F-101 Voodoo Serial Number Conversion Charts

A well worn copy of the F-101 Voodoo Serial Number Conversion Charts. SNCC’s are used to cross correlate Bu. No., ship numbers and the block that the ship was part of when built. A very important tool for researchers.

 

Click here to view charts

F-101 Voodoo in the McDonnell 1955 Annual Report

F-101 Voodoo information in this except from the 1955 McDonnell Aircraft annual report.

Click here to view report

F-101B Voodoo Photo Feature

A short article by Fred Roos on the history and markings of the McDonnell Aircraft F-101B. Originally appeared in the MDC Phantom Flyer.

Click here to read the article

Additional Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster Photos

Mark Nankivil was kind enough to send along three more photos of the Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster. These were taken at the plant and have the “X” after the registration, which means that they are earlier photos than the one I posted before. Photo credit: Rainy & Carol Bell Collection, Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum

Click here to view larger photos

RF-4E Luftwaffe Camouflage Article

A poor Xerox copy of an RF-4E Luftwaffe camouflage article written and drawn by Bob Pukala.

The Final U.S. Built F-4 - F-4E-67-MC, 78-0744

  The last U.S. built F-4 Phantom was number 5,067, an F-4E-67-MC Phantom II, 78-0744, which was completed on 25 October 1979. Number 78-0744 was built for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) under the Foreign Military Sales program Peace Pheasant II. External Relations sent me a number of photos which included several walk around photos of this bird in the U.S. ghost gray scheme before delivery.

Anyone have a photo of it in ROKAF service or know what happened to it?

Click here to see photos

RF-101C - Operation Sun Run (Part I)

 “On November 27 1957, during "Operation Sun Run," an RF-101C set the Los Angeles-New York-Los Angeles record in 6 hours 46 minutes, the New York to Los Angeles record in 3 hours, 36 minutes, and the Los Angeles to New York record in 3 hours 7 minutes.” (Except from Wikipedia)
Today is the 57th anniversary of these speed runs. “The Day In Aviation” web site ran a great article on this operation today. Please check it out here.
Photo credit: first photo – McDonnell Aircraft, second thru fourth photos - Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum
Internet Modeler also has a wonderful article with color side views of all six aircraft here.
Also, the National Museum of the Air Force has a good “Fact Sheet” here.
Click here to see larger photos and other info that I have collected

DC-3’s in Czech Airlines (CSA) Service

More seldom seen photos from Zdenek. This time several of the Douglas DC-3’s used by Czech Airlines (CSA) and a nice color shot from Wikipedia. Photo credits: Zdenek Cizinsky

Click here to view photos

Czech Avia B-33/Ilyushin IL-10

The Ilyushin IL-10 was license-built in Czechoslovakia by Avia as the Avia B-33. Here are some seldom seen photos of Avia B-33’s. (The first two photos are IL-2's, for comparison.) (See comment below) Photo credits: Zdenek Cizinsky
Click here for some nice B-33 photos from the Trebic Model club
Click here to view Zdenek's photos

Additional P-3 Visit to the St. Louis MDC Ramp

A nice company photo of a P-3 under the McDonnell Douglas sign while is was getting ready to leave.

Click here to view photo

Lockheed P-3 Orion Visit to MDC Ramp

I caught a P-3’s visit to the St. Louis McDonnell Douglas ramp to transport a AGM-84 Harpoon missile back to the Pacific Missile Test Center (PMTC) in the late 1970’s. I did a partial walk around; but, didn’t have much time as it was getting ready to depart.

Click here to view photos

P-80 Arkansas Air National Guard

A nice photo of an FP-80A-5-LO s/n 45-8425 of the Arkansas ANG 154th TRS at the St. Louis Air National Guard Base. The photo at right is the same aircraft in front line service. Left photo credit: William Rudolph. Right photo credit: Million Monkey Theater

Click here to see larger photos

Yakovlev Yak-23 (S-101) in Czech Markings

 The Yak-23, known as Flora, was a development of the earlier Yak-15 and Yak-17 fighters. The Yak-23 used a Soviet copy of the British Rolls-Royce Derwent V turbojet engine. A small number of Yak-23’s were exported to Czechoslovakia beginning in 1949 and named S-101. B&W photo credit: Zdenek Cizinsky. Color photo credit: Global Aircraft. HX-51 is preserved at the Prague Kbely Aviation Museum, Czech Republic.

Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster

 A hard to find picture of the Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster built in Canada in 1944 by Canadian Car and Foundry. Designed by American engineer Vincent Burnelli. This photo shows the CBY-3 after the experimental “X” designator was removed. Photo credit: Zdenek Cizinsky

More info may be found at Ed Coates collection

Click here to see a larger photo

Avia CS-199 (Me-109)in Czech Markings

  After WWII, Avia build Me-109 copies as S-99’s. When German engines ran out, they produced S-199’s using Heinkel He-111 Jumo 211F engines and props.  Avia CS-199, UC-26 (CS-199565), is a trainer preserved at the Prague Kbely Aviation Museum in the Czech Republic. Photo credits: Zdenek Cizinsky

Click here to view photos

Ilyushin Il-62 in Czechoslovak Airlines Livery

Photos of the early livery of the IL-62 in Czechoslovak Airlines (CSA) markings. “CSA operated a fleet of 21 Il-62s between 1969 and 1997. The Il-62 was the first long-range jet airliner to be put into operation by CSA.” Ref: Wikipedia. Photo credits: Zdenek Cizinsky

Click here to view photos

Tupolev Tu-104A in Czechoslovak Airlines Colors

    Several good photos of Tu-104A (OK-LDA) in little seen CSA 40th year markings in 1963. And a nice in-flight photo of OK-LDC. “In 1957 CSA became the third of the world's airlines to fly jet services, taking delivery and putting in service the first Tupolev Tu-104A in 1957. CSA was the only airline other than Aeroflot to operate the Tu-104 which was the world's first successful jet airliner”. (An excerpt from Wikipedia.) This aircraft is in the Kbely Air Museum, Prague, Czech Republic. Photo credit: Zdenek Cizinsky

 

Click here to view photos

Bristol Britannia in Czechoslovak Airlines Colors

 Czechoslovak Airlines (CSA) used a leased Bristol Britannia from Cubana de Aviación to start CSA’s first transatlantic services in 1962 with a flight to Havana, Cuba. This is a fairly rare photo as there don’t seem to be many around. Photo credit: Zdenek Cizinsky

Click here to view a large photo

Avia 14/IL-14 in Czechoslovak Airlines (CSA) Service

During the 1970’s, I had a Czechoslovakian aviation pen pal named Zdenek that sent me a number of Czech civil and military photos.

Here are some of the license built, improved Russian Il-14 called the Avia-14 from the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. While Zdenek’s photos are all B&W, I found the above nice color photo on the Planes.cz website. The last photo in this series is of an Avia-14 in Bulgarian Air Transport colors. Photo credit: Zdenek Cizinsky

Click here to view the series of photos

Phantom Flyer Famous Fighters Article

A May 1980 Phantom Flyer article by the McDonnell Scale Modelers’ Club on MDC fighters. By Bob Pukala, I believe. The cover photo is unique with three generation of fighters present!

Click here to view article

Click here to download the article in PDF form

F4H-1/F-4A Block 1-6 Assignments

A very handy reference guide for anyone interested in early F4H-1/F-4A aircraft is this guide for the work assignments for the first 48 aircraft. I got this copy from Tommy H. Thomason’s wonderful blog on U.S. Navy Aircraft History.

If you are confused on the differences between F4H-1 and F-4A’s, Tommy has a great article here on this subject.

Click here to view Tommy Thomason's great blog

Click here to view a large version of the assignments sheet.

McDonnell Product Data Card 1939-1952

McDonnell Aircraft product data card showing specifications of all the products from 1939-1952.

