Warbird Information Exchange

Lovell Field, Chattanooga, TN Is there something to see ?

Also, does someone know where the Belle is stored in Memphis ?

And while I am at it.

I am doing my east to west Tennesee run

Except for the Warbird Museum in Sevierville, what else is there to see ?

Tks in advance

I just did that trip a couple of weeks ago.
The Memphis Belle- Limited hours for tours, I tried for several weeks to set up an after hours tour to no avail...
Info can be found here....www.memphisbelle.org
Talluhoma- home of the Staggerwing Museum (only open weekend afternoons) and possibly some brewster bits kicking around....
Sieverville- Well worth the trip (where else can you see 3 P-47's in the same hanger????)
There is also a Beech 18 in a Putt Putt golf course and a P-51 replica outside the Veterans memorial in Pigeon Forge.
There are a few Navy jets on sticks at the Navy base in Memphis as well....

When I was stationed at Memphis (Millington) they had a RA-5C, F11F, AV-8C(?) and they had for training A-7, F-4 and a bunch of other things But the marine unit was still flying A-4, who knows whats left.

You can see Elvis's planes and I think Mud Island has a A-7. But I never saw it.

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

In the mid-80s, was driving the Interstate into Chattanooga from the south, and shortly before the TN border (I think), looked down to the right and saw a grass field with early jets lined up. Must have been some sort of museum. Probably 10 or so aircraft. I would think someone on here knows more about it and if it still exists. It certainly looked interesting.

Lots of tks guys
Will let you know what my trip will turn out

Hi--

If the mid-80s sighting of a line of early jets in a field south of the Tennessee border was from Interstate 75, that would be the "World Air Museum" collection at Mercer Air Field, north of Atlanta GA. A few light aircraft and a C-47 were based there as well. Looking through a group of pix I took in summer 1981, there were:

Douglas C-47 "O-16369" (flew in from NAS Atlanta airshow while I was there)
Lockheed T-33A 52-9574
Martin Mace missile 56-2883 (on pole)
NAA F-86D/L 51-5896 (ex Georgia ANG)
Republic F-84G "51604"
Republic F-84F 52-6476 (Vietnam camo)
Sikorsky H-34 (Army)
Vought F-8 145326 (NAVY/MARINE, tail code "7B")

Also there in a small hangar were a Beech V35 and a Piper Cub. I'veong wondered what happened to this stuff--it isn't still there, is it?

S.

Hey Steve, found this

http://www.grabbingsand.com/i75mercer/

Drove by there last weekend. They are still there but they are in ROUGH shape. If you wait much longer they will be piles of rubble...

I think you were there about the time I was. I took alot of pictures. I went to Lemoore NAS, AIMD Jet Shop. I was there for the first F-18's

You beat me, I was in Memphis the summer of 94 and went to NAS Lemoore that same year. I was an AT in VFA-22. All the A-7s were gone when I got there. I think the A-4s where dropped that year also. I really wish I had gotten some pictures of them. But I didn't have a good camera yet. I had it for my 2 West PACs.

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

Our museum bought the C-47 that was at the mercer museum, we now fly it as an AC-47 gunship. anyone got any pictures of it while it was at mercer ??? Robert Rice

Robert--

Yep...As I said she arrived from NAS Atlanta while I was there, so I have one shot of her rumbling down the grass runway towards me, and one rear view of her after she parked and just before it began pouring rain...I had only had that camera (a Minolta SR-T200, my first SLR) about two weeks at the time, so the shots are not great but I do have them. The negs may still be about. Or I could get them scanned to CD from the prints and email them to you. PM me and let me know...

Michel--thanx for posting those pix. The T-33 is the same one but MUCH rougher-looking now. The C-131 wasn't there in 1981.

Cheers

S.