Aircraft pics

[427TJ]

Another common site in the SF east bay in the 1960s and early 70s were fire supression airplanes like this Grumman F7F Tigercat. Summer always brought with it the sound of rumbling radial engines and the F7F was the hottest hot rod in the air tanker fleet. I would blow the screen door off its hinges when a Tigercat went over the house. They were based at Santa Rosa and a few other bases in California. One of the surviving F7Fs participates at the Reno Air Races and it's a real crowd pleaser.

[427TJ]

I love this photo because it looks like a herd of cows heading for the barn. These are USAF C-119 "Flying Boxcars" enroute to Japan from Okinawa in 1955. Photo was taken from the open aft cargo door of a leading C-119. Imagine what that sounded like!

[427TJ]

Another SF bay area aviation landmark in the old days was Hamilton AFB in Marin County, north of San Francisco. Hamilton was the first base to operate the Lockheed F-104A "Starfighter" interceptor and it too was the hottest of the hot rods. It was called "the missile with a man in it." Hamilton's 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron flew the 104 between late 1957 and mid 1960. My buddy George Davis flew 104s in the 83rd and sent me this photo of four 83rd 104s over the Golden Gate in 1958.