Back in the 70s I went to a small airshow in Maine at a transportation museum and they had a Spitfire that was owned by the pilot who flew it during the Battle of Nritian, a collectiom pf WWI aorcraft, all operational as well as a couple other aircraft. Before that I went to the Air Force museumbefore they built the new quanset hut like buildings. Back then most aircraft were outside where you could touch them.
Overall I have been around The A-7, A-10, the EC-121, C-47C-123, 124, 130 and several variants, 133, C-5A, C-141, B-52D and G, The century series, F-15, 16, OV-10A, H-43 Pedro, uh-1, H-3, H-53. I have seen the F-84F, EB-66, V-1 Loon, and been inside of the XC-99. That’s only A.F. aircraft.
The A-10 impressed me with its enormous size, raised rivets at the back end, and that gargantuan gun that had “Do not rotate-gun will fire” stenciled by the muzzle.
The Vulcan was something I never dreamed of seeing. It was at an open house at Hickam AFB, parked away from the other US aircraft. No one seemed interested in the Vulcan except for this one little kid with a Kodak Instamatic camera with only a dozen shots. Actually I saw a Vulcan twice at Hickam, the first time it had a light grey underside, the second time it had the darker wraparound scheme. Man how I wished I had my digital camera or smartphone! But that was back in 1977 and 1982 I think.
The first time I saw an F-15, the thing that struck me was that the sway braces for the Sparrow missiles were big “C” shaped chunks of metal sticking perpendicular into the airstream.
I’ll remember the F-4’s thick, warm, velvety, oily and stinky black soot from the inside of the exhaust petals. Dad said “don’t do that”, but I just had to run my finger through that gunk!
Between a military career, lots of airshows, and lots of museums, the list of things seen, land, sea, and air, is quite long. Some things look incredibly delicate and fragile, while others seem indestructible. Seeing a B-52 once at a SAC base open house, with “clips” of inert practice B-28 and B-61 nukes ready for loading really makes one ponder the nightmare of that era. Yet seeing another B-52 mother ship at a different base location and all the mission tally markers for X-plane launches gave a feeling of wonderment to imagine those flights.
Seen a bunch of stuff listed here growing up in an airforce familly. Then all the air shows at NAS/MCAS Miramar. I saw a flying He111 at the CAF show at Gillespie field was very cool. Shame it crashed a while back.
Of the hundreds that I’ve built, there are only nine that I haven’t seen in real life:
CF-105 Avro Arrow (I have seen the front fusleage section at the museum here in Ottawa), F-6F Hellcat, P-47 Thunderbolt, Me-262, F-105 Thunderchief, B-26 Marauder, Me-110, Do-335 and FW-190.
the main thing that strikes me is that the real this is nowhere as perfect as we try to portray them in minature. Everything has scratches, dings, dents, miss colored areas, oil canning, etc. I like to study the exhaust paterns or where oils and fluids accumulate. On ships, most everything is hand painted, chipped, rusted, dented, again, nowhere as perfect as we strugle to make them.
My last Command ;Second of the Company’s new ships For me
She was only two years old.( that’s how long it took to build her.) Already had paint chips and multi coats of paint covering up wear and rust! First voyage on her we had twenty seven feet of paint peel off both sides of the Bow. Company got her painted by folks in boats in Bahrain!
I’d say sixty to seventy percent of my collection. That is because I tend to build what I see and what I am familiar with. I build a lot of civil aircraft, especially golden age stuff (Stinson, Beech, etc.) and airliners. I have been to so many airshows I can’t count, plus many Rockfords and Oshkosh.
The big exceptions are ships, but I build a lot of Great Lakes freighters, of which I have seen many and toured a few, and spacecraft, though I did see a lot of Atlas, Thor and Delta launch vehicles when I was stationed at Vandenberg for four years.
Oh, I also worked at McDonnel in St. Louis, so I saw more than my share of Phantoms and Eagles.
I don’t know how exactly this fits in your thread but I’ll try. Back in the 1970’s when I went to my first CAF warbird airshow in Titusville, FL, I had the opportunity to fly in a Ryan PT-22. Later that summer I got to fly in a T-6G out of Kissimmee. I have an Occidental T-6G kit that I will build later this year that will depict that T-6. A couple of years later, I had joined the Florida Wing of the CAF and got to fly in a member’s P-51D. With a little luck, I’ll build a model of that Mustang, maybe this year. In the 80’s, the fellow who influenced me to get my pilot certificate had a Canadian Harvard Mk.II followed by a Tiger Moth. I flew with him a lot in both airplanes. I’ll do my best to build models of those two airplanes too.
When I see an airplane at an airshow or in a museum I can be influenced to build a model of that airplane but usually in some historical context.
Between my AF time and museums, airshows, etc… I’ve seen quite alot of US stuff. The one bird that really sticks in my mind over the years is how impressive and HUGE the Valkerie is…What a montster of a plane. Watched the SR-71 up close in action…that’s beyond impressive. B1’s, the old bomers, B-52’s…many old US and Soviet fighters, both piston and jet driven. The list is huge. It’s easier that say I haven’t had the joy of seeing any Japanese or German birds up close. But that Valkeie…WOW !!!
Served in the USAF, worked on the flightline and saw many different aircraft. Many airshows the most intersting of which was the Confederate Air Force back in the 80’s which flew WWII aircraft. Some I’ve built some I’ve yet to, don’t really have a count going on that.
Well between the Smithsonian, the US Navy Aviation Museum at Fort Walton Florida, and the Fighter Factory at Virginia Beach Virginia I’ve seen most of the US aircraft I’ve modeled.
And between the old George S. Patton Armor Museum that used to be at Knoxville Tennesee and the AAF Armor Museum at Danville Virginia I’ve seen most of the US armour I’ve modeled in the flesh as it were.
Most of the Japanese and other non-US stuff I haven’t seen in person. So it’s probably close to 50/50 overall.
To add on a few more: The Charles W. Morgan when we visited Mystic.
T-28 U.S. Navy and Laos
Shinmawa patrol aircraft J.M.S.D.F.
P.T. boat J.M.S.D.F.
C-9 Nigthtengale
T-43 Nav trainer
M-113, M-706 (the A.F. version had no gun terret), M-151, CJ-5, M-715 weapons truck, along with various other base vehicles motor pool would dump on us to patrol with, up to a 1 1/2 ton steak bed truck.
F-89 Scorpion
You’re right, the SR-71 Habu was quite something to watch take off, especially at night.