I went back and visited my old stomping grounds at Barksdale and visited a few of my old friends. I volunteered at 8 AFM while stationed at BAFB and eventually became the Director of Maintenance (volunteer). We always struggled to get support from the base and from the local community to raise funds to put a roof over the aircraft and it still seems a way off in the future. With that said, they are making progress. Thanks to a former 2nd Bomb Wing Commander they now have a nice size, well equipped shop to work in and are getting some much needed support from the base. Here are some pictures I took.
Here's part of thier shop, small but it beats working outside like I had to back in the day.
Jeep that I would love to get my hands on
They have the tail off of the B-29 repairing some corrosion. I helped put that B-29 together back in '88 -'89. It was severly corroded back then, having come from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
"The Pad" outside the shop. The T-33 is a former ABDR (Airframe Battle Damage Repair) trainer so they whacked holes in it and practiced putting some not-so-pretty patches on it.
The plan is to replace the nasty patches with flush patches.
Inside they have a movie theater set up like a WWII 8th AF Briefing room
Piece of a wall from an 8th AF base in England. I don't remember which base this came from but if anyone is dying to know I can call the curator and find out.
Earl Williamson was a crew member on B-17 "High Ho Silver", and this is his jacket. I remember when he donated it, top class gentleman. He's still around and still comes by the museum once a month or so.
Mmmmm....Parts.........
The only remaining piece of a B-6A Panther Bomber. It was found on the East side of the base back in the '80's by some hunters. The east side was a bombing and gunnery range back in the '30's and '40's and this was a target.
Ok this may seem dumb, but these are bomb shaped salt and pepper shakers from the Barksdale Field Officers club. Someone had them at thier house and the grand kids used to play with them and drop them like bombs (make sense that's what I would have done as a kid)
The SR-71 was painted not that long ago, but the paint faded unbelievably fast. Word has it they are trying to get warranty from the contractor.
This is a mixture of real Mustang and lot of fiberglass. "Chicoartist" aka Wade can tell you anything you want to know about this one.
I was shocked at how rough the B-17 looked. This was the 2nd to last one off of the Douglas line. They are working on recovering the flight controls with aluminum, but there is a lot more work to do.
They are putting reflective shades in all the plexi on all the planes to minimize the heat damage.
Gotta love Base Environmental. My only guess is the Iridium in the instruments.
This is the last Ford built B-24J. They are working on fabbing the missing cowling. Not all of it is missing, most of it was in the shop being worked on.
I remember when this AT-11 was donated and flew in. The "Follow Me" driver said, "This guy doesn't know how to taxi, he's swerving all over the place!". I just laughed. She's on the short list for a paint job.
B-58 Rocket Sled used for high speed ejection seat tests.
FB-111A I remember when this one was retired and joined the museum too. The guy that took it on as museum crew chief did a great job.
Scott, here's the B-29. I wish she was in better shape.
And the KC-97 cousin,
Avro B.2 Vulcan XM606
B-52D 57-0629 - she was my bird when I was there. Sadly there are places in the top of the flap wells that you can see daylight through the corrosion now.
Houndog Missle - predecessor to the ALCM
Makes you feel old to see planes that you worked on in active duty sitting in a museum. B-52G 57-6509 it was recently painted and they haven't finished putting the markings on yet. It has the Nine-O-Nine nose art.
KC-135A being prepped for paint.
They're doing the best they can with what they have. It's a lot to take care of with basically a couple of retired CMSgt's and one or two other guys. With that said, I think that taking care of the B-17, B-24, B-47, C-45 and AT-11 should take priority of repainting B-52's and KC-135's.
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The BUF will get the same nose art repainted.
