that the Naval Weapons Center China Lake
ranges might contain some rarities.
We arrived at the China Lake gate on the
morning of April 30 and signed in. Our guide
was Denny Kline, a delightful gentleman, who
went on to have a high-profile career in media
relations.
I remember stopping under the clear
azure blue skies to photograph the four gateguards, a pair of early Douglas aircraft, YA-4A
Skyhawk 137814 and XF4D-1 124587, along
with a Grumman F-11B Tiger 138647, then it
was on to the ramps.
We were allowed to take photographs in
some areas but not in the hangars or on the
test aircraft apron. The largest of the ramps
contained the support aircraft and the US
Navy’s target drone programmes. In relationto the latter there were 29 QF-86H Sabres
including some awaiting conversion, three
QT-33As and three early Northrop T-38A
Talons that were also due to become drones,
but this last programme didn’t get off the
ground. The sight of these ‘active’ Sabres
blew my mind and I never thought I would see
such a sight, but then two years later I saw
more flying in Japan. But that is another story
already told in these pages (Aviation News
December 2011 and January 2012 issues).
The support aircraft comprised a Convair
C-131F, Navy Bell HH-1K and an Army
Cessna U-3A.
The Naval Weapon Center ramp contained
an assortment of types, including four
Grumman A-6A Intruders, three Skyhawks,
four Phantoms, one of each Navy variant
of the A-7, a couple of Marine Corps North
American Rockwell OV-10A Broncos and a
single US Army Cavalier Mustang, 68-15796.
In those days, VX-5 seemed to borrow aircraft
to supplement its own S-2A 136544.
From the ramp we could see some aircraft
were stored in the desert and Denny was
quite happy to take us out for a closer look- 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.
Sitting out in the sands were half a dozen
former Nebraska ANG Republic RF-84F
Thunderflashes, a gaggle of F-86L Sabre
Dogs, a pair of Lockheed F-80C Shooting
Stars retrieved from Ecuador (49-0851 and
49-1872), several former Military Aircraft
Storage and Distribution Center (MASDC)
Crusader inmates and a few Delta Daggers.
Then a few yards beyond rows of AGM-
28A Hound Dog cruise missiles were five
decaying Boeing B-47A Stratojets and 15
Boeing B-29A Super Fortresses.
One of these B-47As, 52-0166, was
returned to flying status and delivered to
Castle AFB on June 17, 1986 for its then
fledgling museum. Several B-29s also made
it out of the desert including the example now
at the Imperial War Museum Duxford and the
aircraft named Doc, which flew again on July
17, 2016. Colin was beside himself with joy
and ran around photographing all these gems.
Identification was not always easy, however,
as the airframes had suffered in the desert
conditions, and the serials of several had been
68 Aviation News incorporating Jets February 2018Left: US Navy QT-33A drone 156000 was one
of the last conversions of the type and was
struck off charge on May 1, 1974. This photo
was taken the day before.
Below left: Many retired North American F-86F
Sabres found their way into US Navy and US
Army drone programmes. China Lake used a
significant amount and during our visit there
were 26 QF-86F conversions on the field and
a further four waiting to be processed. This
example, 53-1314, had already been modified.
Bottom left: Super Fortress SB-29A 44-
69957/85 was one of 22 examples occupying
Area R within the China Lake complex that
had been placed there in 1960 for ballistic
weapons testing. Its remains had been
removed by 1985.Boeing RB-29A-10-BN Super Fortress 42-93880 Force for Freedom on a range within the NWC
China Lake facility.64-69_tales_part1_1974DCDC.mfDC.indd 68 05/01/2018 18:16