Category Archives: Kit Bashing

Kit Bashing, U.S.

B-29 navigator: “Would I even be alive to eat the sandwich I saved?”

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“We lost so many good men, I don’t have many fond memories. My crew almost perished during a mission over the city of Gifu, where we were shot up so badly, bailing out of the plane seemed like the only option. Why we did not die that day, I will never know.”-Rowland Ball

In 2016, Rowland Ball made a trip to Guam.  It had been 71 years since the last time he was there.  During World War Two he was a navigator on the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber Weddin’ Belle (back when the U.S. Air Force was called the U.S. Army Air Force).

The B-29 missions were long, 18 hours.  Ball told a captive audience of Air Force personnel “The cooks would give us three sandwiches for an 18-hour mission. I had to decide how I would eat them. Should I eat two before a bomb run or after? Would I even be alive to eat the sandwich I saved? One time, ice cream was included in our meal. Now why would they give us ice cream of all things? So, during that mission, we decided to fly at a higher altitude than normal, to keep it frozen. Unfortunately, by the time we completed our mission, the ice cream was unsalvageable.”

Rowland Ball checks out the assortment of kool models at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

Ball was impressed with the latest USAF technology for navigation: “It’s mind-boggling the type of equipment we have now. The technical advantages have come a long way since my time. I remember having to look up at the stars to navigate, but now there is this amazing equipment that makes navigating much easier and efficient. It’s a different world altogether.” 

 

MODEL KIT EC-130J GETS SPECIAL HANDLING BY NATIONAL GUARD!

Kit Bashing

D-Day KC-135, ‘Hundred Proof’ & other nose arts

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To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day the U.S. Air Force’s 100th Air Refueling Wing (descendant of 100th Bombardment Group [Heavy]) gave some of their Stratotankers full color markings.

Skipper III in honor of retired Master Sergeant Dewey Christopher, a World War II veteran. U.S. Air Force photo by Karen Abeyasekere, 21JUN2019.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Alexandria Lee, 19JUN2019.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Joseph Barron, 31MAY2019.

Video, 48 hours of refueling hell, including invasion stripes:

They even gave a couple of KC-135s ‘heritage’ WW2 markings. The D on the tail was used by the 100th BG(H). USAF photo by First Lieutenant Nathanael Callon, 26MAY2019.

The EP is the flight symbol of the 351st Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group(H), which dates back to 1942 and the letter A on the tail is the aircraft number. USAF photo by Senior Airman Benjamin Cooper, 09MAY2019.

Video explains the World War Two connection for ‘Black Jack’ and the 100th ARW:

Video interview, ‘Savage’ artist gives one reason why he joined the USAF:

In this video some guy explains why he’s infatuated with the ‘All American Girl’:

B-52H STRATOFORTRESS NOSE ART

IDAHO PRIDE A-10C NOSE ART

NEBRASKA KC-135 TEENAGED NOSE ART

TENNESSEE KC-135 NOSE ART

SNOOPY RC-135S COBRA BALL NOSE ART

C-17 NOSE ART

Kit Bashing

D-Day F-15E Strike Eagle

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“This heritage project is about the 48th Fighter Wing legacy, and more specifically the wing’s support to the D-Day invasion during World War Two.”-Colonel Will Marshall, 48th Fighter Wing commander

In January 2019, the 48th Fighter Wing unveiled their new D-Day invasion stripe paint job on their F-15E Strike Eagles.

U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Matthew Plew, 19APR2019.

In April 2019, a third D-Day Eagle was revealed at the British empire’s Royal Air Force base Lakenheath, England.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Matthew Plew, 19APR2019.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Matthew Plew, 19APR2019.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Matthew Plew, 19APR2019.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Matthew Plew, 11APR2019.

The D-Day paint jobs were applied to a single seat F-15C and two two seat F-15Es.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Matthew Plew, 10APR2019.

U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sergeant Eric Burks, 26APR2019.

USAF photo by Master Sergeant Eric Burks, 26APR2019.

The invasion striped Strike Eagles took to the sky over United Kingdom.

100th Air Refueling Wing tops-up two F-15E D-Day Eagles, 09JUN2019.

LOCATION OF MISSING IDAHO F-15E STRIKE EAGLES REVEALED? OR, WHY HI-TECH DOESN’T EQUAL FEWER HUMANS?

