Warbird Information Exchange

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“With bottomless pockets...anything is possible”

Wow - love those shots with the Cutlass in them! A Cutlass, A Fury and a TBM - what a group shot that makes!

Tom P.

those C-47s look way to big to be on those small carriers.

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"According to the map, we've only gone 4 inches."

I can offer a little help with the mystery photo.

It is the Cape Esperance CVE/U 88. She was decommissioned in 1959. The medals on her bridge include Korean war service. So this probably puts the picture between 1954 and 1959.

In those pictures she is leaving the San Francisco Bay. Best guess is that she picked up a load of aircraft from NAS Alameda.

She operated exclusively as an aircraft transport in that time frame. In 1955 she made a trip to the East Coast and operated there for a year.

It is possible that those are aircraft that were being transported to NAS Pensacola. But when did the Museum open? Or could they be in transit to the Smithsonian?

Museum Aircraft make more sense rather than transporting aircraft to another country; as the ones we are talking about were single examples of their type.

And I thought this thread was going to be about Howard Hughes' Stratoliner converted to the houseboat....

Nice photos though!

Here's a few of my favorite things on a boat...


CBI-bound P-40E-1s about to embark aboard Ranger, April 1942.


Project 914 Archives (S.Donacik collection)


And enroute to Africa... from there they would make their way to the CBI.


Project 914 Archives (S.Donacik collection)


Mark, I know you already posted this one... but it's my scan so I'm gonna post it again!

57th FG aboard Ranger... July, 1942.


Project 914 Archives (S.Donacik collection)


325th FG aboard Ranger, January 1943.


Project 914 Archives (S.Donacik collection)


"Okay... everyone say 'cheese'!"


Source unknown (Maybe here on WIX... possibly Jack Cook?)


Another angle...


Source


And launching...


Project 914 Archives (S.Donacik collection)


Not sure of the particulars on this one... possibly 33rd FG aboard Chenango.


Project 914 Archives


33rd FG aboard Chenango... November, 1942. These next four photos were posted on the old AWF forum. I did not record the poster's name, unfortunately.










33rd FG Hawk leaving Chenango...


Project 914 Archives


Okay, now a few Mitchells...


From USAF site


Found on Flickr


These next two show a PBJ-1H aboard Shangri La in 1944... I forget the source on the first one... the second one was scanned from a book or a rag...






Fade to Black...

I'm surprised some of our Mustang experts haven't chimed in. Can anyone say based on the serials, where these birds were headed? Interesting that they chose to crack the canopies rather than close and cover them.

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

In fact,i noticed they preferred salty environment to moisture.

Also the P 40s are F models,as rare as hen's teeth.

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“With bottomless pockets...anything is possible”

Why would Pensacola want a straight wing F-84 and T-33/T2V?
It was fairly new at the time as was the banshee, so why go to a museum?

How about the F-84s going to Thialand and the Bearcats going to the French or Vietnamese?
The Banshee ant T-33 could have been going almost anywhere.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

Great concept and photos.
The thought of operating off the HMS Avenger makes me feel weak, particularly in Arctic waters on the way to Russia.
500 ft (150m) long!

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Chris Mellor

Way cool!

One thing struck me as a bit odd about the P-51s...all the canopies are open at least a couple inches. It's also interesting to see how badly scuffed up the paint is on the wingroots, considering they're (I assume) factory-fresh replacements. They must not have been going very far, since there's been no real effort to seal them up from the salt air.

SN

I'm not a Mustang expert, guru, or what have you, but I ran a couple of the serials through the AAIR database... looks like these Mustangs went to the Pacific. Or some of them did, at least.

Here's the search results for the ship in the foreground:

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/ ... Submit4=Go


And another:

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/ ... Submit4=Go


At least one of them survived the war and was involved in two incidents, one in 1947 and the other in 1949:

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/ ... Submit4=Go


'Twould be interesting to find out more...


EDIT: Digging through my archives I came across what I think was possibly the source image, given the crop line at the bottom. It's from a defunct website... I resized the image, so if anyone wants the original just shoot me a PM with your email address.

Here's the info that came with the image:

USS KALININ BAY (CVE 68) carrying P-51 Mustangs to Guam in February 1945. They were to end up on Iwo Jima where they were flown by the 506th fighter group escorting B-29s to Japan.

So that corresponds with a couple of the AAIR entries...




Fade to Black...

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“With bottomless pockets...anything is possible”

The F-84s could be going to Thailand, but my guess is that with all the spADs aboard they are more than likely replacement aircraft on their way to Korea. There are at least four F-84s in the first shot, though some are hard to pick out. The two photos are aboard the USS Cape Esperance CVE-88. She made several voyages to Japan delivering aircraft to the war in Korea and also delivered aircraft to Thailand. My guess is that she is bound for Japan.

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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