More '70s photos from Woodsy Airfield: Mystery FJ-3 Fury

[Chris Brame]

The first three photos of this as-yet-unidentified FJ-3 were taken by Claude Sheaffer on December 5, 1975; the last two color shots were taken by Leon Cleaver on June 28, 1977 at the Lake Norman Airport, Lake Norman, NC:










Quoting Leon:

FJ-3 was received by Mr. Gibson from the city of Mooresville, NC. At one time Evel Knievel wanted the tail section (! - ed.)... Some months later I made an inquiry about its availability, but was told it was gone.

As with the Cougar and SNJ, the B&W side view appeared in Air Classics, April 1976, page 12. From the original caption:

It too was an ex-playground hack and, at some point in its career, someone took out their frustration by taking an ax to the airframe. Makeshift repairs consisted of covering the holes and dents with thin sheet metal and body putty.

Anyone remember this plane from the playground? Around 50 of these Furies were struck off charge at the MCAS Cherry Point, NC O&R Center (now Fleet Readiness Center East) in mid-October 1963 so maybe it came from that batch.

[quemerford]

This is the Fury that is/was on display recently at Hickory, NC. It was recovered by helicopter in the 1990s IIRC.

[Chris Brame]

This is the Fury that is/was on display recently at Hickory, NC. It was recovered by helicopter in the 1990s IIRC.

Thanks quemerford - just sent an email to Jeff Wofford at the Hickory Aviation Museum; their website says the plane came from Taylorsville in 1991. Maybe it went from Lake Norman to Taylorsville? This might complete the history.

[quemerford]

Bear in mind that the Museum has/had two FJ-3s. 'Yours' is Bu Aer No 141393, which was struck off at Cherry Point on October 16th 1963.

The Museum's 'other' Fury came from John Muszala I think.

[Chris Brame]

Heard back from John Wofford:

Chris,

The museum has had only one FJ-3M. The other was owned by an individual in Hickory and they had thought about restoring it to flying condition. John Muszala came out to look at it and to put a quote together on the restoration, but that never worked. That airplane actually came from a scrap dealer in MD and it eventually ended up in the SFO bay area. The last time I heard, the new owner was close to having it flyable. I have not heard anything in a couple of years. So, neither one of these were at Lake Norman. I hope this helps.

Jeff

[quemerford]

I'll have to dig out my photos because I'm sure one of those FJ's was this machine - even down to the bashed-in replacement gun doors and the home-made, single curvature panel atop the nose!

[Chris Brame]

Update! While on another project, I found this in the 1965 Mooresville High School yearbook, and we're closer to an ID:

Badly faded, but definitely was coded AK-212 (VF-62). Five-digit tail number is even more faded but the first digit is a 3; there was a batch of Furies in the 135xxx - 136xxx range and around 33 of them were SOC at MCAS Cherry Point.
Anyone know a way to get a definite ID from the AK-212 code?

[quemerford]

As stated above, it's 141393, donated to Mooresville in October 1964 and displayed in Liberty Park. It's ex-VMF-235 and the tail code is 'AM' rather than AK. 141393 was coded 12/DB when land-based and 212/AM as part of its CVG.

[Chris Brame]

Hmm. Well:

Sure looks like AK to me, but... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[quemerford]

So two possibilities: the aircraft was repainted at least once before that overall grey scheme was added, or the Hickory FJ-3 has been mis-identified. The line from donation to Woodsville to Hickory appears to be sound, so the only thing in doubt seems to be the aircraft ID.