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Sunday, February 3, 2019

No Tanks

Sikorsky JRS-1 at Udvar-Hazy
That's right, no armored vehicles on display today.

I ran across the following video quite accidentally, one of those happy occasions where you look for one thing of interest and wind up finding something else even more interesting. Now I've seen the subject of this video a few times, twice when she was back in the restoration area and then again when she finally made her way "out front."

The aircraft has a fascinating history, prior to her being put on display, I had no idea of the significance of this aircraft and that she had been at Pearl Harbor on the day the Empire of Japan attacked.




Those aircraft would probably not have returned had they found the Japanese fleet. Yet those brave crewmen went anyway.

Uh, no tanks. (To again play off the post title. That's me, attempting to be clever.)

I'm not sure why the Smithsonian didn't do a full restore on the JRS-1 in their fine collection. But in a way, she looks like she should - an old warhorse who has had her day and now lives in quiet retirement.







Surrounded as she is by her modern cousins, she stands out. Battered and bruised, but still standing.

What a story!

Once again a tip o' the hat to the History Guy for furthering my education.

Update:

 And for PLQ, Udvar-Hazy's P-38 -





*Also a big tip o' the hat to Parrothead Jeff through whom I found the video.
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38 comments:

  1. Jim b.February 3, 2019 at 6:11 AM

    Yeah, that was a great story he put on. Love his tube channel. Make one forget the days news.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RobFebruary 3, 2019 at 6:12 AM

    Sitting there in it's war colors... nice!

    ReplyDelete
  3. STxARFebruary 3, 2019 at 6:48 AM

    I watch him, too. He's got a great presentation and good editing. She is a beauty...

    ReplyDelete
  4. BeansFebruary 3, 2019 at 9:15 AM

    Something about a sea plane. I think we went wrong going away from them. There's an advantage to having them that just isn't filled by helos.

    Maybe they brought her in as she is to dry her out before restoring her. Hope she gets a chance at the cosmetic counter one day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OldAFSargeFebruary 3, 2019 at 10:57 AM

      She was back in the restoration area for quite some time. Maybe they like leaving as they found her. She does look pretty rugged.

      Only problem with a seaplane is rough water, then a helo is better.

      Delete
    2. Paul L. QuandtFebruary 3, 2019 at 1:56 PM

      I don't think that helo/sea plane is an ether/or thing; there is a place for each. Perhaps not enough of a market for sea planes to encourage manufactures to continue to develop and product them, currently. But if the market were to develop, I believe that one would see new sea planes available.

      Thanks for the post.
      Paul L. Quandt

      Delete
    3. OldAFSargeFebruary 3, 2019 at 2:02 PM

      Well, they are used up in Canada and Alaska.

      Delete
    4. Paul L. QuandtFebruary 4, 2019 at 12:01 AM

      Yes, but the demand has not yet outstripped the supply, or someone would be manufacturing them.

      Paul

      Delete
    5. OldAFSargeFebruary 4, 2019 at 8:35 AM

      Probably won't, you need really calm water to land and take-off. They're also used for fire fighting as well, I think in Canada and Russia in particular.

      I could be wrong.

      Delete
    6. jon spencerFebruary 5, 2019 at 6:37 PM

      There are a little over 160 CL 415's and 215's flying boats, another 100 or so AT-802's float equipped aircraft being used for firefighting worldwide. Russia has their own. Japan uses US-2's. About every 1'st. world country and many other countries use them, some contracted out and others owned and operated by their governments.

      Delete
    7. OldAFSargeFebruary 6, 2019 at 6:02 AM

      More than I would have thought! Thanks Jon.

      Delete
  5. UnknownFebruary 3, 2019 at 10:18 AM

    I've got a preference for her the way she is. The "she was there" coupled with her patina really brings home the connection, even though the current colors and wear aren't from the attack. Clean and freshly painted displays don't always take you back and give you that you-are-there feeling. It's good to sometimes see the effects of age.

    I also like how she's been placed on the corner, so you can see more of her directly.

