Correct color of an 84th FIS F-101B?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hi guys,

I’m trying to look up some info on the F-101s as shown on Eagle Strike’s sheet 48244 depicting the 84th FIS. For the life of me, I can’t tell from various internet photos if the planes are NMF or grey. The decal instruction sheet says grey but I found a couple of pics showing NMF F-101s from the 84th.

Your thoughts, ideas and suggestions as to how I should handle this?

Thanks,

Eric

2

ADC/Aircraft Gray was more common on the F-101B. Do you have a time frame that you are looking at on the markings you plan to use?

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Almost certainly aircraft gray,

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Thanks for the info, guys! I just got an e-mail from my dad stating that he remembers them being in bare aluminum. He said he worked on the base as a teenager around 1961 or 1962. I’ve been able to find lots color photos on the web with the planes in their customary ADC grey but only a few pics of the -101s in the NMF. The pics of the NMF planes are very incomplete. In other words, I can only find pics of the tail or of the nose but nothing showing a picture of the entire airframe. That means I’m not sure what their markings were like. I’m not sure if markings that are on the Eagle Strike decal sheet would be usable and valid for a bare aluminum F-101 circa 1961 or 1962.

I can find a million pictures of cute kittens on the web but I can’t find a single complete picture of an F-101 out of Hamilton AFB from the early 1960s! Ugh!

Eric

5

members.tripod.com/…/Airfields_CA_SanRafael.htm

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/CA/Airfields_CA_SanRafael.htm

Here (if I posted correctly) is a picture of the flight line of Hamilton AFB taken in 1961. The Voodoos in the picture are clearly ADC Aircraft Gray. Doesn’t mean that they were never bare metal or that there were some there not in the picture that are bare metal but at least the 15 or so that you can clearly see in this photo they are gray.

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I can’t seem to get the photo to attach, so you’ll have to follow the link, sorry.

7

Check the next few photos down showing a NMF Voodoo (56-0303) showing very low key markings.

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The undated photo shows F-101Bs in almost certainly NMF finish. By the time of the later photos in 1967 they ae in ADC Gray. The markings appear nearly the same. That link is is for a great website. I just learned that one of my High School party spots was an abandoned airfield. By the time we were there, it was no longer recognizable as such… LOL! That Hamilton page really had me thinking. I hate seeing airfields like that. At least some of the buildings were saved and somewhat restored. I have seen too many bases fall to the re developers and sit decrepit…

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remember also there were two squadrons there. not sure which was which other than in the picture marked 1967 the 84th had the yellow triangle on the tail. the voodoo that looks like bare metal had colored stripes at the base the tail. not sure if that is the other squadron or if they changed their markings, either is possible.

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and by yellow triangle I mean yellow stripe… Got confused by other planes I’m reasearching

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I do believe that the decal sheet I have contains the yellow shevron stripe in front of the tail as well as the colored striped at the base of the vertical stabilizer. I saw that one pic in the fantastic link provided by Smith248 (thank you for those!) and there are definitely NMF F-101s. A few pictures away from that one is a grey -101 from several years later. I guess I’ll be doing the NMF version since that’s the one my dad remembers from his youth.

Thanks to all for the info and the great pictures!!!

Eric

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post pics, looking forward to seeing it… always had a soft spot for the one-oh-wonder… One of those aircraft that never got the fame and glamour of the other century aircraft like the super saber or the starfighter but was revolutionary at the time and whose design inspired so many other aircraft that followed.

13

Eric,

My reference says “Delivered in bare metal, F-101Bs were later painted grey to reduce corrosion.” I’ve got early 60’s pics in the book of 2 NMF birds with the 437th out of Oxnard with Bu No;s 200 bigger than your bird. (70425 & 70435)

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Smith, I definitely will! I enjoy posting finished kits to the FSM forum pages. Hopefully I can complete it in a timely manner. Normally it takes me a few months to complete a single model but that’s only because life gets in the way and not because I’m über-good at anything. LOL!

I love those early jets. I love to hear my dad’s stories of life on Hamilton Field. I listen with a combination of fascination and jealousy! He is so lucky to have experienced and seen up close all the early 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation jets. Those were true works of art.

Eric

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Marty, those numbers are not Navy Bureau Numbers, they are the USAF Fiscal Year designators and serial numbers. 70425 means 57-0425, 1957 being the fiscal year (from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30) Congress appropriated the money to buy the aircraft.

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Thank you Marty! That is some excellent info and it validates my dad’s memories from 50 years ago.

And Rich, I’ll never be able to look another aircraft’s number without thinking of Congress. Thanks a heap! LOL!

Eric

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Rich,

Thanks for the clarification. I thought they were one and the same.