When a good idea meets a lot of enthusiastic people, it takes off like a plane. And so it was when Lloyd Nolen and a small group of ex air force service pilots pooled their money and bought a P-51 Mustang to enjoy the restoration and flying of this old plane. That was 1957 in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas and the plane at that time was not all that old, but it still needed restoration.
This group was so
enthused with their work on the P-51
they then searched for other aircraft to add to their collection. In the early 1960s they found and bought two
F8F Bearcats and added them to their assemblage.
Figure 31.2 F8 Bearcat
That’s when they
decided they were on a mission to collect, preserve, and thereby celebrate the
history of old aircraft and the men and women who served the Air Force. They named their organization the Confederate
Air Force and then renamed it the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) 20 years ago
when it became apparent that there was nationwide and worldwide interest in
their efforts.
Today, there are several
units of the CAF across our nation that own, maintain, and fly 173 different
aircraft.
Below is a map of the
units (wings) of the CAF:
Figure 31.3
Units of the Commemorative Air Force.
Throughout the year
various units of the CAF participate in events that introduce the organization
and the aircraft to the public as a means of keeping the interest in the
history of these vintage aircraft alive and to generate cash to maintain and
fly the planes. There is no payroll as
the members are all volunteers.
And the good news is
that we have at our San Marcos Airport the Central Texas Wing of the CAF. Its base is in the hangar building at the end
of the road near the air terminal.
The Central Texas
Wing is the proud home of these five aircraft:
B-25
MITCHELL “YELLOW ROSE”
Figure 31.4 “Yellow
Rose”
The “Yellow Rose”,
the christened name of the vintage B-25J Mitchell WWII bomber, is flying again.
The bomber is completely restored to its wartime capabilities and is operated
by the Commemorative Air Force Central Texas Wing. It is one of the flying museum
pieces belonging to the organization’s “Ghost Squadron” aircraft collection. It
took four years to restore the aircraft to WWII condition by members of the
Central Texas Wing. It was donated to the CAF in 1981. Thousands of man hours
were devoted to this aircraft over the four-year period by the members of the
Yellow Rose Squadron to bring the Rose back into full operational readiness.
P-39 AIRACOBRA “MISS CONNIE”
The Bell P-39 Airacobra
was one of the principal American fighter aircraft in service when the United
States entered World War II. The P-39 was used by the Soviet Air Force and
enabled individual Soviet pilots to collect the highest number of kills
attributed to any U.S. fighter type flown by any air force in any conflict.
Other major users of the
type included the Free French, the Royal Air Force, the United States Army Air
Forces, and the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force. Designed
by Bell Aircraft,
it had an innovative layout, with the engine installed in the center fuselage,
behind the pilot, and driving a tractor propeller with a long shaft. It was
also the first fighter fitted with a tricycle landing gear. Although its
mid-engine placement was innovative, the P-39 design was handicapped by the
absence of an efficient turbo charger preventing it from performing
high-altitude work. For this reason, it was rejected by the RAF for use over
western Europe but adopted by the USSR, where most air combat took place at
medium and lower altitudes.
C-310/U-3
The U-3A began life as the Cessna model 310A (which had gained
fame as the “Songbird” flown by Skyler “Sky” King of radio and TV fame) in
January of 1953. The USAF decided it would make an excellent replacement for
its fleet of aging Beech C-45s in the administrative support, liaison, and
light cargo duties. Built as a four or five passenger fast executive transport,
546 U-3As were accepted by the United States Air Force. Originally designed as
L-27As, the U-3A served as an executive transport, liaison aircraft and
performed as chase planes in several units that operated the U-2.
Figure 31.7 AT-6
Texan in 1943 photo
The AT-6 Texan is an American Pratt
and Whitney Wasp powered trainer aircraft used to train our pilots
and the air crews of our allies during World War II, Designed by North American Aviation, the T-6 is known by a variety of
designations depending on the model and operating air force. The United States Army
Air Corps (USAAC) and USAAF designated it as the AT-6, the United States Navy the SNJ, and British Commonwealth Air Forces the Harvard, the name by which it
is best known outside the United States. Starting in 1948, the new United States Air Force (USAF) designated
it the T-6, with the USN following in 1962. A total of 15,495 T-6s of all
variants were built and more than 125,000 air crew were trained with this aircraft.[1]
C-45 EXPeDITOR
“LONE STAR LADY”
The C-45 was developed based on the Beech Aircraft Corporation’s
Model 18 “Twin Beech “series. First flight for the original company design was
recorded on January 15th, 1937 and the aircraft was introduced that same year.
The US military adopted the Model 18 in many guises including the United States
Army Air Forces (USAAF) designated the “C-45”. It went on to become a fixture
within the inventories of the USAAF (later the USAF), the US Navy and the USMC
and saw additional service overseas with British and Canadian forces through
Lend-Lease. In all, some 9,000 C-45s were built in a span of years from 1937 to
1970.
Figure 31.9
"That’s All, Brother" file photo
Below, the very plane you see here in
this file photo and parked at the San Marcos Airport was the lead aircraft on
the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. This aircraft was
recently pulled out of the hangar at San Marcos and the engines were run to get
all the parts oiled up and ready to go for the next time in the air. Here it is sitting on the concrete at the
hangar pad last month.
Piloted
by Lt. Col. John Donaldson, it led over 800 C-47s that dropped over 13,000 paratroopers in
Normandy, France on D-Day.
After the war in 1945
the plane was sold to the civilian market and had many owners over many years
during which its historical significance was lost. Then two historians from the USAF found it
being sold for scrap metal in Wisconsin.
