VF-101 Show Bird to Castle Air Museum Photos

[alert5]

http://www.alert5.com/gallery/VF-101-farewell

This VF-101 #160 made its last departure from Ocean for its final resting place at Castle Air Museum.

 

[bunk22]

I saw that bad boy at North Island yesterday, taxing to the transit area. Beautiful bird.

 

[alert5]

Photos of the Tomcat arriving at its final resting place

http://www.alert5.com/gallery/VF-101-farewell-Castle

 

[Blutonski816]

Now I remember wher I heard the name "Butkus" Haas....
He was VF-31's skipper during OIF, wasn't he?

 

[Schnugg]

I flew the Tomcat outside of NSAWC up there on it's last flight.

We came smoking into the break in blower at about 600kts, glove vane noisemakers extended and pulled 7.8 G in the break (mind you it's 6.5 G limited). Now that normally would require an inspection. But hey it's going on a stick, so who cared right?...

(Schnuggapup sage words of wisdom: Young "Pup" wannabes, do not try his at home, obey NATOPS)

Maint CPO says "Hey you guys need to stand by we may need to fly this back to Miramar on a parts run..."

Uh oh.

So we had to 'fess up to the 7.8 G break.

Luckily, he was just messing with us, all the CPOs started laughing and said the break was awesome and we were mission complete. Just in time for a cold one at the Nugget.

r/
G
BUNO 159626 She's a beauty.

 

[Blutonski816]

was she always in VF-211 markings or was that done later??

Sidenote: I find it kind of comical how even the aircraft destined for museums are scavenged for parts like hte missing TCS on the Above A/C and the missing IRST unit on the VF-101 bird...

"They won't need THAT in a museum!"

 

[Schnugg]

I believe it was a VF-213 jet I flew up there. Have to dig out the old logbook and check one of these days.

 

[Cougar_62]

When you say the Castle Air Museum are you talking about Castle Air Force base up south of Modesto? If that's where the plane went that's neat, but I think most of the planes I saw there were the types that Castle used to have based there, bombers and transports. Kind of strange to put a Navy fighter there.

My father-in-law used to be a guide at the Castle Air Force Base Museum. He was a boomer on KC-97s and KC-135s. Castle was his last base assignment and he lived in Modesto and Atwater after he retired.

 

[Goober]

On the right side of Schnugg's 1st pic you can see the back of an E-2 stick bird from whence my boys had the courtesy to liberate the right rudder from the after half of the right vertical stab. Too bad, 'cause they had painted the CAEWWS logo full-size on the tail. Last time I saw it, it still had half a "Golden Hawk" from the one we traded onto it in 2001.

Accelerated 9/11 workups are a b*tch, parts are parts, and the plane's still in the inventory...