turning to the sound of radial engines starting. All in all, a very impressive display. This aircraft had been displayed at the now closed Reese AFB for many years before arriving (in pieces) at the museum and being placed on display in 1999.

N1K1 Kyofu also on display at the museum. The Kyofu was given the code name of "Rex" by allied air forces in WWII.

A poor quality photo of N96264, P2V-5F (P-2E) Bureau Number 128346 at Alamogordo-White Sands Regional Airport in 1976, or 77. The B-17s flown by Black Hills Aviation were in the process of being replaced by P-2s at the time. N96264 is still flying today (March, 2006) with Neptune Aviation.

The little town of Columbus, New Mexico was the site of an armed raid by Pancho Villa in March, 1916. At that time the U.S. Army had a detachment of cavalry troops at Camp Furlong just to the south of Columbus. That area is now the Pancho Villa State Park. Located inside the park is a museum covering the time period of the raid and the subsequent Pershing Punitive Expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Villa. Among some of the other exhibits is this replica of a Curtiss JN-3 "Jenny". May, 2006 (CB)

Along the lines of "Now for something completely different!"

A US Army GG20B switch engine decorated for Christmas 2009. The unit was decorated with Christmas lights and ornaments for the holiday season and at the it was lit up.

How about a mastodon shaped mount?

Page modified 03-18-21

Clifford Bossie