WASPs, Drones, & Marilyn Monroe

[res6kgcr]

Friends,

Bought these pictures on e-Bay of unknown Tow Target pilot at Biggs Field/Ft. Bliss, El Paso, Texas which I would like to share with you all.

Our young Lieutenant mounting up on Douglas O-38E. I wish that there was another picture of this old bird showing the star & bars insignia.



Squadron mates with two Woman Airforce Service Pilots. This picture was my first guess that the location was Ft. Bliss by WASPs and the Franklin Mountains in the background. I think the blond WASP on the left is Emma Coulter who was assigned to Biggs AAfld. By the dirt field and the predominate mountain landscape I think that this an auxiliary at Ft. Bliss that the tow target squadron stages out of for the target drone mission.





More squadron mates with a Beach C-45 and a Culver PQ-14.



A Culver PQ-8 and a PQ-14 at the “Hanger” note that it is just graded dirt for the field.



A dusty take-off of a drone and its controller with the Franklin Mountains in the background.



A Cessna UC-78 controller getting ready to go. It looks to me that the controllers were pair to the drones the UC-78 to the PQ-8, the C-45 to the PQ-14 and the Harvard to the OQ-14.



In flight with the fixed-gear PQ-8



Exiting the C-45 controller.



Looks to me like a check flight with the faster PQ-14.



Very up close picture of the PQ-14 with the mountains in the background.



Some CriticalPast.com stills that verify the Ft. Bliss location and showing the procedures with the Raidoplane OQ-14

The C-45 controller/camera plane with the Franklin Mountains in the background.



The Harvard IIB control plane which is the first Lend/Lease Noorduyn AT-16-ND built for the British. All Lend/Lease planes have army or navy serial numbers or bureau numbers and army or navy designations. Since they were technically U.S. equipment they have U.S. manuals derived from flight test, which may explain the AAF serial number. It looks like after testing, which was probably just checking to see if was the same as a AT-6, it was assigned to Biggs.



Assembling the OQ-14





Checking the 22 hp Righter/Kiekhaefer O-45-1 engine.



Lanching the OQ-14.



The AAA trainees firing away.



And if they miss a parachute recovery.



As for the Marilyn Monroe connection, the 19 year old Mrs. Norma Jeane Dougherty, woman war worker, who work for Raidoplane, in her first photo shoot. The kid already had a rough life, but such a smile.



Best regards to you all,

Tom Michel

[Pat Carry]

Interesting photos. Love the photo of Norma Jean!

[TonyM]

Great Photos!!!

Especially the close up shot of the guy flying the PQ.

great stuff.

TonyM.

[Clifford Bossie]

Friends,

Bought these pictures on e-Bay of unknown Tow Target pilot at Biggs Field/Ft. Bliss, El Paso, Texas which I would like to share with you all.

Our young Lieutenant mounting up on Douglas O-38E. I wish that there was another picture of this old bird showing the star & bars insignia.

Looks to me like a check flight with the faster PQ-14.



Very up close picture of the PQ-14 with the mountains in the background.




Best regards to you all,

Tom Michel

There are some great photos in that posting!

I am not sure all of those photos were taken at Biggs. Some appear to have been taken at McGregor Range, or White Sands. The mountains in the background of the two PQ-14 shots sure look like the Organ Mtns.

I have an intertest in Biggs, Ft Bliss and WSMR. Thanks for posting 'em!

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Bigg ... hotos.html

Last edited by Clifford Bossie on Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Clifford Bossie]

EDIT: I drove to WSMR this afternoon and looked at the mountains. Most (if not all) of those photos were taken at what is now Condron AAF. In the background of the group picture is Mt Organ. Looking at Google Earth there are the remains of a dirt strip running north/south. That is probably the "runway" that the UC-78 is taking off of. Those series of photos are interesting. It would appear that that flight activity was probably for the AA units out of Ft Bliss. Biggs was pretty crowded at that time period and flying out of Condron put the drones closer to where AA training would be done anyway. Kind of ironic, but drones still fly out of Holloman which is just a few miles to the NE of White Sands/Condron. Of course now those drones are F-4s.

[JBoyle]

I've heard/read a story where Ronald Reagan as part of his WWII AAF service, made a film about Radioplane and saw Norma Jean and passed her name to Hollywood friends...

[beech18bob]

Hi,

Very interesting photos! The nice side view of the Twin Beech marked 0692 is an F-2 photo ship variant. History as follows:

c/n 350 F-2 40-692 USAAC del 21st Air Base Sqdn Lowry Fld 15Jun40. Reconstruction Finance Corp, Bush Fld GA 12Jun45 transfer to CAA, GA del 14Jul45. Reg’d as C18S NC261 on 29Aug45 & assigned to CAA Region 2. To CAA Standardization Center 17Jul46. To CAA Inspection & Repair Base 18Oct46 for cannibalization. Surveyed at CAA Aero Center, OK per memo 22Oct46. Canx in files 24Jan47.

Any chance of getting a scan of it? Be glad to provide a donation to you for further acquisitions of great photos like these.

Regards,
Bob Parmerter

[tom d. friedman]

wow some really rare pics!! very refreshing & exciting!!

[Ethan]

I wonder what a PQ-14 flys like ?

[res6kgcr]

Friends,

Thanks for the feedback!

I wouldn’t ask how many miles you put on your car for that “boots on the ground” recon Clifford.

Thanks!

The Wikipedia entry on Marilyn Monroe picture is that photographer David Conover was doing a photo shoot for Yank magazine on women war workers and that he went to Radioplane in that he knew the owner, the actor Reginald Denny. Working Hollywood, then as now, is really a small town and the rest they say is history.

All the CriticalPast.com stills can be downloaded, without the watermark, cheep at $2.95 each, British Pathe wants 20 pounds for each, without the watermark!

As for flying the PQ-14, a few were sold surplus but with only a single seat it was sort of impractical, but with a 150 hp Franklin and a 185 mph top speed I bet it was fun.

All the best to you all,

Tom Michel

[gary1954]

I wonder what a PQ-14 flys like ?

Well, ifin you have a pilots license, maybe one of these registered operators/owners will let you bore some holes. Doesn't look like to many are around

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... 4&PageNo=1

[JBrawner]

after looking at what gary provided.. i found this, dont know how old it is and all.....


http://www.flightplanet.com/aircraft_de ... %2014%20PQ

[tom d. friedman]

the former lane aviation museum in columbus ohio had 1. from what i know since the museum folded in the 90's it has been in storage w/ the ohio historical society.