Click here to view card

Northrop P-61A (42-5507)

 I came across three Northrop prints of an early O.D. painted P-61A (42-5507). You don’t see these photos often. Enjoy!

Click here to view photos

Yorkshire Air Museum

During a trip to England in 1998, I stopped at the Yorkshire Air Museum. The museum is in Elvington near the City of York. They have a Victor and an Me-109G! The museum is doing well according to their web site here.. A good place to visit!

Click here to view photos

Additional Photo for the F-4E Spin Chute Aircraft

Mark Nankivil, president of the Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum, sent a another photo of the F-4E spin chute aircraft from their collection. Thanks Mark!

Click here to view the new photo

Click here to see the original F-4E Spin Chute posting

F-15B (TF-2) World Tour Markings

The second F-15B (TF-2) 71-0291 had it’s Bi-Centennial tail logo changed to a world globe with country listings during 1977 and 1978 in honor of it’s six country, four continent tour during 1976. This allowed them to use the striking, distinctive paint scheme for a few more years.

 

Click here to view photos

F3H-2 Sections and Station Cuts

Another Alex Thomas Loft Sheet  L S 25-1 showing F3H-2 Sections and Station Cuts. Dated November 18 1967.

For those of you not from the aircraft business, the Loft Lines department of MDC was tasked with being the keepers of the mold lines of the aircraft, pods; etc. This is also know a the Aircraft Outer Mold Line (OML). If something impacted the external surfaces of these items, Loft Lines was involved. I worked in the Loft Lines department for several years in the late 1960’s while getting my degree. Lofting is an old ship building term that carried over into the aircraft industry. Today, computers are used for this task.

Click here to view the Loft Sheet

F-15A No. 71-0283 Chase Plane

F-4’s were not the only aircraft used for chase planes at the St. Louis MDC plant. One aircraft I saw frequently was F-15A-4-MC-71-0283. This fourth F-15A first flew on 13 January 1973 and was used as a structural test aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base. It was the first aircraft to have the “raked” wing tips to eliminate a severe buffet problem found on earlier aircraft; but retained the short speed brake. After its use at EAFB, it returned to St. Louis for chase plane use in a red and white scheme. Notice that it kept it’s flight test boom during it’s chase days. The photos that I took show typical MDC ramp operations. Also, I have included some great photos from Peter Mancus showing 0283 while at EAFB.

Click here to view these photos

F-15B (TF-2) Bicentennial Photos

This aircraft, USAF 71-0291, was the second two-seat F-15B (TF-15A) off the production line and was painted in one of the nicest schemes that a F-15 ever wore.  Aircraft "0291" had a long career, in the USA Bicentennial scheme at the 1976 Farnborough International Air Show and many other 1976 air shows.  As I have mentioned before, McAir tried to get the Air Force to use the F-15 as a Thunderbird in this paint scheme and those markings are here.

After that, 0291 became a test-bed aircraft for the Conformal Fuel Tank (CFT) Program, the LANTIRN (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night) Pod, and was the prototype aircraft for the F-15E Strike Eagle Program.

Click here to view photos

McDonnell F-4 Spin Chute Mystery

Pat Rogers  worked on a F-4 spin aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in the late 1960’s.

Let’s let Pat tell the story of this photo: “This photo is dated 21 March 1969. As you can see, the ground crew support was a combination AF Military, AF civilians and MAC personnel. Major Jerry Gentry was the pilot and Burt Rutan was the back seat FTE. On the final flight when the recovery chute was deployed, it departed the A/C, and the crew punched out. The aircraft continued in a flat spin into the desert just north/east of  Edwards AFB. It was a bad day for Flight Test ! “ 

Pat is the guy in the yellow shirt standing next to a fellow MAC employee wearing a white shirt and tie.

The aircraft appears to be an F-4E; but, we don’t know the serial number. Anyone have any more information or photos of this aircraft? Or any F-4 spin chute aircraft such as McDonne11 F4H-1F (F-4A-1-MC) number 7 (BuNo143392), the first spin aircraft.

I have detailed the F-4E spin aircraft here.