Warbird Information Exchange

A couple of years ago I went down to Corpus Christi to visit my daughter and while we were there I got to go and visit the Lexington. Here are some pictures from that visit.

























Something about the front of this Phantom just doesn't look right. The canopy doesn't look right for some reason.

Great pics!!!

The Phantom just looks like a really really early version.

i think it's an early phantom prototype, i recall seeing them in a near identical canopy configuration.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

The Phantom is one of the early F4H-1. That is the original canopy configuration. Gripes about poor visibility for the RIO gave us the configuration we are all familiar with.

I think there were something like 11 built in this config. There are only 4-5 survivors.

Here's another early Phanthom from the WIX last week:

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... hp?t=10289

Thanks for the Lex pics.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Here's another early Phanthom from the WIX last week:

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... hp?t=10289

Thanks for the Lex pics.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Cool pics. The F-14 on the deck by the way is the same one that was marked as "Mavericks" F-14 in the movie Top Gun.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

shame such a rare phantom has been painted incorrectly

they could of gotten a F-4B from boneyard and restored her..

that F4H-1 deserves to go Pensacola me thinks

Have any pics of the A-3 Whale

Saber driver it's worse than just bad paint. Last time I saw her she was full of intergranular corrosion. You'll also notice that the outer wing panels are also missing.

Look closely at the aircraft that have been repainted by the museum. None of them are right! Wrong fonts, wrong positions, mishmash of squadron markings. The TA-4F sign has been made up for a TA-4J in the poorly done marine markings. The TA-4J is the documented Bkue Angel 7 jet that I used as an example in another thread about historical accuracy.

The A-4C on a stick has since been painted in Blue Angel colors. Even though they never flew the C.

Make you wonder why with the information that is readily available why they can't get the markings correct. I know they do what is "flashy" to draw in spectators, but it's doing a disservice to the men that flew those birds.

I used to volunteer on the Lex when the museum first opened. A good portion of those planes were barged in from Pensacola then craned on deck. At the time there were only about 8 or so dedicated people to work on the planes, we put most of them together and cleaned them up the best we could. Then politics got involved and I got out of there as fast as I could.

Many days the volunteers butted heads with the people in charge about the retarded decisions on the aircraft. The main paid employee that was in charge of the aircraft was replaced after he brought the issues up.

I remember the TBM being brought in with its new paintjob and the new main guy running out with a can of clearcoat and sprayed the top of the aircraft, if you look closely you can see the running of the clearcoat. Then plane hadnt been back on deck for a day before the pain job was ruined.

Wish I had been there during the filming on Pearl Harbor when they flew the B-25 off the deck.

The same Phantom as it looked during my visit in 1993:

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5828172

Tillerman.

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Jets are nice. Props are nicer.

Look on the bright side...at least the SBD is in the correct markings!
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."