F-4

[Huggyu2]

Well, there you have it. The Master has spoken. Good to see your posting, Big Wave. Have you been lurking on the site?
I did, indeed, get to meet K-Bob in July '03 while on the way to Oshkosh. Had a nice chat in Holloman base ops.
So, when is Mr Collings going to hire you to fly his jet??? Go do the Nancy-Kerrigan-thing on Cowboy, and take his spot.

 

[Big Wave]

Huggy--

Did you get my email reply a couple of weeks ago?

The Collings thing is "interesting"...we could chat. It's a pretty tough gig to fly a fighter for a non-profit organization (or anyone other than our deeply-pocketed Uncle, if you know what I mean).

Your Kerrigan comment made me laugh out loud...

Hope everything's cool, pal...

BWD

 

[Deuce130]

Fighter "Pilot"?

Hmmmm...

I'll have to check with my old man, but to the best of my knowledge DeBellvue went to UPT after Vietnam and became a F-4 Pilot, though I know he was a WSO during the war. Anyone stationed at Seymour around 81-86 timeframe that can verify this?

 

[bssthound]

Great thread. When I was flying Hurricane Katrina we landed at Ellington around 3 a.m. The driver was taking us to SW Services and out of the fog appears a line of F-4s. I swear I thought I was seeing things and was having all sorts of Twilight Zone thoughts going through my feeble brain. There were a few in the Heritage Colors and, like Albie said, they were absolutely gorgeous. Thank you, Big Wave, for filling us in.

 

[Huggyu2]

If I have my history right, DeBellvue washed out of UPT, but went on to become a WSO. After gaining his fame after the war, the Chief of Staff offered him a chance to go to UPT again. He did just that, and was awarded his pilot wings.
What a neat experience that would have been to be a young FAIP, and have DeBellvue as your "student".

 

[badlander45]

Thank you very much Big Wave, thats what I was looking for!

 

[LR25]

About 6 years ago, saw an F-106 doing practice approaches in Tallahassee. Any of those left?

 

[CitationCapt]

F-106

My unit flew the Dart. There ws a group restoring a few A's (single seat) and a B or two (tandem seat) in El Paso. The work may be suspended now. Not sure if any QF's are still flying. Go to www.F-106DeltaDart.com and dosome searching there.

CC

 

[414Flyer]

Does Jon Wendell still fly them at AMARC?

 

[sstearns2]

There's about a dozen on the ramp in Mojave, CA. I think they're being converted to drones.

Scott

 

[ExAF]

Yup, he was a pilot

I'll have to check with my old man, but to the best of my knowledge DeBellvue went to UPT after Vietnam and became a F-4 Pilot, though I know he was a WSO during the war. Anyone stationed at Seymour around 81-86 timeframe that can verify this?

I was at Shady J at that time and Debellvue was a pilot there. He did get to go back to UPT and get his pilot wings. I heard more than one comment about them turning a great WSO into a mediocre pilot. I never flew in a flight with him as he was in a different squadron than me at the time. Every time I had any contact with him he seemed like a regular guy and you would never have known he was an ace by his actions. He ended up as an O-6 at Seymour and was the wing MA. I ran into him at an airshow at Flying Cloud Airport in MN a couple of years ago and he still seemed like a good guy.

 

[Huggyu2]

I ran into him at the Auger Inn the night he retired. Very cordial. Just a real nice guy.

 

[Weasel Keeper]

Here's a little something about the QF-4 Demo Team.

http://www.airshowbuzz.com/videos/view.php?v=eeabb63b

 

[Huggyu2]

Tuna's last season was last year. Anyone know what he's doing now? He had his fingers into just about everything "aviation".
Nice touch with the bottle of Weed in the background.

 

[AA717driver]

That video was a hoot! Hope they never park the last F-4. (Yeah, I know I'm dreaming...) TC