I have 2 aircraft for you:
The first one is F-86H,
53-1528 that was on the Lunken Airport playfield in Cincinnati. I want to start out by apologizing up front. I actually remember playing in this airframe when I was young - so I'm sorry for any damage I caused.
(BTW, I do mean
in, the cockpit was open.)
Now back to business. This airframe sat in a children's playground for many years before being removed to a set of hangars on the other side of Lunken Airport. As of 09/09/12 the airframe was no longer sitting next to the aforementioned hangars. IIRC, I was told that the airframe went to an AFB down south to be used as a parts source for another F-86 restoration. I
was told which base it was sent to, I just don't remember the name.
A quick search of F-86 survivors informed me that Robins AFB in Georgia has an F-86H in its collection and the name and state sound right, so my best guess it that it was sent there. I just wish the TSWM could have acquired it and stuck it on the front lawn as a draw for visitors.
A Previous Thread about the Airframe on WIX:
F-86H 53-1528 at Lunken Airport?Cincinnati Aviation Heritage Society's Page on the Airframe:
F-86H 53-1528The F-86 as it sat between the hangars after being removed from the playground.
The second one is a T-33 painted as
0-16754 in a park w/ play equipment in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
I have stopped to take a look at it on two occasions, both while visiting a family member at a place literally just down the road. The first time I was there in July 2010, the airframe looked as it does in the picture above. The second time in March 2011, well...
...the canopy had been broken. Yes, it is broken in the picture above, but I mean it has been further broken. It is now missing a large piece in the largest section of the canopy. This is a much larger problem than the missing section in the pictures below. Now the cockpit is exposed in much larger part to the elements because precipitation can now enter directly from above. In addition, the hole is large enough that a person can enter the cockpit. I did so (Man! You can't keep me out of these things! You think I would have learned.
) and aside from taking a 2 pictures of data plates with my phone, moved the control stick. When I did so, I noted that it was still attached to something in the aircraft behind me, although I don't know what. One of the photos of the data plates is too blurry to make out, but the other one reads:
Data Plate from T-33 wrote:
DRAWING NO. 177188 B
CONTRACT NO. AF33-038-14806
DATE OF MFR. 11 - 30 - 51
OIL CAPACITY .9 GAL
LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORP.
I have no idea what the data plate is for. The numbers are all stamped, but the letters in the words are unpainted and instead outlined from black paint.
In this picture you can see the playground equipment above and partially hidden behind the aircraft's nose. The canopy has since been broken further, this time on the largest section where a large piece is now missing. Note the M4 Sherman tank over the aircraft's left wing. A plaque on the side of the tank indicates it was dedicated "TO THE MEN AND WOMEN OF HUNTINGTON COUNTY WHO ANSWERED THEIR COUNTRY'S CALL" on "NOVEMBER 11, 1958". Some of the view slits on the front hull of it were broken when I was there as well, and there was garbage inside it. No respect...
By the way, the website "Warbirds and Airshows"
gate guards section, which I found in the process of writing this post, seems like a good place to start if you want to find more playground planes.