Warbird Information Exchange

Finally got around to scanning some pics from my 2003 - 2004 tour in Iraq. These are the relevant ones with airplanes; I apologize for the poor quality in advance.

All Iraq photos below taken at Al Taqaddum Airfield (former FOB Ridgway)

Hope you enjoy!



Pic 1: Got laid over at Westover AFB when our first C-5 broke down.



Pic 2: IL-28 Beagles for sale - Cheap!



Pic 3: MiG-25 that had been found buried. Is this one back in the USA?



Pic 4: Me leaning on a MiG-29, I have a panel off this aircraft.



Pic 5: TU-22 Blinder with a broken back. My driver and I crawled up into the cockpit and liberated a couple of instruments as souveniers.



Pic 6: FREE BIRD!!!! Taken at Shannon, Ireland while flying home. Not exactly a warbird, but it was stuffed with happy, smelly soldiers.



Mike

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"So there I was, knee deep in a river I couldn't pronounce..."

Cool pics..reminds me of the battered Japanese birds lying around the islands we took in the Pacific. At least one Foxbat (a recon model) is in storage at NMUSAF. The only thing keeping it from being displayed is the fact that the wings were never found.

As for the Freedom Bird, we've got plenty of photos of planes that have taken (and continue to take) our boys and girls into harms' way..it's nice to also see one that brings them home!

SN

That's some neat stuff. Those photos will be classics.

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Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

Nice! Thanks for sharing these. You'll have to post pictures of your souveniers too please.

-Derek

Great photos, Mike! Do you have more that you can share with us?

(BTW, thank you for your service!)

Cheers,

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Thanks for the great comments guys!

As for souveniers, I also wound up with a WWII British helmet that had been dug up nearby. I had no idea that there was an entire campaign in Iraq involving British and Indian forces against the Luftwaffe.

I also tried to bring home my growing collection of mortar and rocket fins from several of the close calls we experienced. They kind of frowned at that during the baggage inspections.

I do have more pics, but not too many involving aircraft. I was just a ground pounder.

If you guys want to see any more let me know and I will work on scanning them in.

Mike

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"So there I was, knee deep in a river I couldn't pronounce..."

Thank for posting the great pics and for your service to our country, Mike!

As for the rest of your pics, I say post them!

Congrats! First time? Did she speak English?

*ducks*




Sorry, man, but my original misreading was too silly not to share.

(Pics of USAFgrrrrl on bombs posted in 5...4...3...)

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"Anyway, the throat feels a bit rough...the legs have gone...but I'm still able to chant, so let's get going."

Joe Strummer, 1999

..now for the 64,000 question...why the heck did they bury that mig 25?

Some of the stuff laying around Balad when I was there in '05. The 332nd Expeditionary Wing was there at that time (not sure who is now), but they are the same 332nd as the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII so of course somebody had to paint the tails of the Mig's red!!!!





This was our HAS (Hardened Aircraft Shelter) that we affectionately called "The Double". It had a hole in the roof of center area between the two bays which was an office/storage area where one of our bombs went all the way through the reinforced concrete and then blew up!





That's what I call Air Power!!

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Bill Gorin
Vintage Flying Museum
http://www.vintageflyingmuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=57513906106

When did you take that photo of the Binder?[/code]

I took it Oct 2003 in the SSE portion of Al Taqaddum Airbase ("the Spiderwebs"). I believe that the Blinder was broken up in situ and disposed of. It was gone by December/January.

There was another Blinder that had been completely blown in half and was a mess. It too was gone in the same timeframe.

Also, there was a SU-25 Frogfoot in the northern part of TQ (Taqaddum). I heard that there were plans for it and it was gone about the same timeframe as the others.


Mike

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"So there I was, knee deep in a river I couldn't pronounce..."

CrewDawg -

Nice pictures! All of the hardened shelters on TQ had a nice sunroof put in courtesy of Randy and fellow pilots. There was shrapnel everywhere, just laying about. Glad you got back safe.




This weekend, I'll dig around and see what other Iraq / interesting photos I can find and scan.

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"So there I was, knee deep in a river I couldn't pronounce..."

Junkyard, ya had me at "I got laid over at Westover." Wouldn't happen to have her name, eh?

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Thanks Junkyard. It felt good to finally do what I had trained a lonng time to do, launch out jets with bombs and recover jets with empty racks.

332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Patches





Nice to see that they paid tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen.

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Bill Gorin
Vintage Flying Museum
http://www.vintageflyingmuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=57513906106