Wright Field 1945 Victory Display color photos

[T Bolt]

Wonderful pictures Dave. Never thought I'd see some of these birds in color.

My wish guess would be the Douglas Mixmaster or Jetmaster, but it's probably just a plane old Invader.

Oh, or maybe a Bowlus glider.

Does look an awful lot like a Mixmaster tai.l I tried to match it up to other photos and the tail looks like a match, but the wheel rims are different. Did they make more then one B-42?

 

[evangilder]

Having spent some of my growing up years haunting the museum at WPAFB, this is some neat stuff. I wonder if that is the same Natter that was on static display in the 70s (and probably still is). Great thread, Dave.

 

[Shinpachi]

Many awesome photos, Dave
Thanks for sharing!

 

[GrauGeist]

Glad everyone's enjoying the photos!

I had thought, for some reason, that these color photos had been posted on the forum before. I have several other photos (B&W) that can be added and the contributions by Snautzer are great, also!

For an extra treat, here's a couple of color movies taken during the Victory fair!


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrXTHMtX5Nc


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOqnkUKBD1k

 

[GrauGeist]

Damn this is a good thread! Hey, was this the show that the Curtiss XP-55 crashed at?

42-78847 crashed in May of '45, during a War Bond airshow, five months before this Victory Display.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Great pics.

Imagine if all these aircraft had survived...

 

[Capt. Vick]

Thanks amigo!

Some of them have. The Ju 388 for example, but as we have said...sadly not the Ju 290.

 

[GrauGeist]

That was a shame about the Condor...it survived the war, flown across the Atlantic and made several appearances at air shows...just to be scrapped in the end.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Yeah...but it was actually called the Sea Adler IIRC my friend. I believe the Fw 200 was the Condor.

 

[Snautzer01]

Ju290 -->> Seeadler

 

[GrauGeist]

yes it was the Seeadler, I was just testing you guys! (That's my story, at least)

 

[Wurger]

Great stuff here.

 

[Wayne Little]

Agreed Wojtek!

 

[Gnomey]

Great shots! Thanks for sharing.

 

[GrauGeist]

Glad everyone enjoyed the shots, I truly regret not being able to find more...there may, in time, be more that turn up.

And I have to laugh about the Fw200 and Ju290 name mix-up! I think it's sort of a dyslexia, since I have always mixed the Condor and Seeadler up for as long as I have known about these two aircraft.

I can look at the Ju290, I know it's a Ju290 and yet I'll still refer to it as the Condor (and visa-versa with the Fw200) and then later I'll do the facepalm when I realize that I did it once again!

 

[Capt. Vick]

It's all good brother. Just take your meds and get some rest. You're a tough kid.

 

[GrauGeist]

 

[nuuumannn]

Fantastic thread from all who have contributed. A bit of info on the Axis aircraft fates. Obviously the Ju 290 didn't survive, but neither did the He 162 White 7, or at least no record of its disposal has been found - it was transferred to Park Ridge on 31 May 1946 for museum storage, but never made it to a museum. The Fw 190 EB-104 was renumbered T2-125 and was scheduled to go to Park Ridge for museum storage, but the last official record of it was at Freeman Field and it's presumed it was scrapped. The Ar 234 FE-1011/T2-1011 was presumably scrapped at Freeman Field, but parts of it were robbed to keep T2-1010 flying, which is the NASM example that survives today. The Komet, Natter, Ju 388 and Me 262 are all NASM airframes that survive as well as the Zero, which was TAIC 7 and was named Tokyo Rose.

The Ju 290 made an historic Atlantic crossing beginning on 28 July 1945, from Paris Orly to the Azores, then on 30 July, the Azores to Bermuda, then the next day, Bermuda to Patterson Field (adjacent to Wright Field, not joined at the time), then on 1 August from Patterson Field to Freeman Field. Apparently, when it departed Lajes in the Azores it left after President Truman's C-54, but it arrived an hour ahead of the C-54 in Bermuda. When it was scrapped at Wright Field, a German made plastic explosive device was found in its wing near a fuel tank: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_290

 

[GrauGeist]

The He162 on display at Wright Field (shown earlier in this thread) was actually "White 4" (WkNmr 120067), seen here at the USAAF Y76 depot, Kassel, Germany at war's end. It was later designated USAAF FE-493 and T2-493 (and for some reason, painted "White 7").

 

[nuuumannn]

Interesting; I've not seen that pic before. It's most likely that it was incorporating bits from different aircraft by the time it was White 7; the rear fuse is natural metal and the engine cone looks newer. There were a few He 162s around at the time with Col Watson, including FE-489/T2-489 'Nervenklau', which was test flown only once at Muroc by Bob Hoover. That one's with Planes of Fame now, but T2-493 was presumably scrapped.