Old Airshow Pics- 1950's-1960's?

tulsaboy · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:09 pm

Here are some shots from a collection of color slides that we recently received. All of the shots are copyright Pat Combs, the former Tulsa Airport manager. He apparently visited this airshow (maybe around Las Vegas?) and took these color slides. Most of them are Kodak Kodachrome, so the color is fabulous. Enjoy!

Does anyone want to speculate on when/where this might have been? I honestly don't know.

kevin

Some Century-series fighters...

And my personal favorite... (notice that nose art!)

Mike Bates · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:45 pm

WOW!

What a great group of pictures!

Mike

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11330

Between 1962 and 1967 I'd say.

warbird1 · **Joined:** Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:25 pm **Posts:** 2760

That's definitely not Nellis, as the background does not look anything at all like the base. In most of the Nellis era pictures from the 50's and 60's you can clearly see the very distinctive Sunrise Mt. in the background along with nothing green. There are other mountains, green grass and a few trees that don't look like Nellis at all.

It does look like a semi-arrid or desert like climate, however. If I had to hazard a guess based off of the X-15, I would guess somewhere close to Edwards, possibly the old George AFB?

Ztex · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:30 pm

WOW!

Love to see that F-86 formation!

The Vulcan looks great in white!

And the B-58 ..hubba hubba!

I love these old slide photos. They have such depth and detail.

How about Castle AFB?

cadet77 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:56 pm

Great slides.

Thanks for posting them. :wink:

The slides of Colorado ANG Minute Men F-86 Sabres date some of the slides from 1958 to July 10, 1959. The last performance for the flying team was at Grande Junction, CO. The Colorado ANG Minute Men performed in 47 states before being disbanded, so we need to hear from others as to where the air show was held, it could be Grande Junction, CO.

One of the Blue Angels Grumman F11F-1 Tigers, #2, is currently on static display at the Planes of Fame museum at Valle, AZ.

jaybird · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:31 pm

The Blue Angels flew the F11F-1 Tiger from 1957-1968. The short nose versions pictured along with the yellow stripe scheme onto the nose points to either 1957 or 1958 as the year of these photos. In 59 they went to the long nose and no stripe.

tulsaboy · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:18 pm

So it sounds like we're definitely into the 1958-1959 time frame, based on the F-86s and the Blue Angels. Great information. Guess we're still unclear on location?

kevin

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11330

If I read correctly, that particular Vulcan was painted "anti-nuclear" white in '62? Also, one of the F-104s left the US in 1967, so at least that photo was taken prior to then.

Ztex · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:25 pm

The Blues photo was taken on a different day for sure... look at the sky.

The the F-104, with the guy in the cockpit, X-15 and the F-86 formation photos show an absolutely cloudless sky.

The others look like the same day.

Z

tulsaboy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:57 am

I had wondered about that. The box of slides had a bunch from Tulsa Municipal airport, and there are a few military shots in there as well. Could it be that the Blues were at an appearance in Tulsa?

kevin

jwc50 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:36 am

Those are great shots from nearly 50 years ago. Based on the line-up of the Century Series, F-102A, F-104, F-105B, F-106A, etc. and the other shots, I definitely agree that it has to be no earlier than 1958 and possibly sometime in 1959. If the F-106A represents one in actual operational Air Defense Command Service, I think they became operational in July 1959.

I cannot get enough of color photos and slides of military aircraft from the mid-50s to mid-60s time frame. More please!

tulsaboy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:02 am

Ok... so we are guessing that the Blues are from a different show. I also figured out that the second photo down from the top was taken in Tulsa as well. The below shot is the same aircraft, but in front of an old hangar at Tulsa Municipal.

For those wanting a few more, I'm posting a couple more shots of military aircraft taken at Tulsa Municipal in the 1950's. Yes, color slides. But I started another thread for those shots, just to keep them separate.

kevin

Mark Nankivil · **Posted:** Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:09 am

Interesting as I just picked up the new book on the Vulcan authored by Butler & Buttler. XH502 had a 1st flight On Oct-31-58 and went to 617 Sqdn (Dambusters) on Nov-11-58. It then went to 50 Sqdn on Oct-10-61 and from there, went to conversion to B.1A standard on Aug-14-62. Based on the tail on shot, the photos are pre-B.1A standard as the tail cone became larger and more pronounced than the small tail cone shown.

As noted by Jaybird, the short nose Tigers are from the '57 or '58 show season.

Great photos - thanks for posting them and I hope you have more to post! :-)

Enjoy the Day! Mark

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:35 am

Love the oval windows on the Comet :idea:

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