Originally Posted by Seafire
Originally Posted by butchlambert1
Eielson was surely there in the mid 50s when we were. Seems as Ladd was right in Fairbanks almost. At the time they had 3 squadrons of F89 Scorpions. One had F89C and the other 2 had F89D. Eielson had the new F100 Super Sabres.
Cold weather testing was done at Ladd. @ planes that caught my eye, the F102 and the F104. I believe the F104 was just introduced and did cold weather testing in March or April of 1956. We watched L19&L20s land on the Chena river.
A wonderful place for a kid to grow up!


That would have been cool Butch...

Growing up on AFBs in those days was a great thing for a boy...

My dad was never anywhere they had F 89s at. Always thought they were a cool plane during that time period...

In the 50s, my dad was attached to SAC, so it was B36s, B47s and B52s I mainly recall seeing on base...

then the usual transports, C123s, C 124s, C 119s, C 130s, C 133s....

I do remember some B 25s still around...and the ever present T 33s.. I think every base had those things laying around...

never was around birds as cool as F 89s and F 94s...

F 100s, 101s, 102s, 104s and 106s seemed to be around somewhere nearby....Funny I don't remember 105s being around tho...

sure was a lot of AFBs back in those days...didn't seem that far up the road to another one...

and thank God we didn't have to live in base housing except once in NC at Pope.



We never lived in base housing until we lived at Ladd AFB. I thought that it was great. Much nicer than
civilian housing that we were used to living. The base gym, 12 cent movies, and other things for the dependents.
We rotated to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Tx. I thought it was the best place in the World for a dependent. We hunted the end of the landing strip for jack rabbits with our 22s, base swimming pool, gym, teen age club, and organized sports. Wherry housing wasn't much with no A/C, but we didn't know any better. We did move into the new Capehart housing with A/C.
Being a military dependent was just great. Some of my fondest memories.