Warbird Information Exchange

As I have said before they are lucky to have bounced back. I know our flood due to Sandy back in 2012 was devastating to our museum but the tornado was an apocalyptic scale.

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Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions

Drew, that nose is the C-133. The C-124 exploded due to the pressure change. It ripped itself apart so only the engines were salvaged.

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Jerry, do you have any photos from October 3rd,1979 and beyond of Bradley air museum? Ones I haven't seen before? The history of the tornado/planes/museum would be worth a good novel don't you think?

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

I made it past the security checkpoints and debris on the roadways the next day to help get the chain link fences back up and carry back onto the museum site the smaller components that were scattered around the area. Lots of sad things to see, with the Capital Airways Connie lying on her back one of the most vivid memories. One ray of sunchine -- The young woman who had been manning the little ticket booth at the outdoor exhibit site that afternoon (Carol was her name, I think) returned to the indoor exhibit hangar right before the tornado hit. One of the large cargo planes (the C-133?) went straight through the ticket booth.

I have a few, but I wasn't a volunteer then, just a member. 1984 was when I was able to volunteer and later asked to be the Costume Curator.

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

They looked much better in July 1976.
Even the B-17 is way in the back here.

Did they have any warning about the tornado or did it touch down suddenly at/near the museum (not that they could have done anything to prepare anyway)...?

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

No warning. Tornadoes don't exist up here or especially in 1979, so it was considered such an odd event. I believe there was 4 fatalities, but seeing the damage I can't believe there wasn't more

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Yes - I echo the above comments. There was a very dark storm, very heavy rain. I was teaching elementary school a couple towns away and I was more concerned about the weight of the water on the school roof. Tornados were pretty much unheard of in our area. The tornado ran along a built up highway bordering Bradley Field (Highway 75), so it was remarkable that there were not more fatalities. The path of the tornado included not only the outdoor exhibit, but also the exhibit hangar a little farther to the north and also the museum's F-102 that had been displayed in front of a hotel (Holiday Inn, I think) a mile or two south of the outdoor exhibit. One of the fatalities was a man in a van that got picked up and dropped near the outdoor exhibit site.

What happened to the Skyray? total loss?

Tom P.

The Skyray was rolled into an almost unrecognizable ball. It was held onto for quite a few years because many of the internal fittings, hoses etc, could have been usable for restorations. It was navy blue with NATC on the tail. Replacement F4D came from Dahlgren, VA, I believe.

Also, the Army Guard facility on the North end of Route 75 saw many airframes destroyed and damaged. Several Skycranes were rolled over.

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Is this her?

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

What's this off of?

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Liberty belle broken

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

No. This is the 8th F-100 built. It survived outdoors during the tornado with only minor dings. Polished and on display now!

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."