Today's visit to the Tyler, TX HAMM museum + bonus pics

[viking73]

I took the day off from work today and decided to take a trip to Tyler. I was finally getting the time to visit the Historic Aviation Memorial Museum. There were a few other birds I wanted to see along the way so here goes.

First stop along the way was in the small town of Hubbard. I knew there was a Cobra on display there and here she is:









I was surprised how well she looks with the joke of a fence around her.

Jumping back in the car (it was cold today for Texas, ha!), my next stop was Navarro College in Corsicana. I knew that former CA ANG F-4D 65-0747 was there, stuffed and mounted on a pole in Thunderbird colors. I last saw her 9 years ago before she was repainted and mounted and she's looking a little rough today - the open canopy and missing nose wheel weren't helping











And finally, I arrived in Tyler at the HAMM. It's right at the airport so it's easy to find. I must echo what others have said about the museum staff - they were all super nice and very knowledgeable! A really great bunch of folks for sure. I won't post too many photos here as others have done a good job of showing what's at the museum, but of note is this fairly new addition, F-100D 55-3537.







As I was asking my docent about the maintenance hanger, the gentleman that runs it happened to walk in and so I asked him if it was okay if I came by and looked around and he said no problem. Down the road about a mile sits the hanger where they do their restoration work. I was pleased to see Randy Ball's MIG-17 in the shop for some work:





There are 2 projects in the hanger that are being worked on at the moment. One was a rusty H-19.







When I looked inside the cabin and back towards the tail boom, you can see ragged spots of light at the top were the skin is completely rusted through But judging for the other planes there, I’m sure they’ll have her fixed up nicely. The other bird is the former Harlingen / Rio Hondo A-1E 132443. She's looking pretty good already. They had just finished removing 20 gallons of old oil from the oil tank!







Out back was a PBY and a very sad looking F9F Cougar. They told me that Cougar is in such bad shape, they don't know what to do with her and that she may not be salvagable. Hopefully they can work a miracle and keep her among the living! I didn't see any BuNo painted on the Cougar. If anyone knows her identity, please post it or let me know where data plates are on a Cougar so I can go back sometime and check.











It was a good day of plane spotting (of course any day away from work is good in my book). If you get a chance to go to Tyler, a visit to the Historic Aviation Memorial Museum is well worth the visit.

-Derek

[hercules130]

Nice,thanks for sharing.

[cozmo]

Thanks for sharing. They really are super nice folks there.

I like what they did with the F-100.

The A-1E and the H-19 are cleaning up nicely.

[Matt Sharkey]

Some nice looking planes.

[Ken]

How much info is available on the past of this Skyraider and its plan for the future?

[gale_dono]

That F-4's nose gear leg reminds me a lot of the British Phantoms.

[airnutz]

How much info is available on the past of this Skyraider and its plan for the future?

Her BuNo is 132443, Ken. Dunno about her history, Viking73 and a few others have been chasing
this -5 for awhile so maybe he's got more info by now. Been a few discussions about 132443.
If you use the WIX search feature type in keyword "Fat Face" or the BuNo to review some of those threads.

Man that is one sad looking Cougar. I'm glad the Fury got the attention she needed. Last time I
saw it in person was just before work began on refurbishing the Cavalla. They both were a sorry
looking pair back then.

Thanks Viking73 for the snaps!

[Pogo]

I won't post too many photos here as others have done a good job of showing what's at the museum, but...

I wish folks would post links to said threads for us "search-challenged" types when such is the case. Or if they don't, someone else will. I run into this on several forums ... hints of buried glories I can only imagine. Maybe someday I'll have to quit reading these things or grow a brain. Wonder what'd be less troublesome...?

[cozmo]

Pogo,

I don't remember the thread, but here is HAMM from about 1 year ago:

HAMM

[Connery]

I took almost the same exact shots of the F-4 almost three years ago. The wheel was missing and the canopy was open the same way then as well.

[Craig59]

Thanks for the pictures. It's nice to see all the restorative work being done at HAMM to some very deserving aircraft.

The H04S (H-19) is BuNo 125506 and according to S-55 historian Sid Nanson, is the oldest surviving S-55 variant excluding those rebuilt by Orlando Helicopters which all have questionable identities.

According to Sid's research, BuNo125506 was accepted on August 13, 1950. It served the Navy as a R & D aircraft amongst other roles and also served with the USMC twice, with HMX-1 at Quantico. Here it is pictured with HMX-1 as XM-3 either between March and September, 1952 or between July 1953 and March 1956.

It was Stricken From Inventory on July 27, 1958 with 1212 total hours.

[Rob Mears]

That Cougar is pretty much a lost cause IMO. I had a fairly thorough look through the airframe and it my guess is that this plane has spent the last few decades exposed to a salt water environment somewhere. Massive corrosion, with much of the substantial metal structure having the consistency of tissue paper. It'll probably clean up enough for outdoor display, but I'd say it's a safe bet they'll need to reinforce some things before attepmting to rehang the wings!

That aside, the folks I've met at HAMM to date have been really great people! Randy Ball (MiG-17 pilot) in particular is a real class act. The museum is well worth a visit if you're ever traveling down the I-20 corridor in East Texas.

[viking73]

Thanks for the info. on the H04S Craig. Guess that's a pretty historic bird then. Why was the airframe skin made out of magnesium? Weight savings or something else?

It looks like the Cougar's wing spars were torched Rob and I did take a look inside the open tail pipe. Yikes comes to mind so I think your assessment is dead-on. I'll bet the belly is rust city and paper thin as you said. I would just hate to see her scrapped...

Here's a shot of the wings and also a look up the tail so you can see all the rust. I wanted to climb up and look inside the cockpit but the ground was so muddy and I was afraid of dropping my camera. Maybe next trip

[Craig59]

Why was the airframe skin made out of magnesium? Weight savings?

That's my guess. The folks at the Nat'l Museum of the Marine Corps are experiencing the same problem with BuNo127828. Yes indeed, 125506 is an important bird and it's good to see the measures being taken to restore it. I emailed the pics I have of it to their curator. Perhaps they'll give that Marine paint scheme some consideration.

For those who were asking about the Skyraider, BuNo132443, Sid Nanson passes along this data from the history card microfilm:

132443 AD-5
19/2/54 Accepted BAR M&S El Segundo
8/3/54 O&R Cherry Point
16/3/54 VMA-333, Miami
28/3/55 MARS MWSG 27 Cherry Point
19/10/55 O&R Quonset Point
5/4/56 VMA-331, Miami
8/4/58 O&R Quonset Point
8/1/59 VA-42 aboard Intrepid/Oceana
25/8/61 O&R Quonset Point
22/11/61 NATC RDT&E, Ptxnt River
Became A-1E
4/2/64 O&R Quonset Point
11/5/64 NATC RDT&E, Ptxnt River
Became NA-1E 10/1/6620/6/66 FR Quonset Point
16/9/66 NATC Weapon System Test, Ptxnt River
7/7/71 Struck Off Charge, Total Time 5717 Hours.

[viking73]

Great info. on 132443 Craig, thanks! I first saw 132443 in Harlingen back in the summer of 1988 when she was parked at the Marine Military Academy across the street from the CAF Headquarters. I of course hopped the fence and took some photos back then. It was great to see her again after so long. Here's some of my photos from 1988:









So I guess the "VMA-324" markings were bogus according to data...

-Derek