of the San Francisco Bay, and to get there
we routed via Hayward Municipal Airport
to see the California ANG Fairchild C-119G
Flying Boxcars. We logged ve of these, as
well as ve Helio U-10 Super Couriers and
a Convair C-131D and TC-131E. I noted a
US Coast Guard Grumman HU-16 Albatross
s/n 7229 over ying as well. Then we called
in at Oakland International Airport where
we bagged three Lockheed T-33A Shooting
Stars of the 4787th Air Base Group and ve
US Army Cessna U-3 Blue Canoes. We also
saw a selection of civilian ‘big props’, including
former Royal New Zealand Air Force C-60A
Lodestar N611N and Consolidated PBY-5A
Catalina N68740, along with several Douglas
C-47s. There was also Lockheed L.749A
Constellation N5595A on the dump, which
had been involved in a ground collision with a
DC-7 on June 20, 1961.
The visit to NAS Alameda was con ned to
the active part of the eld and didn’t include
the Naval Air Repair Facility. Such was our
ignorance at the time, we hadn’t realised the
two were separate commands. That said,
we still logged over 100 airframes with the
resident US Navy and US Marine Corps
Reserve units, including such diverse types
as LTV A-7A Corsair IIs, Douglas A-4C
Skyhawks, Douglas EA-3B Skywarriors,
C-118B Liftmasters, Sikorsky SH-3A Sea
Kings and CH-53A Sea Stallions.
The base was also hosting some
transiting aircraft: three North American
RA-5C Vigilantes from RVAH-13, two VC-7
A-4Cs, a pair of TA-4Js from VT-24, Vought
F-8K Crusader assigned to VF-24, VAQ-
131 Grumman EA-6B Prowler, McDonnell
Douglas F-4J Phantom II from VX-4 as well
as three F-4Bs from the US Marine Corps’
VMF-323. There was also NASA Convair 990
N713NA. The dump held a large selection
of Lockheed T-1A Seastars, Grumman F-9J
Cougars and retired A-3 and A-4 airframes.
The day, however, didn’t end there, as we
had just enough time for a quick detour to
Hamilton AFB where we saw several of the
resident Air Force Reserve Lockheed C-130B
Hercules of the 336th Tactical Airlift Squadron.One, C-130B 58-0714, was still in the type’s
original natural metal nish, whilst the others
wore the brown tactical scheme and the ‘HM’
tail code.
Day two started with a brief look over
the fence at Travis AFB where we found 11
Boeing KC-135A Stratotankers of the resident
916th Air Refueling Squadron (ARS) and 16
Lockheed C-141A Starlifters plus a similar
number of C-5A Galaxy transports from the
60th Military Airlift Wing.
The next stop was at Mather AFB, home
to both the 320th Bomb Wing (BW) and
322nd Flying Training Wing. Our visit was
con ned to the latter with its 72 ConvairT-29Cs navigation trainers and 13 Boeing
T-43As including factory-fresh 73-1150, which
had only arrived the day before. That said,
with telescopes we were able to identify ten
of the 15 B-52Gs of the 320th BW’s and eight
KC-135As.CONSTELLATIONS
From here we headed to McClellan AFB for
our visit to the 552nd Airborne Early Warning
and Control Wing. Again, our naivety in not
realising the AMA existed, cost us many
numbers as the facility was the main overhaul
base for both the Convair F-106 Delta Dartand the General Dynamics F-111. When
we arrived at the main gate that Saturday
our escort officer was nowhere to be found,
however several calls were made and no less
than the unit commander, Colonel Robert P
Halpenny, cut short his game of golf to come
to our aid. He was very friendly and obviously
loved his Lockheed EC-121T Constellations
and the work they undertook.
We were granted access to the large
ramp and hangars where we noticed lots of
signs saying ‘AWACS spoken here’. Airborne
Warning and Control System (AWACS) was
a new term then and related to the Boeing
E-3A Sentry which was due to enter service
with the unit – it was a intriguing nod to the
future.
While we hadn’t arranged to visit the AMA
we could see three F-111As, two F-106s, two
Star ghters and a HC-130N and ’P outside
and were able make out their serials. The
base was also host to the 55th Weather
Reconnaissance Squadron so we managed
to identify its Boeing WC-135Bs and HC-
130Hs of the 41st Aerospace Rescue and
Recovery Service.
The start of day three, April 28, was set
aside for Beale AFB more speci cally, the
perimeter fence, from where we got the
serials of ve of the 456th BW’s B-52Gs and
14 KC-135As and ’Qs. The 9th Strategic
Reconnaissance Wing’s Lockheed SR-71
Blackbirds were unfortunately locked away.
From here it was down to Reno in Nevada
where, disappointingly, the Air National
Guard’s 152nd Tactical Reconnaissance
Group was not on a drill weekend. However,
a quick phone call to the civilian control
tower and we were invited to come up and
take photos from its veranda. On the ramp
were 19 McDonnell RF-101B/F Voodoo
reconnaissance jets, together with the
support Convair T-29C.
Reno-Tahoe airport today is very busy, but
back in 1974 it was a bit of a sleepy hollow
though there were still a few civilian aircraft
present, including a Travel Club International
Boeing 720, N730T and a Sunfari Convair
880A N5866.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 65TALES FROM THE LOGBOOK
...
‘If I’d thought the
active Sabres were
mind blowing, the
sight that greeted
me at the end of
our short drive was
something else.’
Four Douglas KA-3B Skywarriors of VAQ-308
seen at NAS Alameda on April 26, 1974. All
photos Peter R Foster64-69_tales_part1_1974DCDC.mfDC.indd 65 05/01/2018 18:16