Florida Forts

This is a book I no longer have and really wish I still did. Though with moving to Connecticut soon, maybe it doesn't matter so much. Anyway, this book by local author Alejandro De Quesada is an excellent guide to the forts of Florida. The book is arranged in time periods, from the earliest colonial settlements to the defensive sites of the Cold War. The book covers all existing forts and several forts that are long gone, with a fascinating historical text, along with descriptions and photos of the sites today. Several are National or State parks, some are cared for by other agencies, and some are simply neglected and left to the raveges of nature. This book is excellent for a history of the state or for someone wanting to see historic places in Florida. Also good because it has good information about topics that are otherwise hard to find, such as the Seminole Wars and the early colonial disputes. Overall and excellent book, highly reccomended for anyone living in or near Florida. It can be found on Amazon here.
A History of Florida Forts
Alejandro De Quesada
218 Pages
2006, History Press

Whitey

Ok, so somehow a submarine legend has passed on without my hearing about it. At least until I read it here. So I figured this Submarine Sunday will be my tribute to him.

Chester "Whitey" Mack was such a legend among the sub force, that the book Blind Man's Bluff devotes an entire chapter to his exploits. Born July 20, 1931 in Glen Lyon, Pennsylvania he earned a chemical engineering degree from Penn State despite being the son of a coal miner. Already known as a renegade in the sub fleet, in 1967 he became commander of the USS Lapon, where his true legacy would be born. The Soviets had just built the Yankee class, their first nuclear powered ballistic missile sub. US intelligance on the new boats was sketchy at best, and it became clear that only another submarine could provide more data. In March of 1969, Mack pulled the Lapon up to within 300 yards of a Soviet Yankee in the Barents Sea - The Soviet Navy's principal training area. After taking photographs through the periscope, the Lapon was detected and forced to run away at high speed. This adventure alone was not enough, though as "rival" sub commander Kinnaird McKee had already topped it by collecting sound signatures from two classes of Soviet subs as well as data on a nuclear powered ice breaker. Another commander, Guy Shaffer, had already photographed the underside of a Yankee class boat and gotten sound signatures. But all this data was considered useless until someone could track a Yankee for an extended period. On September 16, 1969, the Lapon got a message that a Yankee was found north of Norway, heading south. The crew headed north and waited in the Denmark Strait at modified battle stations. One day later the Yankee passed by and the Lapon began a "sprint and drift" trail of the Soviet boat. For four days the Yankee appeared and disappeared on Lapon's sonar, until Mack decided on a new idea: To head south of the Azores Islands and wait for the Yankee. After the Lapon had gotten caught in a fishing net and had to surface to clear it, the Yankee showed up. Determined not to lose it, the Lapon followed at 3,000 yards - a very dangerous distance underwater. Using a revolutionary sonar system, they tracked the Soviet sub and registered changes in its tones as it maneuvered. After several days the Yankee settled into a patrol area, 1,500 to 2,000 miles off the US coast, much further than the 700 miles thought by US analysts. The trail continued and the crew began to make light of the situation, giving names to the Soviet Officer-of-theDecks and making remarks like "we just got sh*t on" when the Yankee blew its sanitary tanks. Finally after 47 days the Yankee headed home and Lapon broke off the trail. The longest trail before then had been only a few days, and more importantly, the Lapon had proven that the Yankee could be tracked. The Lapon soon earned the Presidential Unit Citation, and Mack finally got the glory he had sought. He even got his own song, written by CIA spook Tommy Cox, who was aboard the Lapon for its long mission.

Memorial Monday

Ok, tommorow marks the end of the Berlin Airlift in 1949. It began in June 1948 when the Soviet Union blockaded Western Berlin from all supplies. Berlin was entirely inside the Soviet occupation zone, but was split between the victorious powers. The Soviets cut off Berlin in 1948 in an attempt to force the Western nations to accept its demands concerning Germany. The Allies turned instead to the sky. While roads, railroads, and rivers were blocked by the Soviets, the treaty signed in 1945 had designated three airspace corridors allowing access to Berlin from the West. There was only one way to stop an aircraft: Shoot it down. And shooting down an unarmed aircraft in a treaty-protected zone would be an unquestionable act of war. On June 25, 1948 the airlift began and lasted for fifteen months. While the blockade was lifted in May of 1949, the last plane of the airlift flew on September 30. During those months, over 75,000 people from the US, England, France, Germany, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and Baltic State reufgees loaded and flew over 2,300,000 tons of vital supplies to the people of Berlin in the greatest humanitarian airlift in history. The US and its allies had won a major Cold War victory, and without firing a shot. And so, our first "Memorial Monday" is dedicated to these men and women who showed the Soviets that beating us just would not be that easy.
Photos taken at an airshow at Beaufort, South Carolina in spring 2004.
The Spirit of Freedom is a Douglas R5D transport that participated in the Berlin Airlift, and now flys as a memorial to these brave men who saved Berlin.

Dive! Dive!

