Duham Excursion #2 - Pics Posted

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:28 am

A few weeks ago I posted a message about doing my homework before returning to Durham, North Carolina…
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... +excursion
I was there for the purpose of training for work, but I was able to make very good use of my spare time, and I put a few miles on the rental car! ;-)

After getting up at an unspeakable hour on a Sunday morning to go to the Ottawa airport, I managed to be in my rental car leaving the Raleigh/Durham airport around 10:35 AM. Not bad eh? I got on I-40 and headed west to Hickory to search out the aircraft of the Sabre Society of North Carolina. Google Maps lead me right to the site without having to look around at all. The aircraft are parked on grass (grass that is apparently kept short around the aircraft) at a corner of the airfield far from any airport buildings. In fact they are very close to a residential area. It was kind of surreal to see these old jets just sitting there in what you would think was a farm field if it were not for the perimeter fence. Unfortunately the only pictures I could get were shot through the chain link fence. You can view the pictures at…
http://community.webshots.com/album/462289830ITNkAb

After leaving Hickory I headed south for Charlotte, and found the Carolinas Aviation Museum at the airport. They have a nice mix of jets and helicopters from the Korea war era to Vietnam, and even the last Gulf War with the acquisition of their CH-46E which is being converted back to a D model. If you are in the area you should definitely stop by. You can find my pics at…
http://community.webshots.com/album/462473437pxXapa
The fans of the OV-1 will like this album since the museum has two of that type in their collection. They also have the wreckage of a P-47 that had been uncovered by a Hurricane on a NC beech a few years ago.

On Monday evening I took a drive around the Raleigh/Durham airport, and managed to find the ANG base. There were a number of AH-64s on the ramp. Even though I was in what appeared to be a public area, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to get my camera out and start taking pictures.

On Tuesday class ended early and I hit the road with my destination being New Bern and Havelock. While driving through New Bern I came across the Grumman F11 Tiger on display on the side of the road. The airframe looks like it is cared for. It is displayed in it’s own compound with a chain link fence. It looks like it is kept painted. Unfortunately it is painted white… all over… the skins, the wheel wells, everything. This airframe really needs a coat of blue paint. The pictures are here…
http://community.webshots.com/album/462393822DbjVCM

I continued south east from New Bern along route 70 intent on finding the AV-8A on display in Havelock before the sun set. While entering Havelock I passed an A-6 displayed beside the road in front a Hampton Inn. I turned around and went back for pictures and soon discovered a few more planes on display at the Havelock Tourist Center in behind the hotel. Bonus! Knowing I was losing the light I quickly started taking pictures of everything there. The center was closed, but a nice lady soon came by to open the facility for an event to be held there that evening. She told me they had another plane inside when she saw me photographing everything with wings and engines. She took me inside and turned the light on in a large meeting room. I was greeted by the sight of an F4B hanging from the ceiling! Actually after some digging I believe this example is actually a P-12E restored as an F4B. If anyone can confirm that I would appreciate it. You can find the Havelock Tourist Center pics at…
http://community.webshots.com/album/462458421AtpZji

I continued south into town with the sun hitting the horizon almost desperate to find the Harrier (hey, I had just driven nearly three hours to get there and I didn’t want to go out of my way like that again). With my luck I came to a rail crossing with a very slow moving train… which then stopped!

I turned around and took another route to the site of the AV-8A and found it. Thank goodness for Google maps! The sun was just under the horizon now, but I had just enough light with a few longer than normal exposures. You can find the pictures at…
http://community.webshots.com/album/462404116BcUHjl

