A flying story from the past!!!

[John HOLBROOK]

[QUOTE=John, in your first picture, is that a row of TBMs on the right in the background?[/QUOTE]

We had a dozen JD-1s, about another dozen TBM-3Us which were rigged for target towing, 5 F6F-5s another dozen F6F-5K Target Drones painted red, 4 F7F-2D Drone Controllers, 2 PBM-5As, 2 F8F-2 Bearcats... So I got a lot of experience working on various recips!! I was an Aviation Machinist Mate (Aircraft Engine Mech)..

Plus for two years I was the Plane Captain (Crew Chief) on JD-1 #25 I flew every misson on my plane... I have a little over 1,000 hours in the Jig Dog. I was in VU-10 almost 4 years, a great experience.....

[John HOLBROOK]

[QUOTE=What aircraft did you fly? How many hours?
Thanks for your service.[/QUOTE]

I was not a pilot but aircrew, and I mainly flew in the JD-1 and the A3D.. I started flying in the A3D Skywarrior when I was at Kirtland AFB. in Albuquerque in 1957 and when I was transferred to Heavy Attack at the Sanford, FL NAS, I trained as an Enlisted Bombardier/Navigator in the A3 and spent the remainder of my career flying in the A3. I retired from the Navy in 1970. I have 3,000+ hours in the A3.... Doing this, among other things!!!!!

[John HOLBROOK]

The A26 was a great plane and will fly on one engine, however not on one wing!!!!!!---

[rider]

I remember the "A-26" episode of the old "Wings" series on TV. The narrator was effusive in his praise for that aircraft, and stressed that it was only taken out of service because they ran out of parts.

[sop2510]

As an Air Force brat and Navy veteran, I love this thread. I was born on Muroc AAFB in California (now called Edwards AFB) in 1945. My Dad got out after the war ended, but rejoined the Air Force during the Korean War. He was in SAC and I got to spend a lot of weekends on the SAC base in Columbus, OH (Lockbourne AFB back then) watching B-47 sorties. I've never lost my love for military aircraft, although my Navy career consisted of many months under the Mediterranean Sea pushing missiles around, and many hours aboard military charter flights flying between Rota Naval Air Station, Spain, and Charleston AFB in South Carolina.
Thanks for sharing the stories and photos.

[Griff Murphey]

Also Blimps and TBM/TBF Avengers in target-tug scheme! Great pix! Thanks for your service!

[Cosine26]

I flew 50 missions in the B-26 in Korea. We could really have used those pretty B-26's there as we only had 16 A/C per squadron and "rode them hard and put them away wet." I do not know how to post pictures but if you go to the following URL you can see some of them in actiion.

http://www.bombgroup17.com/home

Click on "K9Photos" to see the B-26's
On this day 65 years ago I was on a picket cruiser headed for the Panama Canal to join the Japanese invasdion task force. Paul Tibbets and the EnolA Gay eliminated that requirment.