Ok, so this is the St Marys Submarine Museum, another popular, if only locally known, attraction. It is in a small building on the old waterfront, and inside resembles something of an old attic. Fascinating artifacts are randomly piled everywhere, seeming to pour from the walls themselves.
Anyone home?
Some artifacts from WW2 subs, particularly Germany and Australia

Going down.....
An assortment of old control panels from decommed subs
A melted mess of electronic components from the USS Bonefish, which suffered a massive battery fire on April 24 1988 off the coast of Florida. Temperatures reached as high as 1,200 degrees, forcing the ship to surface and evacutate the crew. After being towed to Charleston, SC, it was deemed beyond repair and was decommisioned.
Artifacts from Soviet subs
Submariner pins from Nazi Germany

Boneyard part tree

Ok, this is the last of the Pima posts, and focuses mostly on the majority of the museum's WW2 collection, whic we saw after the AMARG tour. We begin with this spectacular plane, rarely seen in the US, the Hawker Hurricane, the unsung hero of the Battle of Britain.
B24 Liberator, arguably a better overall plane than the B17 and did just as much, but far less well known.
An actual Nazi V1 Buzz bomb, the weapon that terrorized London in the latter days of the war. Most examples in museums are reproductions.

F16 canopy from aircraft shot down in Iraq Jan 19, 1991 (the first Gulf War.) It was flown by Major Jeffrey Scott Tice, who ejected safely after being hit by a Surface to Air missle and was held as a POW until Mar 13. The canopy was recovered by the 101st Airborne Division in April 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
A local resident says hello
A parade of old airport firetrucks brings a sense of completness to the aircraft collection.
An oddly shaped meteorite known as the Tucson Ring Meteorite
This is the 390th Bomb Group Memorial, called a "museum within a museum", this is separately run from the rest of Pima, but is located inside it and has no additional cost. The 390th flew its first bombing mission on Aug 12, 1943, but became famous on a mission to Munster on Oct 10, 1943. On this raid, a fierce air battle took place where the 390th shot down a record 62 German fighters. This reputation continued as they became known as the most accurate bomb group in the 8th Air Force, with the lowest losses per mission/bombs dropped. They flew 301 missions until May 1945, losing a total of 179 aircraft, and never once turned back due to enemy action. The heart of the memorial is the meticulously restored B17 Flying Fortress, the most recognized aircraft of WW2.

First US flag ashore on Utah Beach on Jun 6, 1944 (DDay).
An F4F pulled out of Lake Michigan. On April 12, 1945, Ensign Robert Woodruff flew out of Glenview Naval Air Station to conduct landings and takeoffs on the training carrier USS Wolverine. Just before reaching the deck, the Landing Signal Officer saw he was too low and waved him off. The plane touched the deck just as the pilot applied power, and the tailhook caught an arresting wire, causing the plane to be dragged down to the deck and over the side. The pilot was not hurt and returned to Glenview for more training. The aircraft was one of several recovered from the lake in the mid 1990's.
The giant B29 Superfortress. Like the B17, but much bigger and with much more range, it brought the war to Japan, destroying their production to the point where they no longer had enough fighters to attempt to shoot down the invading bombers. On August 6, 1945, a B29 changed the world forever by dropping the first atomic bomb, bringing a hasty close to the world's most bloody war.
Another fairly uncommon plane, the TBM Avenger. Developed just before WW2, this large torpedo bomber was first shown to the public at the opening of a new Grumman plant on Dec 7, 1941, just hours before the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor hurled the US into the global conflict. The aircraft first saw action at the end of the battle of Midway. They were flown by both actor Paul Newman, and future President George H. W. Bush, who was shot down, but dropped his payload on target first, earning him the Distinguished Flying Cross. The planes flew many important missions, including the sinking of the Japanese Super Battleship Yamato, and the submarine I52, which was transporting gold to Germany as payment for technology. It is also belived that the sub was to pick up some Uranium Oxide from the Germans to build a nuclear "dirty bomb". The Avenger also gained fame when a group known as Flight 19 disapeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
Bomb tags used on B29 bombers, including the city, date, and mission number.

Boneyard part dose

Ok, this is the real "Boneyard", or 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan AFB. I have wanted to come here for years, inspired by powerfull images of rows and rows of B52 bombers and other warplanes, a symbol of the great war with Russian that never came. Most of the B52s are now gone, but the place stills conveys a sense of power. The base was created in 1946 and since then has been used to store excess aircraft for future use or spare parts. It currently holds over 4,000 aircraft with an estimated total value of several billion dollars. Due to money from selling planes for scrap, it is also one of the few government agencies that makes more money than it needs to run. Starting above, we see a row of F16 Fighting Falcons in storage. Most of these are former air guard units, as can be seen by the logos on that tails for Arizona, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, and others. These are kept in better condition as most will be probably be reactivated or sold to other countries.
The tour bus goes through "museum row", a lineup of enough aircraft to make an entire separate museum, though only a few are shown here. Above is an S3 Viking and an A4 Skyhawk used as a Red Rogue fighter for training at the US Navy Fighter Weapons School.

