Veterans Day Observance at the Mojave Airport
November 11, 2007

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The Mojave Airport hosted a Veterans Day observance and fly by. Marine Corps Major William Barber was the guest speaker at the event. Al Hansen brought out his Bell UH-1H Huey, Canadair Sabre Mk.6 (F-86E), and Grumman S-2F-1 Tracker for the public to view up close. Skyraider Bob flew his A-1H up from Ramona and made several passes over the airport. Wallasch Aviation's Canadair T-33A also performed for the crowd.

NASA's former Landing Systems Research Aircraft (LSRA) Convair 990 N810NA sits adjacent to the entrance to the airport. Its Convair airframe number is 30-10-29. It was delivered to American Airlines in May 1962 as N5617. Modern Air Transport purchased it in 1968. NASA acquired it for use at Ames Research Center in May 1975 and registered it as N713NA. NASA later re-registered it as N710NA. It was used at the Ames Research Center until 1983 when it was withdrawn from use. It was stored at Marana, Arizona until it was refurbished in 1989 for use at the Dryden FRC, where it was registered as N810NA. After serving as the Landing Systems Research Aircraft in 1993 and 1994, it was retired to Mojave.

Convair 990 N810NA

The slipper tanks on the trailing edge of the wing are a distinctive feature of the Convair 990.

Convair 990, N5617 at NAS Moffett in August 1975, shortly after its acquisition by NASA.

Former BAE Systems McDonnell-Douglas F-4C Phantom II N403FS now sits next to the Convair 990. It used to be displayed in front of the administration building. It was delivered to the Air Force as 64-0741. It later served as a testbed in the QF-4 drone conversion program.

Rotary Rocket ATV Roton N990RR is displayed near the administration building.

Roton made three rotor borne flights in 1999. Its registration was cancelled on February 27, 2001.

The cockpit is on the north side of the Roton, so it is almost always in shadow.

The Mojave Airport administration building. As usual, the flags are standing straight out from the flagpole.

Bell UH-1H Huey N312CF is registered to Al Hansen.

Many uncommon airplanes are stored on the back side of the airport. In this picture there are four Douglas A-3 Skywarriors, a Convair 990, a Convair 880 and the nose of another Convair 880, the cockpit section of a Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, a North American F-100 Super Sabre, Douglas DC-9s, McDonnell-Douglas DC-10s, and classic Boeing 747s.

Grumman S2F-1 Tracker N8110X is registered to Al Hansen. Its construction number is 307. It was delivered to the U.S. Navy as BuNo 136398 in 1958.

S2F-1 N8110X

UH-1H N312CF

Canadair Sabre Mk.6 N38453 is restored as U.S. Air Force F-86F, 51-13487. It is registered to Al Hansen. It flew for the South African Air Force as #378. It was registered by Flight Systems in October 1983. It was acquired by Global Aerospace of Newport Beach, California in September 1992.

Sabre Mk.6 N38453

Douglas DC-9-31 N932ML Firebird II was parked adjacent to the static display area. It is operated by the U.S. Navy. It has a bulbous modified nose with unidentified test equipment. We were not permitted to go around to the other side to photograph the bulbous nose. Its construction number is 47547. It was delivered to Ansett Airlines on March 29, 1971. Midway Airlines acquired it and gave it its current registration in October 1981. It went into storage in 1991. Spirit Airlines acquired it on June 4, 1992. Its nose was modified in 1997. It was transferred to the U.S. Navy on May 1, 1998. It is owned by the United States of America. The FAA registration database identifies the address of the owner as BLDG 0005 RM 1209 China Lake, California.

Cessna 195, N195H was built in 1948. Its construction number is 7200.

Canadair CT-133A Silver Star, N306CW is restored as a U.S. Air Force T-33A. It is owned by Wallasch Aviation, Inc of Acton, California. It was built in 1955.

Douglas DC-9-32 N833JM was delivered to Air Canada as C-FTMM on April 25, 1974. Air Canada withdrew it from use on October 24, 2001. It was acquired by Jet Midwest on February 7, 2007. It received its current registration on April 6, 2007.

Douglas A-1H Skyraider NX39606 is flown by "Skyraider Bob" Grondzik. It is registered to Warbird Aircraft of San Diego. Its Navy Buno was 139606 and it was delivered to the South Vietnamese Air Force. It was recovered through Thailand by Yesterday's Air Force in 1980. It was registered as N3915B by Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation at Chino in 1983. The Donald Douglas Museum at Santa Monica registered it as NX39606 in July 1988 and passed it on to the Santa Monica Museum of Flying in 1990.