Remember the Forgotten Jets

Taking a little tangent from the usual updating, I would like to make mention of something I've come across recently in my independent research of certain aircraft. In a nutshell, this is why I love the social media. I came across the following website about a two months ago:

http://www.millionmonkeytheater.com/ForgottenJets.html

I find this as a really great database of former military aircraft! The creator of this website isn't really interested in aviation yet he does this completely as a hobby during his free time. It's kind of a funny story how I came across this website. I was doing some research of my own. I was researching the Japanese Fuji T-1 and in particular, this airframe which I took a photo of:

Fuji T-1 preproduction c/n 95-5803 stored at Toyohashi/Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture.

All I knew at the time was that it was indeed a Fuji T-1 fuselage but I had nowhere else to go from; no additional photos of this particular airframe to compare with on any aviation photo database I searched on. It was no surprise that I had little information to go off of because Japan only built 66 of these Fuji T-1 airframes and they all went into service with the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. And I knew for a fact the country of Japan took confidentiality very seriously so any information of those sorts were hard to come by regardless. Then I found the website mentioned above. And lo and behold, there was a comparable photo of that very airframe I saw! Some of the information about the location of this airframe was out of date so I decided to E-mail the manager of the website and volunteered some updated information he could use for his website. And in no time, I got a response. I gave him permission to use the photo above and is now featured on his Fuji T-1 database.

In addition, I provided him the link to this very blog as well as my photo gallery. At the time, he was doing research on the North American F-86 Sabre and its variant the "Sabre Dog". I had recently posted a photo of a Sabre Dog I took in Idaho Falls in a recent blog post:

F-86L s/n 53-1022 on display in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

To make a long story short, he asked for permission to use the above photo for his F-86D database. Again, I was happy to give him permission and now this photo you see above is also featured on his website. I was grateful to make some kind of contribution with these two photos. As a result of this little experience in the realm of social networking, my interest for aircraft-types that might not be as well-known went up. As an aviation enthusiast, I have great interest in the historical aspect of it from the different types of aircraft and the various roles they played to the pilots who flew them. And I like the fact that there are are enthusiasts and hobbyists out there such as myself who are compiling and documenting databases in order preserve the historical aspect of it.

So let's remember the forgotten jets.

Gallery Update: Airport Appreciation Day

The Legacy Flight Museum of Rexburg, Idaho hosted a fly-in/open house event called Airport Appreciation Day at the Rexburg-Madison County Airport. The public was granted exclusive access to the ramp where the museum's flying collection of aircraft were on static display. Some planes like the SNJ-3 Texan, and P-51D Mustang even took to the skies. And of course, I've taken the usual opportunity to snap quite a few pictures, both from the event and regular planespotting at the airport:

Rexburg Airport Appreciation Day 2013

Rexburg (RXE) 1

In addition to the photos I've taken, I also filmed some action including two P-51D Mustangs, an SNJ-3 Texan, two Cessna Bird Dogs, and a Yakovlev Yak-55M. I like making videos now because they don't have to be lengthy; some videos are less than 30 seconds long! Here's the link to my video gallery:

Videos

Preview:

Grumman S2F-1 Tracker
 This aircraft is the latest addition to the Legacy Flight Museum.

North American P-51D Mustang named the "Mormon Mustang."
It's so great to see this bird restored and flying after it crashed back in December 2006!

Bob Hoover's former P-51D Mustang nicknamed "Ole Yeller" flying formation with the Mormon Mustang. Quite a sight to see two P-51s flying together!