Tail Number 8610 is the aircraft responsible for the call sign
Air Force One. It seems that the Columbine was confused by an air traffic
controller with a flight number 8610 and the later was given precedence
over the Columbine.
She now sits at a small airport outside Tucson Arizona
and rumor has it that she's for sale.
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This is the interior as it looks today. 8610 was to be salvaged at DM in
Tucson but was saved after much of the interior was stripped. About where you
see the white bucket is where Ike's desk stood.
If only these walls could talk.
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Here's some facts that I found on a poster inside.
Lockheed Constellation Model 749 |
The story goes,...that this light came to Ryan from Tucson International
Airport, and that Lindbergh himself switched the light on at the original
dedication at TIA.
The Lindy Light Tower still stands along the old entrance road. The
light as been removed and reinstalled on the new control tower. Lindy's
Light is still serving pilots today.
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The "new" six story tower, opened Aug. 13, 1993, and sports the "old" Lindy
Light. A marriage of new and old working together. I think it's really neat!
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Just to the right of center is the yard of Aero America. They did repair and modifications on all sorts of aircraft from PBY's to DC-3's. Above is a view of Ryan as it looked in November 1971
Ryan began its long life on June 15, 1942 in a flurry of activity to supply the pilots the Army needed for the war effort. With the possibility of a coastal attack by Japan, Ryan Aeronautical moved the entire operation inland to Tucson, and began classes by August 1942. Ryan School was closed September 5, 1944. In two years more that 6,000 pilots got their wings at Ryan. Despite being closed by the Army, Ryan continued to grow, slowly at times, until today it's a full service air field.
And in case you were wondering, Ryan Aeronautical is the same Ryan that built the "Spirit of St. Louis".
I loved the old wooden hangers from the WWII days. All are gone now. In the 70's Ryan was an uncontrolled airport. Truly a sleepy little country field. I miss that!
The "sleepy country field" was not without its exciting moments. One I remember quite vividly was when two aircraft both landing at the same time, one on a very steep final approach and the other on a low and slow approach both arrived at the same place at the same time. The steep approach aircraft almost landed on top of the other. They missed only by a foot or so and it was lucky they did because they were over the end of the runway with only about 200' of altitude.
The photo below is of another mishap I witnessed at Ryan.
During the time I spent at Ryan I saw two wheels up landings. Both were
Bellanca's.
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Looking over the shoulder of pilot Dave Molina lining up to land on runway
6 after an afternoon of towing gliders for the Soaring Club.
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This 1939 Piper Cub belonged to Nate Wilcox. Acording to Nate, this very
airplane was Piper's entry in the 1939 World's Fair.
Nate & Norma operated a flight school at Ryan during the 70's. Norma
taught me to fly.
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Nate and Norma are both gone now.
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Nate Wilcox was a quiet and gentle person. We all miss him very much.
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Seen here at a polishing party are Norma, her grandson Gregg and daughter
Twila. Twila and Gregg are putting on Norma's number for the upcoming 99 event.
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In all fairness to Twila we should show her from the front.
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I visited White Sands in August, 1984 after STS-3 made its one and only
landing there in March, 1982.
This photo was given to me and Neil McSweeney by our host, Alex Paczynski,
project engineer for NASA. Neil and I had gone to WS for the Flandrau Planetarium
and Cinema-360 Corp. to cover one of the two possible landing sights for the
STS 41-D mission.
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In case the STS 41-D flight were to abort to WS we were there with an Arriflex IIc camera. At that point in time Cinema-360 had no footage of a Shuttle landing for their new film "The Space Shuttle: An American Adventure" was only a few months from its debut. Two Cinema-360 camera crews were in position at Edwards Air Force Base, the scheduled landing site. We drew White Sands because we were the closest. I must say that NASA treated us like we were important. It was a great experience!
The next three photos are not really relevant to the first part of this page
but I couldn't resist including them.
I took this photo from the roof of the Flandrau Planetarium on the morning
of December 12, 1988 when they stopped at DM for fuel.
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It wasn't much even then but I can tell you I was impressed. This was as close
as I was ever likely to get to anything going on at NASA.
The guys in the tower gave us a handy talkie to use in case we needed anything
while setting up and waiting for the launch that morning.
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I had a small DC tv set in the station wagon so we were able to keep up in real time with the progress of the launch. If they had to abort, I sure hoped it would be to White Sands. Well everything went fine and the film crew at Edwards got the footage of the landing.A word about the "sand" at White Sands. It's not sand. It's a very corrosive material (calcium sulfate dihydrate known as gypsum) and anything steel that has been there some time is rusted out like an old car from the eastern states.
Interestingly, these little Kit Foxes seem to thrive in the harsh environment.
They are plentiful and seem to tolerate our being there with little or no concern.
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