VEHICLE I-D: NORMANDY PAINTED C-130 HERCULES

Kit Bashing

Model kit EC-130J gets special handling by National Guard!

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A real 193rd Special Operations Wing EC-130J Commando Solo, October 2020. Air National Guard photo by Munnaf Joarder.

In April 2019, Pennsylvania’s 193rd Special Operations Wing’s Fabrication Shop recently was given the opportunity to repaint the EC-130J Commando Solo aircraft model outside the wing HQ building.

Video of repairs to model that has been on display since 2006:

Kit Bashing:

USAF photo by Airman First Class Thomas Charlton.

WORLD’S LARGEST C-141B STARLIFTER MODEL?

Idaho, Kit Bashing

VooDoo redeux: Pocatello Airport

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In April 2012, I published a series of pics of the F-101B Voodoo ‘gate guard’ at Pocatello Airport, Idaho.  That was before it underwent renovation, when it was surrounded by a fence, faded and dirty.

Before you go on to look at the pics, I was allowed to see a secret room in the main airport building where a very nice 1/48 scale Monogram model diorama of the very same F-101B was gathering dust.  The diorama showed tail code AF-90 PO-417 on the flightline in Germany during the Cold War.  Today’s gate guard is painted to match that diorama except it doesn’t have the Native American chief in his warbonnet painted on the nose of the aircraft, near the cockpit.  There was a small plaque on the diorama explaining the aircraft history, but I didn’t get much time to read it.  I asked if I could get my camera and take a pic of it, but was told I shouldn’t even be in the ‘room’.  So, supposedly PO-417 was an actual F-101B, yet a quick internet search revealed no such thing (apparently ‘PO’ isn’t a real USAF tail code).

To update this story, I was recently ‘gifted’ a little red book called The First Fifty Years: Michaud Flats, U.S. Army Base, Pocatello Regional Airport.  It explains the Pocatello Voodoo was originally slated to be burned up as a fire trainer for the Utah Air National Guard.  It was one of two such planes that were already fully dismantled, the Utah Guard decided it wasn’t worth the effort to put them back together just to set them on fire.  Around 1988, Idaho Senator Jim McClure used his pull to get one of the dismembered Voodoo’s to the Pocatello Airport.  Funding for the project came from several donors including the J.R. Simplot Company (which at that time had its corporate HQ in Pocatello, along the border with Chubbuck), and the actual rebuilding of the plane was done by Idaho State University (ISU) Aviation Mechanics School (still located at the airport today).  It was the ISU students who decided on the paint scheme, and created the fake afterburners as the real afterburners were missing.

The 238 paged, hardcover book was published in 1993, it’s available directly from the Pocatello Airport (208) 234-6154.  I was also told the Idaho Unlimited gift shop carried the book, but it didn’t show up when I searched their website.

Click the pics to make bigger:

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: Normandy painted C-130 Hercules

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On 02JUL2019, a ‘Normady’ striped USAF C-130J paid a visit to Belgium, to give some firefighters a ride.

The 37th Airlift Squadron, 86th Airlift Wing, landed on Chièvres Air Base, to help U.S. Air Force 424th Air Base Squadron firefighters train-up, and asked the Belgians if they wanted to tag-along.

Plastic space ship cockpit of C-130J Super Hercules.

Not sure what the firefighting training was as the USAF didn’t provide any pics of that.  I think it was actually a covert joy-ride.

There were several C-130 in Invasion Stripes attending the D-Day Anniversary, like this C-130J from Little Rock, Arkansas.

Back in May 2019, a C-130H got striped, a Kentucky Guard bird scheduled to take part in this year’s D-Day Anniversary.

KENTUCKY DOG TRAINS TO RESCUE ALASKANS FROM A HC-130J!

D-DAY F-15E STRIKE EAGLE

Kit Bashing

New F-16 Digital Ghost?

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U.S. Air Force photo by William R. Lewis, 28JAN2021.

F-16C Falcon with digital ghost paint scheme, Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, 28JAN2021.

U.S. Air Force photo by Ronald Nial Bradshaw, 03JUN2020.

In 2020, Hill AFB, Utah, painted an F-16 in ‘digital ghost’ style.

USAF photo by Ronald Nial Bradshaw, 03JUN2020.

USAF photo by Ronald Nial Bradshaw, 03JUN2020.

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 01MAY2019.

In May 2019, at Nellis AFB in Nevada, F-16 ‘aggressors’ underwent extensive re-paint to become digital ghost fighters.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 08MAY2019.

Time lapse video of paint stripping:

USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 16MAY2019.

Time lapse video (with overly dramatic music) of the painting process:

USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 23MAY2019.

First flight video (more overly dramatic music included):

 

VEHICLE I-D: ‘NEW’ F-16 VISTA

Kit Bashing, Technology, U.S.

Repairing 1/1 scale T-38 Talon and other Whiteman Gate Guards (and a reduced scale B-2 bomber)

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U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 18JUN2019.

During the middle of June, 2019, 509th Maintenance Squadron ‘low-observable maintenance’ Airmen began work to restore Whiteman Air Force Base’s (in Missouri) T-38 gate guard named Spirit of Heartland.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 18JUN2019.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 18JUN2019.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 06AUG2019.

The T-38 is one of several 509th Bomb Wing static displays on base which also includes the B-29 Superfortress, B-47 Stratojet, B-52 Stratofortress and the FB-111A Aardvark.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 06AUG2019.

In May 2018, the B-29 The Great Artiste was restored.  According to the official report  “…the original aircraft was lost during a crash landing at Goose Bay Air Base, in Labrador, Canada, in 1949. So, another B-29 was painted as a replica for static display. The static display was eventually moved to Whiteman AFB from Pease AFB when the New Hampshire base closed in 1991.”

USAF photo by Airman Michaela Slanchik, 10AUG2017.

In August 2017, a reduced scale B-2 Spirit was donated by Northrop-Grumman.  The B-2 replica weighs 600 pounds and is 22 feet in length compared to the actual B-2’s true length of 172 feet.  It is one of 50 donated by Northrop Grumman.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Joel Pfiester, 13SEP2016.

In September 2016, the FB-111A gate guard underwent corrosion prevention painting, some calling it operation Dark Vark.

In 2015, the Missouri Air National Guard 131st Bomb Wing moved to Whiteman AFB, and brought their F-4, F-15 and F-100 gate guards with them. Missouri Air National Guard video by Technical Sergeant Elise Rich, June 2015:

Guam: 1/1 SCALE F-4 PHANTOM-2 MODEL

Wyoming Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Charles Delano.

Down in the mud, shot-up, Wyoming SLUF

Kit Bashing, Technology

Robot Wars Vehicle I-D: Giant R-C tanks seen tearing-up Washington state!

Video

At the end of April 2019, Yakima was torn-up by highly modified M-1 robot tanks!

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 26APR2019.

The new ‘robot’ Assault Breacher Vehicles were being tested by the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and the British empire’s (Commonwealth of Nations) Royal Australian Army.

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 26APR2019.

These ‘robot’ tanks are not fully autonomous as they’re controlled by human drivers inside a modified M577 Command Post (M113).

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 27APR2019.

USMC video interview (by Sergeant Sylvia L. Tapia) explaining how the Robotic Complex Breach Concept (RCBC) is about reducing the expected massive casualties in the upcoming Third World War:

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 26APR2019.

They can be equipped with different types of plows, and ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) blocks.

More video by Sergeant Sylvia L. Tapia, 26APR2029:

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 27APR2019.

More video by Sergeant Sylvia L. Tapia, 28APR2029:

Robot Wars VEHICLE I-D: ROBOT HEMTT ROLLING ALONG!

M777 : PROOF THE UNITED STATES IS THE TOOL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE!

Kit Bashing

B-52H Stratofortress Nose Art

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B-52H Stratofortress deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, lands on the flight line in support of U.S. Strategic Command’s Bomber Task Force (BTF) in Europe at RAF Fairford, British empire England, 14MAR2019.

B-52 from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, sits on the flightline at Andersen AFB, Guam, 15JAN2019.

External fuel tank art.

B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, sits on the flightline after arriving for exercise Lightning Focus at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Darwin, British empire Australia, 29NOV2018.

Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, 02JUN2016.

 

Video: USAF B-52 TAKES PART IN AUSTRALIA’S CELEBRATION OF THE VIETNAM OCCUPATION!