Fiberglass airfield gate guards

[rufrdr]

I Visited the Air National Guard base in Pittsburgh a couple of months ago to get a new retired I.D. card and stopped to take some photos of their 'gate guards'. They have an example of most of the single engine fighters they've flown since WW2. The aircraft used to be originals but sometime in the 80s or 90s the P/F-47 and P/F-51 were removed and swapped for fiberglass replicas. They look pretty real, even up close. The F-84 is the real deal but the F-102 may also be fiberglass. I didn't get out of the car to walk up and thump on it since I was by the main gate and the 20 year old with the M16 at the gate was giving me the stink-eye.



I first visited the base in the 70s and at that time these were real. At one visit someone was on a scaffold next to the engine of the F-51 with the covers off tinkering with it.



F-84 Thunderstreak. The ANG squadrons flew these late into the 60s and even the early 70s in some areas as the Vietnam war sucked up the available F-100s. Even F-102s went to Vietnam (not a successful use of the aircraft)



F-102. These were part of the Air Defense Command back in the bad old days and a pair were fueled, armed, and ready to fly at a moment's notice. My father in law spent many hours on alert in the 60s with these aircraft. I used to see them flying in pairs low over my house as a kid. They were the hottest things I had ever seen. At that time the tail and wing tips were orange to aid in rescue if one went down in the wintertime.

The squadron also flew A-7s and F-86s I didn't get any pictures of them.

http://www.171arw.ang.af.mil/history/index.asp

Enjoy!

[Hairydavey]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing. :-)

[Les]

I suppose it's a lot cheaper to slap a bit of fresh fibreglass on every now and again than it is to try and maintain a 50+ year old veteran flying machine!

Nice pictures, btw!

[Chuck]

great pictures, thanks for showing them.