Warbird Information Exchange

I had the privilege of visiting the Tinker Air Force Base museum in Oklahoma City last week. The Charles B. Hall Airpark showcases 9 military aircraft with historical connections to the base. Included are the B-29 Superfortress, B-47 Stratojet, B-52 Stratofortress, B-1B Lancer, C-135, C-47 Skytrain, A-7 Corsair, F-105, and the F-4 Phantom II.

In addition to the static aircraft displays, there are a number of excellent sculptures on display, including the Tuskegee Airman Charles B. Hall and Rosie the Riveter. There is also a Prisoner of War Memorial, Medal of Honor Memorial, and a plaque about the first tornado forecast, issued at Tinker AFB on March 25, 1948.

The airpark is highly recommended! We salute the Tinker AFB personnel and local civic leaders who have built, and maintain, this excellent facility.

Photos and airpark info at ... http://www.planesofthepast.com/tinker-air-force-base-museum.htm

Here are a few photos to give you an idea of what the airpark looks like in late 2012 ...

Looks good. The planes are clean...

The aircraft look a whole lot better than some other aircraft sitting at other parks around the U.S.

I guess getting on base was not an issue? I liver near there and need to go by and visit. Any part of this museum indoors?

~J~

Thanks for posting!

In 1959 I took part in an Air Cadet exchange.

5 Youngsters from The Netherlands arrived in Oklahoma.

A first-time visit for all of us to the mighty U S of A! Overwhelming to say the least.

The Civil Air Patrol welcoming committee at the airport was positioned right at the stairs of the Connie that flew us in from New York.
(Unexpected honours, and a trifle embarrassing I might add)



A trip to Tinker AFB had been planned, but in 1959 times were different.
Cold war, B 52 quite new, and everything hush hush.

A visit to the military part of the base was denied, although we were on a kind of 'official' visit.

Did we mind? A bit.
We drove to the opposite end in order to be able to see some aircraft in front of the buildings.

Pressed against the fence, we took our pictures, no telelenses of course.
We saw tall fins and drooping wings, two miles away.

They really existed! We were elated!

Once at home, the snapshots revealed little, but digitalized, 50 years later, this is what we saw:



I had a wonderful time...

Tracker.

Cool - I was able to visit this display in 1992 right around Round 1 in the Gulf. I had a set of Gulf war trading cards and got a electronics officer to sign one of them as he had been helping direct the opening round of air strikes. I sure wish I remembered where I have stored that stuff now.

Tom P.