More Fallon

They got so many aircraft in here to drool over. One of my favorites--an oldie but a true classic, the North American F-86 Sabre Jet:

If I could have one to fly out of here, it'd be the F-86. Chuck Yeager described it as the last jet that handled like a high performance piston-engine fighter.

Then there's my other favorite, the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter, built mainly for export but used at Fallon in a training role to simulate aggressor aircraft. It was said that a capable pilot in one of these could still take on an F-15 or F-16 pilot and win.

And here's something you don't see every day...an F-16 in NAVY colors.

And here's a Lockheed S-3 Viking, aka "the War Hoover".

And a Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye.

And of course there is an F-18 here too.

Several F-18's, in fact. And not all of the static displays.

It was a great day to be alive out there.

Eglin's pre-Century birds

Eglin AFB's Armament Museum sure has some beautifual old jets parked outside.

This Lockheed T-33 trainer taught a whole new generation of pilots how to fly jets.

And Republic's swept-wing F-84 carved it's niche in early jet aviation history too as a fighter and a nuke bomb carrier.

But the classiest of the old classics just had to be the North American F-86 Sabre.

If I could have one, it's be this one. No question. Chuck Yeager described it as the jet that flew like a prop fighter, only faster.

And here's an old Northrop F-89 Scorpion. You don't see a lot of these anymore, even in museums.

So many planes there...and so little time...and too much daylight for me to get one on my trailer hitch and tow it off to Louisiana.

A day surrounded by things with wings.

This week-end, I was blessed to have a good friend, Tom, and his young son Damien come to visit. And on Sunday, we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Annex at Dulles to see some vintage military veterans.

Old NFO was waiting for us when we got there.

What? What did I say?

Anyway, the four of us spent a few nice hours walking among the warbird collection.
Here's the SR-71 that greets you when you come in.

Off to the right of the observation platform is this Chance-Vought F4U-1D Corsair.

Here's another shot, because who doesn't love Corsairs? (Old Japanese pilots excepted.)
I need this Corsair.

Ryan PT-22 trainer.

Northrop P-61C "Black Widow" night-fighter.

Republic F-105D that could not be more awesome if you...covered it with awesome sauce, I guess.

It's awesome.

The North American F-100 Super Sabre was America's first truly supersonic jet fighter.

Next to the Super Sabre sits a Curtiss Helldiver.

And just down the way sits a Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

Admit it...you're humming the song from Top Gun now...or at least thinking it.

North American's F-86 never stopped being cool.

This Cessna O-1A "Bird Dog" did just about everything that a light plane could do in the skies over both Korea and Vietnam.

And this Hawker Hurricane once kicked German ass in the skies over Britain.

Old NFO told us about how he used to fly on these Sikorsky H-34s.

He also had some great stories about his time on these Lockeed Super Constellations.

I'm pretty sure that he logged some hours on this Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny", too (snicker).

And what visit to this museum would be complete without a minute to reflect on one of the two Boeing B-29s that ended the Second World War seventy years ago?

A great day with great people surrounded by great planes. Who could ask for more?