Branson, MO and Fort Smith, AR

[Tulio]

On my way back to Texas, I decided to detour through the Ozarks / Ouachitas region, and to my surprise, I found a neat P-51D (Fiberglass) outside of the Branson, MO Veterans Memorial Museum.

It is painted in USAAF colors, with the "Donna K" lettering, and bearing serial "460356."

Acting on a hunch, I went to the School of the Ozarks, just outside of Branson. They have their own airport, and after asking for permission, I was allowed to enter their main (HUGE) hangar; they were so nice that they even opened the doors so I could shoot some pix.

This is (military) what I saw:

NC58040, "326325" L-2M Taylorcraft, in US Army colors.
N50884, "974" Ryan PT-22 (AC41-15553) highly polished metal, in the Sequoia Field, Visalia, CA USAAC training colors.

NC-29948 WACO UPF-7

N-6670 "498" a Beech C-45 (RCAF Model 3N), serial CA98 "Arctic Annie" and in the markings of the RCAF. Another highly polished metal aircraft, owned by the Ozark Military Museum.

Down the road, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, I was also allowed to go and photograph two military jets sitting at the entrance of the ANG base:

McDonnell Douglas F-4C "63-7411"
General Dynamics F-16A "82-0970"

There is also an RF-84F inside of the ANG base (you can see it from across the airport) but I was not allowed to see it or photograph.

Saludos!


Tulio

[DanteC]

There should be a bare metal T-33 (sans powerplant, but complete otherwise) in original markings at the school of the ozarks airport. It's been a number of years since i've been by there, though.

[Tulio]

I recall seeing two photos of ex-military aircraft posted on Airliners.net, listing the location as the School of the Ozarks. So, I went looking for them, but could not find anything besides what I listed.

I asked at the school's aviation dept. office, and they said all the aircraft left there, are the ones I saw at the hangar.

Saludos,

Tulio