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Air Power Park
F-86L Sabre, an early fighter, painted in the markings of the 37th Fighter
Intercept Squadron of the 14th Fighter Intercept Wing based at Ethan Allen
Air Force Base in Burlington, Vermont. Later model F-86 featured a radar
nose above the jet intake. Crews often referred to these as Sabre Dogs
because the long nose could sniff out prey much like hunting dogs.
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F-89J Scorpion, an early jet fighter purpose built as an all-weather
interceptor. It is painted in the markings of the 59th Fighter Interceptor
Squadron at Goose Bay Air Base, Labrador. The Scorpion was the first
fighter to carry a nuclear weapon.
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This F-100D is painted in the markings of the Thunderbirds Air Force
Demonstration Team. The Super Sabre flew with the Thunderbirds for 8 years.
As a follow-on to the F-86 Saber, it was able to fly supersonic. The F-100
distinguished itself in Vietnam, where 242 of the aircraft were lost in
over 350,000 combat flights.
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The F-101 Voodoo was built by McDonnell prior to its merger with Douglas
Aircraft. This example is a F-101F, a dual control trainer, which served with
the 4440th Air Defense Group based at Langley AFB. The Voodoo has distinctive
wing-root air intakes. This is to make room for an internal weapons bay in
front of the engines.
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This Republic F-105D Thunderchief was on display at Langley AFB, but was
moved to Air Power Park sometime in the later 1990s or early 2000s. The
Thud, as it is commonly called, is the largest single engine aircraft to
have been used by the military.
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The LTV A-7 Corsair II is a subsonic strike aircraft that was initially
deployed by the US Navy. It was later adopted by the Air Force. This A-7E
was operated by VA-37, known as the Ragin’ Bulls. Note the bull painted
on the tail. They flew the Corsair II from 1966 to 1990, when they upgraded
to the F-18 Hornet. The Corsair II uses a high-bypass turbofan jet engine
that is very quiet and relatively fuel efficient.
The photo below is a McDonnell RF-4C Phantom. While the fighter version of this aircraft were widely used, the recon version was also very successful. It could carry a variety of cameras in three different stations in the nose. The recon Phantom served from the mid-1960s into the mid-1990s. The ZZ tail code signifies Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. ![]()
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Authored by John A. Weeks III, Copyright © 1996—2016, all rights reserved. For further information, contact: john@johnweeks.com
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