The McDOnnell Douglas YC15, the competitor to the YC14 (last post) to replace the C130. While neither one went into production, the basic design of the YC15 is readily apparent in the modern C17 Globemaster.
The EC24, a DC8 modified for electronic warfare and testing.
Several rows of T37 Tweet trainers
hundreds of F4 Phantom fighters

S3 Vikings
A7 Corsairs and T2 Buckeyes
This is the area where all aircraft arriving or leaving pass through. Protective covering is applied here if they are going into storage, and it is removed and all systems checked if they are leaving.
Rows of F14 Tomcats with C5 Galaxies behind them
F111 Aardvarks, now retired from the US, kept mostly for spare parts for the Australian Air Force, which still flies the type.

Several C141s, also recently retired from the Air Force.
This is the ultimate fate of those iconic rows of B52s. Due to the Strategic Nuclear Arms Reduction Treatys, the old B52s are chopped up into several large pieces and left for a specified number of days to allow Russian sattelites to verify their destruction.
A group of F18 Hornets, and in the background the next B52s that will become victims of the START treaty.
Here is the closest thing to the old rows of B52s. A rather small cluster of more modern B1 Lancer bombers, too valuable to cut up, kept for spare parts to keep the others operational.
This grouping of planes is destined for various museums, and are awaiting pickup.

Boneyard part 1

Ok, this is the Pima Air and Space museum, my favorite aviation museum in the US (and I have been to a lot!) This massive museum is the world's largest non-government funded, boasting over 250 aircraft on 80 acres with a truly unique blend of Air Force, Navy, Army, even foreign aircraft. It all began in 1976 when local enthusiasts became concerned with all the aircraft going into storage at nearby Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, and started the museum with the surplus aircraft. Now the base serves as a unique source that gives the museum its ecclectic and massive collection. This is one of my most difficult posts because of having to pick from so many amazing aircraft and photos. So these are my absolute favorites, and all of the photos are on my Dropshots account. Please visit to see all the great plane photos, and if you happen to be in Arizona, and like airplanes or history, you really need to stop by! And don't forget you can click the photos on here to make them bigger! We kick off with the group photo above, including from left to right an OV10 Bronco, A7 Corsair 2, A4 Skyhawk, A6 Intruder, F14 Tomcat, and F105 Thunderchief.
In the first hanger we find this beautiful example of an S3 Viking.
This is my favorite noseart that I've seen. It's just so well done!
PBM Mariner
Two of my favorites in one shot: The A10 Thunderbolt 2 and SR71 Blackbird.
The rare F107 fighter
This lineup would make any aviation enthusiast (or museum) drool. From left to right AV8 Harrier, YF4 Phantom 2, F11 Tiger, F3 Demon, F8 Crusader, and F6 Skyray.
Another impressive lineup left to right F101 Voodoo, F102 Delta Dagger, F104 Starfighter, F105 Thunderchief, F106 Delta Dart, and A4 Skyhawk.
Super Guppy transport
This unusual craft is an AEW3 Gannet, A British airborne early warning and control plane developed after WW2.

The YC14 prototype, one of two competitors in the 1970s to replace the C130 Hercules. Although the YC14 and 15 were both very succesful, niether went into production.
The main helicopter collection, from left to right OH58 Kiowa, two UH1 Hueys, HH43 Huskie, HH52 Seaguard, HH3 Pelican, H37 Mojave, H21 Shawnee,HUP3 Army Mule, H19 Chickasaw, H5 Dragonfly, HO3 Dragonfly, and HTL7 Sioux.
The Avro Shackleton bomber, built after WW2 as the last British piston engine bomber. It entered service in 1951, and served as a bomber in several small conflicts around the globe. This particular example retired in July 1991 and is the only one in flying condition left in the world.
The massive B36 Peacemaker, the giant intercontinental bomber built following WW2.
Two other now rare aircraft, an extended wing Canberra used for research by NASA, and a Skycrane helicopter.

The RB1 Conestoga built by the Budd (hey that's me!) Company out of Philadelphia. Designed at the begining of WW2, it was made of welded stainless steel due to fears of alluminum shortage. The Army and Navy placed orders for the plane, having its first flight on Oct 31, 1943. But poor flying characteristics as well as construction delays doomed the project. By this time, aluminum had become plentiful and other aircraft had begun to fill the need for cargo transports. This caused the orders to be cancelled and only 17 were delivered to the Navy. Some flew for civilian companies for a short time after the war, but several crashed and they were soon discontinued in favor of more popular designs such as the C47.
Another rarity, the F7F Tigercat.
A British Bristol Blenheim bomber
A B23 Dragon, developed to replace the B18 Bolo bomber, but inferior to other bombers of the day, so only a handful were made and none saw combat.

This is great. Three B52 bombers, an A, D, and G model, all sitting next to each other. Looks like a force to be reckoned with.
The elusive and ahead of its time B58 Hustler supersonic bomber
A trainer version of the F102 Delta Dagger
Where else in the Western World will you see this? A Mig 19 Farmer, two Mig 15 Fagots, two Mig 17 Frescos, and a Mig 21 Fishbed. превосходный!
A Constellation transport, by the name of Columbine 2. Those who are familiar with the more prestigous Air Force Museum might wonder why this is here. Because this plane was General Eisenhower's plane during WW2. President Eisenhower's plane, Columbine 3, also a Connie, is at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.