Vintage shots from days gone by!

"Skinning a buffalo the easy way, ca. 1945"

 

---- and the winner is

Beech Stagerwing

 

Ready for more from Tacoma and the surrounding area of Washington State?
Ironically the scorched building behind that burning tanker, was the "Bacon Building"!

 

continued.

 

and some more.

 

again from Tacoma, that's "Amocat" spelled backwards!

 

almost done.

 

more, more, more!

 

Oh no, it's me again!

 

My old squadron, VF-21 then at NAS Miramar, 1981-83 and embarked on the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) in Airwing-14. I was the squadron "Spy" or Intel officer. Great old plane, I did get quite a few freebie hops in the back seat. Gary

Oops: I just noticed the yellow gear is green and the USAF blue truck in the backgound, so old 201 must have been on a cross country or TDY some place, perhaps Nellis?

 

Ha, I used to watch you guys flying patterns over Miramar all day , from the Jaguar store I worked at right across the street!

 

Wear your seatbelt!

 

.....

 

Almost through the pics.

 

Hope this isn't a repeat. Would love to find a set of those pumps.

 

....

 

Small world! Ah, the sound of freedom. Gary

 

Another vote for the F-4 Phantom. Watching them leave Danang two at a time with the afterburners on was an absolute treat of sight and sound. They were the hotrods of the war.

 

If you guys want to fight about the best looking planes out there then you have to go here.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/600984

Ever thought that you would see a thread longer than this one well this is over 3600 pages and its actually part two of it. Its a photography thread but it just gives you the best looking shots of these planes.

 

This plane is in my log book, next to last F-4B made, last is 153915 in the museum @ Pensacola Fl. I was in VF-161 in 1973.
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/5/6/3/2157365.jpg

 

Fresh meat at the market?

 

I can't believe the people that gather around my computer when it goes in screen saver mode.

 

Double small world! When I got to VF-21 they had been thru F-4 B, J, N, S and back to Ns for our last cruise. Then they went F-14s after that and to the Connie I think, but are now decommissioned. Gary

 

yeah, fantastic, unbelievable ...
however.
i suppose photography is now just about able to capture more than the human eye (meaning dynamic range, focus etc., not infra-red) but compared to Kodachrome or glass plate stuff - it just leaves me cold.
That is where this thread has me hooked; with all the limitations of the equipment and the situations of shooting processing and archiving - and then there is the candid blurry mouldering background action in the box brownie snaps - that adds so much to wonder about ...
it's a personal preference - i do hang out on those warbird threads and can see the photographers are having a blast- it's just i'ld rather see the old stuff that hopefully survives, (like the Grumman stuff posted by Armyjunk on Warbird Information Exchange, Iwo Jimo by Mark on Picasa,
San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives' Flickr photostream
the military collections available free on Fold3, the NASA/NACA, American Memory Project @ LOC or almost any Shorpy)
steven

 

Ahh...yes! The early Navy versions were the best looking, imho. The black nose and the red "arrow" intake warning marking. Do not care for the later Wild Weasel versions. It destroyed that beautiful, bulbous nose. This was a real thirsty beast, but a ground breaking plane.

 

I drove down that street in the Port Huron picture yesterday, as I do several times a week. All those buildings are still there, although Orttenburgers horse is long gone as is the business. They were a travel agency as well as a luggage store. Behind the tall building is a river that the street on the picture, Huron Ave., crosses, the Seagrams sign is on the bank building on the far side. That's exactly how that street looked in my youth in the early 60's, most of the storefronts were later modernized.