A2A - F-80's over Okinawa 1952

Ztex · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:35 am

In my inherited collection of photos.

My friend John Van Dyke was stationed on Okinawa 1950-52 with the 26th Fighter Intercept Squadron. One day, in April 1952, he asked one of the pilots to carry his camera and take some air to air to air shots. Here's the resulting scans from his shots.

According to J. Baughers site this looks to be 49-769 which later went to to Ecuador AF as TF-769 and went to MASDC Jun 3, 1965. I don't have any idea of the ID of the camera ship or the pilots name. Would be neat to know.

viking73 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:06 pm

Nice shots Zane, thanks for sharing them with us.

Rob Mears · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:53 pm

I don't think I've ever seen a drop tank configuration like that before. :shock:

Django · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:01 pm

Those are fantastic shots.

Second Air Force · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:15 pm

Rob Mears wrote:

I don't think I've ever seen a drop tank configuration like that before. :shock:

Rob,

There are a few other photos of these tanks without the wing-to-tank fairings installed. Several of the pictures I've seen were supposed to have been taken in the Korean combat zone.

Scott

Ztex · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 9:49 am

Thanks for the comments. I just found these pics they were in a separate envelope in a box of loose photos. I have a few more ground shots of various aircraft that I will post later.

As to the wing tanks, I think all F-80's carried them under the wing like this. These do seem a bit larger than the normal ones. I have read about a modified "Misawa" tank that allowed an extra hour of flight. I think these may be those tanks. they are larger than the Lockheed tanks.

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A2A - F-80's over Okinawa 1952

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