FlyPast 06.2018

14 FLYPAST June 2018

NEWS THE LATEST IN AVIATION HERITAGE

Boeing KB-50J Superfortress

49-0389 has been transported

to Dover, Delaware’s Air Mobility

Command Museum.

Formerly on show at MacDill

Air Force Base’s memorial park

in Tampa, Florida, the aircraft

was disassembled for its 1,000-

mile journey and is currently being

assessed at its new home, prior to

restoration and reassembly. The

condition of the Superfortress has

inevitably deteriorated during its time

on external display near Tampa Bay,

and staff at Dover estimate that two to

three years of work will be required to

return it to its former glory.

The Boeing is currently in pieces in a

sheltered area, but can be seen next to

the museum’s Lockheed C-5A Galaxy

and C-60 Lodestar. The new exhibit was

built as a B-50D in 1949 before being

modified into a KB-50J aerial tanker

and returning to service with the

4505th Air Refueling Wing. It made

its final flight in February 1965.

http://www.delawareaviationmuseum.org

WITH THANKS TO JIM MANDELBLATT

Superfortress arrives at new home

The fuselage and wings of Superfortress

49-0389 shortly after arrival.

COURTESY JIM MANDELBLATT

Desert Storm ‘Warthog’

arrives at US museum

Giant helicopter restored for display in US

Staff at the New England Air Museum
in Connecticut have recently finished
restoring Sikorsky CH-54B 69-18465.
One of the largest and most versatile
heavy-lift helicopters ever built, the

attraction’s Sikorsky served with the

Connecticut Army National Guard at

Bradley International Airport. It is

one of the 29 ’B variants built, each

powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney

T73-P-700 turboshaft engines.

Designed and constructed in

Connecticut, the type was used in both

military and civilian hands. They were

used to transport troops, equipment

and mobile field hospital facilities

during the Vietnam War. Today several

continue to serve as firefighting and

heavy-lift platforms.

The museum has now turned its

attention to restoring Fairchild Republic

A-10A Thunderbolt II 79-0173 (also see

item about A-10 77-0199 - left). Built in

1979, this jet flew in 1991’s Operation

Desert Storm (the first Gulf War) with the

355th TFS, 354th TFW. http://www.neam.org

The Stafford Air & Space Museum in
Weatherford, Oklahoma, acquired
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
77-0199 on March 5.
The ‘Warthog’ flew in Operation
Desert Storm before conversion into
an instructional airframe. It is destined
to receive new paint and markings at
the museum, although details of the
scheme have not been confirmed.

The A-10 can be seen outside the

entrance to the attraction, near

Lockheed F-104C Starfighter 56-

which has been erected on a plinth

in a near vertical position. Built in

1959, the Starfighter was previously

a gate guard at Van Nuys Air Force

Base in California, and arrived in

Oklahoma in the 1990s.

http://www.staffordmuseum.org

Thunderbolt II 77-0199 on display at the museum with the F-104C visible to the left. TONY SACKETOS

Sikorsky CH-54B 69-18465 on display at the New England Air Museum. TONY SACKETOS

Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II 79-0173 being restored.