MASDC: 1969

Established at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, in 1946, the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG - as it is currently known) is now home to more than 4,400 aircraft. Some of them are destined to never leave, their reusable parts removed to help keep other aircraft in the skies. Others may go on to serve foreign air arms, and a lucky few will even return to active US service. That is the AMARG of 2013, but what was it like at the end of the ‘60s? Lindsay Peacock once again opens up his archive to show us.

Lindsay Peacock

Words & Pictures

MASDC: 1969

Established at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, in 1946, the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG - as it is currently known) is now home to more than 4,400 aircraft. Some of them are destined to never leave, their reusable parts removed to help keep other aircraft in the skies. Others may go on to serve foreign air arms, and a lucky few will even return to active US service. That is the AMARG of 2013, but what was it like at the end of the ‘60s? Lindsay Peacock once again opens up his archive to show us.

Treasures of the Deep

The bottom of Lake Michigan might not be the first place you would think to look for WWII vintage warbirds. However, it is a treasure trove if you know what you are doing. Recently, a Grumman Wildcat was recovered and Rob Edgcumbe met with the team responsible for bringing it back to find out how you go about saving an aircraft that sank 70 years ago.

Image - Mark Kish, A&T Recovery

Treasures of the DeepA short distance from the shoreline of Lake Michigan in the vicinity of Chicago lays a collection of WWII-era aircraft, many of which are in remarkably good condition. Given that this is thousands of miles from the Pacific theatre of operations that these aircraft are so well known for, the idea that so many historicallyhistorically significant aircraft should be here might be counterintuitive. However, the US Navy undertook training for naval aviators in the area. Glenview NAS, now closed and redeveloped, was a major flying training facility. The Navy operated a couple of “carriers” in Lake Michigan to provide training in deck landings.in deck landings.

These ships were not much more than steamers that had seen their superstructure cut back and a deck added. They weren’t required to conduct combat operations but to provide a suitable deck for the trainees to make use of. “Real” carriers were in high demand and couldn’t be spared for training. TheThe ships operated from Navy Pier in Chicago, itself now redeveloped as a major tourist attraction. The decks provided the trainee aircrew with their first chance to experience landing on a small deck in open water. While it wasn’t a deck pitching in the middle of the Pacific, it was a good challenge for the inexperiencedinexperienced aviators – sometimes too good a challenge!

There were many cases of aircraft not making it successfully on or off the deck and the result is a lot of aircraft wrecks scattered across the bottom of Lake Michigan. A&T Recovery has been very successful in bringing some of these aircraft to the surface. They have recovered about 45 aircraft since they started lifting wreckswrecks from the bottom of the lake. For those not familiar with the Great Lakes region, Lake Michigan is not a small body of water. This is a vast area with some hostile weather conditions at times so getting an aircraft up is not as simple as you might initially assume.

The bottom of Lake Michigan might not be the first place you would think to look for WWII vintage warbirds. However, it is a treasure trove if you know what you are doing. Recently, a Grumman Wildcat was recovered and Rob Edgcumbe met with the team responsible for bringing it back to find out how you go about saving an aircraft that sank 70 years ago.

Fifty years ago, a new Boeing product took to the sky for the first time. It was the company's first and only trijet design and went on to be a huge commercial success, forming the backbone of US domestic air travel for many years and scoring significant sales overseas. Paul Dunn examines the history of the Boeing 727.

50 Years of theBoeing Trijet

Image - Paul Filmer

Words - Paul Dunn

Images - As credited

50 Years of theBoeing Trijet

XXV International Meet of the Epiphany

City of Mondovi

XXV International Meet of the Epiphany

Paul Dopson and Heaven Crawley travel to Italy to take part in their first Internazionale dell'Epifania - Città di Mondovì.

United States Air Force Airman Heritage Museum

The city of San Antonio in southern Texas is famous as the location of the Alamo, the scene of a famous 19th Century battle and symbol of Texan resistance. What is probably less well known is that it is also the home of the United States Air Force Airman Heritage Museum, which can be found inside the sprawling complex that is Lackland Air Force Base, on the western side of the city. Chris Wood recently paid a visit for GAM.

Lackland Air Force Base, Texas

Lackland is known as the “Gateway to the Air Force”, as it is where all the enlisted personnel joining the United States Air Force (USAF), the Air National Guard (ANG) and the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) start their military careers, with their basic military training (BMT). The training is conducted by the 37th Training

Wing, which also undertakes technical training in a wide variety of specialisations, and it is estimated that 80,000 personnel pass through the Wing every year. It is therefore an appropriate location for the Airman Heritage Museum, which was formerly known as the USAF History and Traditions Museum.

It's still hard to believe that these are museum pieces; this is the penultimate SR-71A built, now preserved at Lackland.

United States Air Force Airman Heritage MuseumLackland Air Force Base, Texas

A-4N 102, the flagship of the Flying Tigers squadron, at Tel Nof in May 2008 (Bob Archer)

The Ayit at 45 The Douglas A-4 Ayit reaches its 45th anniversary in Israel service

Bob Archer reportsfrom Hatzerim Air Base The Ayit at 45

The Douglas A-4 Ayit reaches its 45th anniversary in Israel service

We’re currently considering some changes to how we run our monthly photographic competition and for now we’ve decided to take a time out from it.

Please bear with us. It will return!

Back page competition placed on hold

The image above, showing two of the L-39s of the private Latvian display team The Baltic Bees, was taken by Karl Drage over the desert between Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, in February 2011 whilst attending the Al Ain Aerobatic Show. It was a fantastic flight that also

included the Turkish Stars and saw the two teams fly in formation over Dubai.

The whole Global Aviation Resource team would like to wish each and every one of you a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and

prosperous 2013.

Thank you all for your continued support!