Military air in the Golden Circle area of Memphis, TN -new addition May, 2021

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Good afternoon! After some time of brewing over the subject, I’ve started building a collection of military aircraft that operated in the Golden Circle area of Memphis, TN, which consists of West Tennessee, Eastern Arkansas, and North Mississippi. I was relatively unaware of how much of it was around over the years; most of the airfields were training bases in World War II. It won’t be a comprehensive build of every type that ever flew at every base, but I hope to represent each base in the area, which so far will be aircraft from NAS Memphis in Millington, McKellar airfield in Jackson, TN, the ANG unit in Memphis, the B-17 base in Halls, TN (outside of Dyersburg), and the SAC base in Blytheville, AR.

My first completed build is the Sword 1/72 T-28B that included decals for ATU-105, which was at NAS Memphis in the mid 50’s.

Number two is a B-17 from the Dyersburg Army Air Base. Revell of Germany 1.72 kit modified to represent the first “F” model built by Boeing. Seems it didn’t crash.

Revell of Germany 1.72 Stearman. Based off picture from Jackson, TN during WWII.

Minicraft 1.144 B-52H converted to a “G”. Miss Piggy of the 97th Bombardment Wing based at Blytheville, AR around 1980.

VT-9 T-1A Seastar based in Millington in 1962.

C-17 Globemaster III of the Tennessee Air National Guard in Memphis, 2017

Bell P-63A that crashed near Hernando, MS while detached to Halls AAFB

UH-60 of the 1-230 air assault battalion based at Jackson, TN; present day

The family all together

Airfix A-4B, VMA-124, 1965

2

Your T-28 is beautifully done. Your paint job is really sharp and superbly done. I really the idea of your project. Very cool. So, what other aircraft are involved in your comprehensive build. Thanks for sharing your build.

3

Very nicely built T-28, looks great, even though yellow is my least favorite color!

Cheers,

Martin : )

4

Thanks, y’all! Joe, the short list includes a B-17 for the Halls, TN base, a PT-17 for the Jackson, TN base, a B-52 for Blytheville, AR, and most likely a C-17 for the Memphis ANG unit. There were several types operated by the ANG and the naval base at Millington, and I might add some of those later. There were three other primary training bases in the area in the early '40’s, but no pictures have turned up on the planes that were stationed there, which is a shame, because some P-40’s were said to have been stationed there as well.

Martin, I am in total agreement about yellow…

Glenn

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Started the second build which is the Dyersburg, TN based B-17. Found out that the very first “F” model built by Boeing was there in 1945, minus the turrets and squadron colors on the cowls. Most sources say that it crashed in Washington state in '43, testing the Tokyo tanks for Boeing, but it ain’t so. I kind of played around keeping the interior dark, and am now plugging the lower turret opening up. I hope to make progress and finish by December.

6

Very clean ready for delivery

7

Great models. My old friend Airman Jim flew in C-124’s for the TN ANG.

8

The T-28 is absolutely gorgeous! Very well done! And nice work so far on the Fort. I vaguely recall one of my jumps being from a TN ANG C-130, but I could not tell you where those boys hailed from. I just remember seeing the Tennessee Air Guard on the wheel sponsons as we filed out to the ramp for boarding. I do like your collection theme and look forward to seeing it completed…

9

Very nicely done!

Toshi

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Lovin your T-28. Really pretty in those colors. Ive built the Heller T-28 before and yes, the landing gear assembly can be a pain.

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Thank you for the kind words. Stik, that may have been a Memphis bird as they flew 130s until the late 80s, early 90s.

12

well it looked just like this one… [whstl]

'except they had the side doors open to get rid of us in flight without the courtesy of stopping off somewhere on the ground… [:O]

13

Heh: “Y’all get out of my airplane, NOW!”

Yep, I’ll be watching this one. My Dad was stationed at Blytheville around 1956-57 time, where he met my Mom. It’ll be interesting to see what you build from there. :slight_smile:

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

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Blytheville was originally a training base during World War II. Might have been twin engines for transition to bombers and cargo aircraft (don’t recall). Several fields in NE Arkansas were built as alternate landing locations as well. Closed after the war and reopened in the 50s with Martin B-57s. Don’t recall when SAC came, but it hosted B-52G’s with Hound Dogs and later some of the first cruise missile equipped G models. In addition they had a KC-135. Used to spend some time in the area on business and the local library had some historical articles/books on the base history. Have been planning for years to do a 1/144 B-52G in the chrome dome scheme with the Hound Dog missiles. Being close to Memphis, they have had a few B-52s named Memphis Belle II and maybe III.

If your Golden Circle extends to Walnut Ridge, the base there was also a training base and was used as an aircraft disposal site after the war. Rows upon rows of aircraft waiting to be sold to scrappers including a large number of B-32 Dominators that apparently went almost straight from the factory to Walnut Ridge for disposal.

15

Your post caught my attention as I was stationed on Guam in 89-90 and have actually worked on I think it was Memphis Belle II. Was with the 43rd FMS at the time. My eyes lit up when I saw the nose art on her. Loving your builds and what you have lined up. Looking forward to seeing them progress.

16

Fantastic looking build,the yellow is perfect.

17

Thanks for the great information! The B-52 that I was planning on has a red razorback on the tail. I think it was nicknamed Miss Piggy.

18

Fabulous build and a great paint finish, especially with a color that a lot of people have problems with! Cheers, Martin : )

19

What a cool project! I remember the rows of C130s that used to fly South of Olive Branch on weekends when I was a kid. It was a real treat to see (and hear) those beasts fly over the house.

20

Well, that’s interesting. My Dad was stationed in Blytheville in the mid-50s, and was part of the crew that worked on the Air Force certification/acceptance of the B-57. Perhaps he did that work then and there. He was quite fond of the B-57, even flying them in Viet Nam. Of course that might have been just an opportunty to get out of flying the O1 as a FAC!! Still, he always spoke fondly of the '57.

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas