Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Park Ridge, IL (Orchard AFB; Orchard Place) Collection

[Shinpachi]

Ki-78 mockup

Source: s://twitter.com/L1649_CN1001/status/1257376920234319873

Ki-78 real size model at the Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum

Source: かかみがはら航空宇宙博物館と「研三」

 

[Snautzer01]

Nice looking airplane.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Here is the one that should have been saved. The Ki-78, a one of a kind high speed research plane.

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Gone forever

Sad, yes, but I don't believe that was ever brought to the United States and so was never in the Smithsonian's collection.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Looks like an A6M5 with paint removed as the hinomaru marking is quite smaller than original one.

Well if it is a Zero, then it may be the one extant in their collection. Good news.

 

[Capt. Vick]

First picture in thread, under the port wing, in the background, a Heinkel He 162. Number 23 on the fuselage. Anyone make out the TE number?

Heinkel He.162
(WkNr 120222) 'White 23' Luftwaffe.

T2-493 Heinkel He 162A-2
(Werk Nr 120222) Previously FE-493. T-2 Office of Air Force Intelligence, Technical Data Laboratory,
Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, OH. Foreign Evaluation Center, Air Technical Service Command,
Freeman Field, Seymour, IN. Set aside for proposed national aviation museum. Transferred to the aircraft
storage area, 803rd Specialized Depot, Orchard Place Airport, Park Ridge, Illinois. Scrapped at Park Ridge in 1950.

Another one gone...

Or maybe not...

From the NASM website:

The NASM aircraft (Werknummer 120230) was one of the thirty-one JG 1 aircraft manufactured by Heinkel at Rostock-Marienehe and captured by the British at Leck on May 8, 1945. It was painted with the number "white 23" and its red-white-black nose bands were in reverse order from the usual paint scheme, which may indicate that the wing commander and high-scoring ace, Col. Herbert Ihlefeld, flew this particular aircraft. After transfer to Britain, the U. S. Army Air Forces accepted the airplane and shipped it to Wright Field, Ohio, for evaluation. It received the foreign equipment number FE-504 (later T2-504), and was later moved to Freeman Field, Indiana. For unknown reasons, mechanics replaced the tail unit at Wright Field with the tail unit of aircraft 120222. Although another He 162, T2-489, was tested at Muroc Field, California (later Edwards Air Force Base), FE/T2-504 was apparently never flown. Its flying days ended permanently when someone at Freeman Field neatly sawed through the outer wing panels sometime before September 1946. The wings were reattached with door hinges and the jet was shipped to air shows and military displays around the country. The U. S. Air Force transferred the aircraft to the Smithsonian Institution in 1949 but it remained in stored at Park Ridge, Illinois, until transfer to the Garber Facility in January 1955.

The plot thickens!

 

[special ed]

Sad, yes, but I don't believe that was ever brought to the United States and so was never in the Smithsonian's collection.

It was crushed (2nd pic) in Japan. I posted it as a "wish they had."

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots!

 

[rob23]

Biographical / Historical
In 1946, President Harry Truman signed a bill establishing the Smithsonian's National Air Museum to memorialize the development of aviation; collect, preserve, and display aeronautical equipment; and provide educational material for the study of aviation. The legislation did not provide for the construction of a new building, however, and the collection soon outgrew the Museum's exhibition space. Since there was no room left in the Arts and Industries Building or the "Tin Shed," World War II aircraft and other items such as engines and missiles were stored at an abandoned aircraft factory in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

Park Ridge, IL (Orchard AFB; Orchard Place) Collection | Collection | search=s=0&n=10&t=K&q=*&i=0 | SOVA

Until the panic created by the Korean War forced the collection to move out and downsize. (Evidently they wanted to restart aircraft production again out of this factory, but never did.) I have always been fascinated by what was there at one time and what was lost to accommodate the vacate order. Along those lines I will be posting pictures (and other material) that I believe to have been taken there, when it was still used as overflow storage for the suddenly bursting Smithsonian aircraft collection. I invite you both post and comment, and maybe we can catch a fleeting glimpse of what once was and could have been if not for...

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A plane that needs no introduction, the Horton Ho IX V3. With a set of wings attached, though I think I read somewhere that they were not for this particular aircraft. Can anyone confirm or correct? Anyway, not the background for both possible aircraft identification as well as the surrounding structure. This should be in the background of any picture you post.

Did Horton hear the Who?

 

[nuuumannn]

Mu guess on the Japanese fgtr is a Tony. Shinpachi will know and Wurger should be able to track the W.Nr.8433.

Well if it is a Zero, then it may be the one extant in their collection. Good news.

I agree with Shinpachi; it's an A6M for certain. Take a look at the door layout. Definitely not a Ki-61.

NX712Z 01

 

[nuuumannn]

Left background, Messerschmitt Me 410?

I don't think it is. On the Me 410, outboard of the nacelle is the upper lip of the radiator exhaust flap, which is hinged and larger in depth than the inboard flap. In saying that, I can't positively identify what it is.

 

[nuuumannn]

Cap, d'you have a clearer, less pixellated copy of this image? The twin-engined aircraft directly ahead of the XB-42 Mixmaster to the left, identified by its undercarriage might be your mystery twin. According to one of the posters of the thread about the facility it is a P1Y Ginga.

 

[mjfur]

.

 

[Tom Fey]

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Douglas XB-42A "Mixmaster", now wingless (a shame because note the ramjet and flap notch for ramjet exhaust, unique to say the least) at the National Museum of the USAF along with it's jet powered younger brother. But what is that Japanese fighter to the right of it in the first picture and does it still exist? Also, what Luftwaffe tail fin is that to the left of it in the second picture? NOTE: All directions are given in relation to you actually sitting in the cockpit of the "Mixmaster".

Not a ramjet on the XB-42A. It is a Westinghouse X19B-2 axial turbojet engine.

 

[Capt. Vick]

.

Where did you find these wonderful pictures!

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Capt. Vick]

Another shot of the Ho IX, from a different angle

 

[WARSPITER]

Excellent pics and agree it is a shame about the scrappings.

 

[Wurger]