With the second weekend now upon
us, it was back to some over-the-fence
viewing. We had stayed the night near
MCAS Yuma in Arizona and at first light
headed to see what we could view from the
outside. There were two North American
Rockwell OV-10 Broncos of VMO-1, six
A-4Fs from VMA-223, ten A-4E/TA-4Fs from
VMFAT-102, seven F-4Bs from VMFAT-101
and eight Grumman A-6A Intruders from
VMA(AW)-332.
It was then back in the car and onwards
to the Tucson area. En route we called in at
the Marana Air Park, which held airliners in
storage. There were Mohawk Airlines and
Allegheny Airlines Fairchild Hiller FH-227s
and Convair 580s, plus a few Boeing 707s
from Pan Am and World Airways. Other
aviation gems included Boeing B-17 Flying
Fortress N809Z (ex 44-85531), several
Electras and an Armstrong Whitworth
Argosy N896U.
Ryan Field, on the east side of Tucson,
was home to 50 big pistons, 45 of which
were Dakotas, all having been retrieved
from the Military Aircraft Storage and
Disposition Center (MASDC) at Davis-
Monthan AFB. Many were hulks, but some
were being returned to airworthy status.
Others sported Military Air Transport
Service markings and titles denoting
the bases at Brooks, Lowry and Wright-
Patterson.
Just down the road at Tucson
International Airport, could be found
such wonderful aircraft as Fairchild C-82
Packets, A-26 Invaders, Grumman Hu-
16 Albatrosses and many other large
pistons.
The airport was, and still is, home to the
162nd Tactical Fighter Group (TFG) of the
Arizona ANG. We noted 37 North American
F-100 Super Sabres.
A highlight of our sojourn in the US
was always going to be the giant MASDC
aircraft storage complex and we had two
days here. The access was fantastic
and, after receiving our security passes,
we were allowed to drive around the vast
storage areas. At the time, the facility was
probably at its highest capacity with roughly5,500 airframes in store. There were large
numbers of Convair B-58 Hustlers, Fairchild
C-119 Flying Boxcars and Douglas C-124
Globemaster IIs, along with a large array of
other types.
We also took in the various companies
surrounding the base that scrapped
aircraft that came from MASDC. The yard
owned by Pete Petrowskis specialised in
big pistons; Delcon Properties had some
F-104As, A-26 Invaders, North American
T-2A Buckeyes and Lockheed T-33B
Shooting Stars; and Hamiltons almost 60
Beech C-45/AT-11 Expeditors.
Davis-Monthan was also home to the
355th TFW (now the 355th Fighter Wing)
and the serials of 56 A-7Ds went into our
logbooks, along with one Lockheed U-2C
and three U-2Rs of the 100th Strategic
Reconnaissance Wing.HEADING BACK NORTH
We then drove towards Phoenix, with Falcon
Field our first stop. Eighty Sikorsky H-19
Chicasaws were stored in a compound with
Piasecki (Vertol) UH-25 Retrievers, Vertol
H-21 Workhorses and H-34s. Elsewhere
were 22 former Royal Canadian Air Force
Harvards, five Lockheed C56D/C60A/PV-1
Lodestars, four ‘Connies’, numerous T-6s
and half a dozen B-17s. A great mix of
types.
Williams AFB was next on our list, but
we were running short of time for our pre-
arranged tour of Luke AFB. We only had
time to visit the T-38A Talon side of the ramp
at Williams and so didn’t get a close look at
the rows of Cessna T-37 Tweets.
Passing by Litchfield Park, there were
four former JAT Convair 440s in store along
with a Boeing B-18 Bolo, N66267 ex 38-http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 61Above: Vought A-7 Corsair IIs filled the ramps at Davis-Monthan AFB as the resident 355th
Tactical Fighter Wing had three squadrons.
Below: The USAF’s Convair B-58A Hustler supersonic bombers were at MASDC in 1974.One of the 37 F-100 Super Sabres noted at Tucson International Airport from the 162nd Tactical Fighter Group/Arizona ANG.58-63_tales_part2_1974DC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 61 05/02/2018 14:49