It was brought to the attention of the Commemorative Air Force which was
able to acquire the plane, and through a large group of donors and volunteers
restore the plane accurately to 1944 specifications and flying status. It can be experienced by taking a tour or
going on a flight.
In 2019 The Central
Texas Wing of the CAF flew That’s All, Brother with 14 other C-47/DC-3s
to make the epic journey back over the Atlantic to celebrate the 75th
anniversary of D-Day and commemorate all the Great Ones who had been
involved. They retraced the classic air ferry
path from the U.S. to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, and England to join
up with over 30 C-47/DC-3s in Duxford, England.
On June 5, That’s All, Brother flew, with 18 re-enactor
paratroops who boarded the plane in England, over the English Channel, and made
a successful paradrop flight over Normandy.
On June 6, That’s All, Brother
flew with 12 other C-47/DC-3s in formation to close out the D-Day commemoration
over the U.S. cemetery in Normandy, and then continued to Germany for the 70th
commemoration of the Berlin Airlift and back to France for the Paris Air
Show. It was, to those who took part, a
very memorable experience. . To see a video of that trip go to: D-Day
The hanger at the San
Marcos Airport is a city landmark and is part of the museum housing the 8
aircraft assigned to the CAF Central Texas Wing as well as a WWII Jeep, a 1916
Republic truck, an A-4 and a C-47 cockpit open to visitors. The museum also has exhibits in the 3,000-
volume library and Officers’ Club plus the main 5 rooms dedicated to aviation
through all eras but primarily WWII.
Room 1 displays
exhibits of WWI and Modern aviation.
Room 2 exhibits consist
of the European Theater and weapons from all areas of WWII. There are also exhibits dedicated to the
Tuskegee Airmen, Germany, Russia, N. Africa, and D-Day.
Of special interest
to us was the WAC poster as each of us had an aunt who served as a WAC. One served as a driver in England and France
the other ferried returning wounded soldiers by truck from the army airbase in
Ogden, Utah to the hospital.
The story of
Jacqueline Cochran and the formation of the WASPS is also interesting.[2]
By September of 1942
pilots were desperately needed to ferry planes from the factories to
embarkations and to training bases.
Twenty- eight women with 500 hours of flying experience were accepted
and based in Delaware under the Air Transport Command. About that same time Jacqueline Cochran
offered to organize a group of women pilots with less experience (200 hrs.)
than the WAFs. who were funded by Civil Service. Her offer was accepted and in June 1943 the
name was changed to Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) with Jacqueline
Cochran as Director. The WAFS were
included with Nancy Love remaining as Commander of the Ferrying Service. More
than 25,000 women from all over the U.S., Canada, England and Brazil applied
but only U.S. citizens were accepted. Of
those 1,830 were acknowledged and 1,074 achieved their wings.
One of those women was Bernice “Bee” Falk. She was born in 1920 into an industrious
family involved in merchandising where the women enjoyed the
freedom to work and help earn money to benefit their families. Because of the Depression, Bee was unable to
attend college. Instead she took
secretarial classes in high school in preparation for finding a job and ended
up as a private secretary to the patent attorney for Conmar, a company
producing zippers for the war effort in Newark, N.J. However, feeling bad about not going to
college, she looked into night classes and was amazed to find courses in aeronautics. Realizing that aviation was here to stay and
wanting to do something more for the war effort she decided to enroll in 1943
at the Newark College of Engineering. It
wasn’t long before she and a few of her classmates were inspired to sign up at
their instructor’s flight school where they began spending weekends and
vacations learning to fly some of his acquired Taylorcrafts. The Taylorcraft featured side-by-side seating
and 65 horsepower. It had to be started by hand, pulling the propeller.
Bee was one of six taking flight
lessons who applied and were accepted in the WASP class of 44-7. She graduated on September 8, 1944 and began
her first assignment at Pecos Air Force Base, Pecos, Texas testing trainer
A-17s that had been repaired.
The WASP group was disbanded on December 20, 1944 and the women
entered civilian life. Bee finally
started Garden State Airways, ferrying new light planes from manufacturers to
dealers and became a dealer herself and never lost her love of flying.
Continuing with Room
3 of the museum we find airborne cameras and their products, survival gear and
memorabilia from Korea, China, Burma and India.
Museum room 4
includes the San Marcos Army Navigational School, Pearl Harbor, the Aleutian
Islands and Viet Nam while Room 5 is dedicated to the Dolittle Raid and
Japanese war memorabilia.
Every time we stop by
there, we learn something new as we look around the museum and chat with the
volunteers. And we’re drawn to the back
porch whenever we hear the easily recognized sounds of the motors of those old
planes as they pass near BWR. Long may
they continue to fly!
-----------------SIGHTINGS--------------------
At 7:30 am on the 26th
of July as R was walking back to the house with the Daily Record, he spotted
the following and rushed in the back door hollering, “Look out back!” I replied, “I am, I see the deer.”
“No, higher!” It was beautiful!
The left side was
right in the back yard minus the pot of gold.
It must have been at the end of the right side over toward the Castles. Too
bad we didn’t realize at the time that our new phones would have enabled us to
take a panoramic photo. Dang!
But then we stitched the left side photo and the right side
photo together.
Figure 31.19 Full rainbow on 26 July 2020
In this picture you
can see the rainbow was double at times.
What a nice start to a Sunday morning, hope some of you caught it as
well.
Our other bit of
information is a non- sighting as the Painted Buntings have departed.
