painted over at some point in their history.
We asked if we could go inside some of the
aircraft and there was no objection – though
our host pointed out that if we were able to get
in, so could other things! With the prospect of
meeting some dangerous desert wildlife in a
confined space, we thought better of it.
What a morning it had been – we couldn’t
thank our host enough, but then he said: “Do
you want to see the rest?” We were stunned,
and now faced an almost impossible decision
as we had pre-arranged a visit to Edwards
AFB for the afternoon. With gloomy faces
we had to decline but Denny had been so
impressed by our enthusiasm he said “get
back here by five and we’ll go out then”.
With joy in our hearts – heightened by
seeing a few more wrecks on the way back,
comprising of a few QF-86Hs, QT-33As, QF-
9Js and a TA-4B – we drove to Edwards for
our appointed tour, feeling that perhaps we
had already experienced one of the biggest
highlights of our trip.
We had fixed up the Edwards excursion
with NASA but not surprisingly, due to the
sensitivity of the work at the base, the tour
would be quite limited. It started off with an
overview presentation and were delighted
there was no restriction on photography
in the hangar. The complex contained an
assortment of aircraft types including Martin
X-24A 66-13551, three early production
F-111s, half a dozen Starfighters, NB-52A
52-0008, C-47 N817NA, Northrop YA-9A
11368, a Bell 47G N822NA and a Piper Twin
Comanche N808NA.
This was followed by a non-photographic
flight-line tour of the Air Force Flight Test
Center where we managed to log six out
of the ten McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles
present, four different B-52 variants, four
Northrop F-5Es, ten F-4 Phantom IIs including
the then YF-4E development aircraft 65-0713
which later became the YF-4G pattern aircraft,
a couple more F-111s, two YF-12s and NKC-
135A 55-3128.
We bade our hosts’ farewell and headed
back to China Lake. Denny greeted us with
a beaming smile and said we should get
going as our destination was some distance
away. We set off along the hard dusty tracks
heading into the desert. Our first encounters
were a pair of F-11A Tigers nestling beneaththe shadow of Boeing C-97K Stratocruiser,
52-2669. Its outer wing sections had been
removed and we were told it had been in use
as a wind turbine by means of running the
engines.
This is one of the few aircraft that we saw
in 1974 that remains on base today. The
others were B-29A 44-70102 (in the batch
of 15 we saw earlier) and the as yet unseen
F-111B 152715.
We passed a large gate to the nuclear test
range and headed about ten miles northeast
of the airfield to what I now believe is part of
the Weapons Survivability Laboratory area.
In and around the first compound were
approximately 30 aircraft. Here was a great
selection of early version or pre-production
types. They included F-111B 151974, YOV-
10As 152879 and 152882, a TF-9, three
F-11As, half a dozen A-4B/C Skyhawks,
three F-8 Crusaders, six F-4Bs, three F-89J
Scorpions formerly of the Iowa ANG and
eight Republic F-84F Thunderbolts from the
Virginia and Texas ANGs.
Alas, even to this day I have not been
able to identify some of these relics. The
Phantoms in particular were either devoid of
the relevant sections containing the bureau
numbers or the latter had been over painted.
Beyond this area we could see something
shimmering in the desert heat – another areacontaining more B-29s! Here we found a
further 23 airframes comprising a mixture of
B-29A, RB-29A and SB-29A variants, some
of which had nose art. Again some defied
identification.
Beyond these was an area populated by a
dozen or so Sabres but with time running out
we were given the choice of seeing the Sabres
or a different compound containing, among
other things, another F-111B. In the end it was
an easy decision and I believe the right one,
as only eight F-111Bs were ever built
We set off once again across the desert
to this next compound and in addition to the
promised F-111B 152715 there was a pair of
‘Spads’, EA-1E 134188/GD-700 and AD4NA
127007/B formerly of NAS Atlanta. The
remainder comprised F9F-6 128109/7L-132,
and three A-4As, 137818, 142227/6G and
142235/6G.
We got back to the main base just as
the sun was setting. Dusty and parched we
were taken to the Officers’ Club for some
ice cold drinks and greeted by a chorus of
“Here comes Denny and his ‘boy scouts’!”
Needless to say we bought the beers.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 69Next month: Highlights from the second
part of the trip include visits to Miramar,
El Toro, Yuma, Nellis, Point Mugu and
Davis-Monthan air bases.Right: Stratojet 52-0166 was made airworthy
again and flown out to Castle AFB in 1986 to
join the base’s museum collection.
Below right: A former 173rd TRS Nebraska
ANG Republic RF-84F Thunderflash serves as
a target on the China Lake ranges.
Bottom right: NASA employed several
Lockheed F-104 Starfighters from its
Dryden facility at Edwards AFB. Some were
former USAF examples, however N811NA
was delivered direct from the manufacturer
in late 1963. It was one of three specially
built for use as pilot proficiency aircraft, low
lift-over-drag trainers and chase ’planes.
These three received the designation
F-104N. The jet depicted flew for the last
time in October 1990.64-69_tales_part1_1974DCDC.mfDC.indd 69 05/01/2018 18:16