On Wednesday class finished at a decent time yet again, so I took advantage of my bonus spare time and head south-west to Asheboro. The idea was to visit the North Carolina Aviation Museum. The last time I visited I got there too late and the gate was closed. This time I was able to get up close to their F-84 which they have on display outside. The museum has two hangers which house all of their aircraft including the B-25 Carolina Girl. If you plan on visiting and want to photograph the aircraft, you may wish to take along a tri-pod. The museum makes good use of natural light, but even with that the lighting can be low. Be prepared for aircraft to be parked close together (although not nearly as bad as some other museums) so you may also want to bring along a wide angle lense. You can find the pics at…
http://community.webshots.com/album/431174701GVwnkw
(I just moved a number of photos into this album, so it may take a half hour or so for them to appear)

That was all for that trip.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Mike

peter · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2005 8:48 am

Thanks Mike
The planes look very well cared for. The ones in the "farm" field look very surreal indeed. The Tourist centre pics were shocking! Did they just recently paint their aircraft??

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:15 am

peter wrote:

The Tourist centre pics were shocking! Did they just recently paint their aircraft??

I agree. The airframes looked fantastic! It looks like they had all recently received new paint and tires, etc. They also had very solid looking pads on which they were placed along with very strong looking tie-downs. I expect they were expecting the odd hurricane to pass by. I couldn't believe my luck in finding the place.

Mike

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

Mike:

Thank you for posting!!!

The F-4B4 has been my favorite biplane of all times : )

Havelock will be a must see whenever I make it back to NC.

Question:

The aircraft at Hickory, are these the same ones I showed in one of my postings? If so (the same types and number of airframes, with the exception of the F-4) look recently painted.

Remember the confusion regarding the Hickory vs Winston-Salem airports? Do they have basically the same airplanes, on two very-look alike locations?

Saludos,

Tulio

wendovertom · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:00 pm

Mike, great shots!

It makes me wonder - obviously most of these planes are taken care of pretty well - BUT- the wendover museum is approved with both the USN and AF to recieve static display aircraft but here we sit with empty hangars and open concrete pads - sigh - I suppose I'm just not very patient.

Hopefully,

Tom P.

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:35 pm

Quote:

Look for an email.

Tulio: It looks like you should email me. I don't think I have your current email address.

Mike

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:51 pm

wendovertom wrote:

It makes me wonder - obviously most of these planes are taken care of pretty well - BUT- the wendover museum is approved with both the USN and AF to recieve static display aircraft but here we sit with empty hangars and open concrete pads - sigh - I suppose I'm just not very patient.

I think the Carolinas Aviation Museum took full advantage of the closure of the Florence Air and Missile Museum a few years ago. The following aicraft in the Charlotte museum were once in the Florence museum...
YF-102A
F-101B-50-MC
CH-34A
I think there were others as well. I don't remember which ones.

The CH-46 is very interesing. In January 1970 when the CH-46 was operating in Vietnam, Mike Classen stepp out of the Sea Knight into a mine field to rescue 20 Marines making multiple trips back and forth. Back then it was a CH-46D. It was later upgraded to an E model, and most recently served in Iraq. It suffered a hard landing in 2004. It was to be returned to Cherry Point NC for rebuild, but ran into more troulble in Iraq. It had been loaded on a flatbed trailer for transport (to a port I assume) and the height of the load was measured in inches. The route was evaluated and the lowest bridge was found with the height measured in cm's. You can figure out what happened next... the rear pylon impacted the bridge during transport and that was the end of the service life of that CH-46. Some how the museum found out about the retirement of this particular airframe and requested it. They were supposed to receive this CH-46E intact with only the "secret" equipment removed. Unfortunately when they did receive it, it was essentially a stripped out hulk. I suspect the demands of war and the part shortages and supply line problems that I have read about had something to do with that. Unfotunately the Navy couldn't give them a new E model rear end for the helo, but could provide a the rear end for a D model which is obsolete equipment anyway. So the museum is slowly starting to put the CH-46 back together as you will see in the pictures. One of the pictures shows the rotor hub with a piece of rebar imbeded in it from it's encounter with the Iraq bridge.

I guess the short of the long is be prepared to get your aircraft any way you can! :shock:

Mike

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Duham Excursion #2 - Pics Posted

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