Aviation News — February 2018

in at Mojave air eld which then didn’t host

the myriad of stored airliners it does today.

We were given access onto the ramps and

saw long-time resident Douglas C-133A

Cargomasters, 54-0136 and 56-2001, a pair

of Boeing C-97G Stratocruisers 52-0899

and 52-0930 as well as a selection of former

Royal Canadian Air Force Vampires, Sabres

and CT-133 Silver Stars, along with various

other highlights such as Douglas A-26B

Invaders, F-104B, Grumman F8F Bearcat, a

couple of Sikorsky H-34 Choctaws and North

American F-100A Super Sabre, N100X, which

was on display.

DESERT TREASURES

Despite being somewhat naive we were

one of the  rst groups to gain access to the

US Navy’s China Lake facility on the edge

of the Mojave Desert. Colin, who had been

to the States before and covered a lot of it

by Greyhound bus, was our guiding light on

where to go and what to see. He was also

very interested in older aircraft and knew

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 67

Top right: One of three MCAS El Toro-based

F-4B Phantom IIs of VMF-323 visiting NAS

Alameda.

Above right: Three RVAH-13 North American

RA-5C Vigilantes assigned to the USS Ranger’s

air wing were transiting through the base.

Right: Warning Star 52-3417 at McClellan AFB

was built as an RC-121D before conversion to

EC-121T con guration. Today, it is part of the

Castle AFB museum collection.

The view from the control tower

over the Nevada ANG’s 192nd

TRS ramp at Reno-Tahoe airport.

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