NMUSAF F-104... Near The Restoration Hanger??

[SterlingM]

I know that the F-104 here is the aircraft that they used the wings of to supplement the wings on the F-104 out front of the museum. But, what's the story behind it? It almost looks fake to me, like it's a mock-up... my efforts are useless, I can't find anything... Anybody know the story? And maybe the story or some information on the T-33 back behind it?

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[Chris Brame]

Sterling, when was this shot taken? The T-33 is 51-6754, which until last year was in a playground in Huntington, IN (the park district replaced it with T-33 51-4271/N271AP, which they own outright). 754 was expected to have been scrapped - it's pretty rough although not unsavable - so it's interesting so see it may still exist. Thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=56699

Baugher has this on F-104D 57-1322:

(57-)1322 was at Grissom AFB, IN. Seen 2008 at Huntington, Indiana airport
as a gate guard.

So it looks like the NMUSAF went to Huntington, collected both of its toys and went home.

[JohnB]

There can't be many "D"s left, they only built 20.
Glad it's saved.

[Tim Savage]

Sterling, when was this shot taken? The T-33 is 51-6754, which until last year was in a playground in Huntington, IN (the park district replaced it with T-33 51-4271/N271AP, which they own outright). 754 was expected to have been scrapped - it's pretty rough although not unsavable - so it's interesting so see it may still exist. Thread here:
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... =3&t=56699

Baugher has this on F-104D 57-1322:

(57-)1322 was at Grissom AFB, IN. Seen 2008 at Huntington, Indiana airport
as a gate guard.

So it looks like the NMUSAF went to Huntington, collected both of its toys and went home.

The City told the NMUSAF to take them back...it wasn't like the NMUSAF swooped in and demanded them. The F-104 was out front of our airport and the airport is undergoing a major ramp expansion so they told the NMUSAF they didn't want it anymore. Made a few folks here unhappy. The T-33 was in really bad shape and full of cement. The City wanted to put a T-33 on a pole so they purchased a project from Courtesy and mounted it in their veteran's memorial park. I was surprised the T-33 wasn't scrapped on site. Both airplanes at in front of my hangar for a few days before the left.

[mustangdriver]

The 104 had a colorful history in Indiana.

[Chris Brame]

Thanks for the clarification, Tom.
Two questions: Is the T-33 now standing on its gear, or just the poles it was on at the park? Second, what part of it is full of cement? The photos I got from Nathan Decker in 2015 on the other thread show the cockpit all open and the seats are still there.

[Chris Brame]

It almost looks fake to me, like it's a mock-up...

Sent a notice to Nathan Decker, and just now got a reply. In part:

The F-104 was indeed a local attraction; for whatever reason it was a thing for local high school kids to have their pic taken while (illegally) climbing on top of the plane. It had this weird, unnatural paint job that was almost a translucent pearl white, very odd in the sunlight. From a distance the plane looked like it was fake.