    /
    L.J.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OldAFSargeFebruary 3, 2019 at 10:58 AM

      I do like the corner spot.

      Their P-38 looks well used as well, gives them that warbird feel.

      Delete
    2. Paul L. QuandtFebruary 3, 2019 at 1:59 PM

      I would very much like to see a picture of their P-38, if you have one to share.

      Paul

      Delete
    3. OldAFSargeFebruary 3, 2019 at 2:12 PM

      I'll add that above as an update.

      Delete
    4. Tom in NCFebruary 3, 2019 at 4:27 PM

      P-38's are very cool - have always thought so when as a kid I read about the mission to get Yamamoto. And ironically, I was just cleaning out my office yesterday and got rid of some old issue of Air& Space - one had an article on the recovery of Glacier Girl, so I stopped my clean up and re-read it - here is a link to that article

      https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/glacier-girl-the-back-story-19218360/

      Delete
    5. OldAFSargeFebruary 3, 2019 at 5:16 PM

      I posted about that once upon a time. I'll need to dig that out sometime.

      Have you seen the Red Bull P-38 in action? Look for it on YouTube. Good stuff!

      Delete
    6. Tom in NCFebruary 3, 2019 at 8:04 PM

      thanks - just looked at a couple of the videos, what a beautiful airplane! only problem I have is they took the .50's out of the nose!

      and I'll look forward to your posts on Glacier Girl - I have been by Epps Aviation at Peachtree-DeKalb and seen a lot of photos of the plane and the expedition at the Downwind Restaurant there. It has pretty decent food and a great view of the airport looking across to the massive CDC facility on the other side of the runways. Bet that PDK was a bit busy this weekend with traffic coming in for the Superbowl - would have been a good place to watch all the comings and goings.

      Delete
    7. Paul L. QuandtFebruary 4, 2019 at 12:09 AM

      Thank you for the P-38 photo. ( I am almost positive that I wrote that thank you before, but I don't see scrolling through the comments. So if two show up, you'll know what happened.

      By the way: you're.

      Paul

      Delete
    8. OldAFSargeFebruary 4, 2019 at 8:36 AM

      Tom - I'll dig that old post up, I have a fondness for the old Fork-Tailed Devil.

      Delete
    9. OldAFSargeFebruary 4, 2019 at 8:37 AM

      No problem Paul.

      Sometimes it's just a typo...

      Delete
  6. bmgman@swbell.netFebruary 3, 2019 at 1:56 PM

    Is that an SBD (tail no. 208) behind? If so, is it fitted with the granddaddy of all EW pods? There are no fins on that "bomb". Or is it just a fuel tank?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OldAFSargeFebruary 3, 2019 at 2:08 PM

      Yup, SB2C-5 Helldiver, not sure what the pod is.

      Delete
    2. BeansFebruary 3, 2019 at 3:09 PM

      I think it might be an early airborne radar unit. To extend the search radius. So off to search...

      From a modeling site: The AN/APS-4 was introduced during WWII by the US Navy to assist in the search and targeting of ships and surfaced submarines. Carried by the SB2C-4E Helldiver and TBM-3E Avenger the pod served into the post war years.

      Source: ipmsusa.org/reviews/Details/Aircraft/quickboost_48/qb_48_aps4-pod.htm

      And then, in a real-proof of existence photo: https://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=23541

      Yup. It's a radar pod.

      Delete
    3. OldAFSargeFebruary 3, 2019 at 3:32 PM

      Nice! Your Google Fu is strong.

      Delete
  7. juvatFebruary 3, 2019 at 3:59 PM

    What is the aircraft behind the right wing of the JRS-1 (next to last picture)? Looks thrust vectored.

    Good post, BTW.

    ReplyDelete
  8. SCOTTtheBADGERFebruary 3, 2019 at 5:19 PM

    What is that curious device above her right wingtip?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OldAFSargeFebruary 3, 2019 at 6:11 PM

      A rather odd flying machine.

      Delete
    2. a bearFebruary 4, 2019 at 5:15 AM

      It’s this thing. No, I don’t actually know which end is the front.

      https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/web11779-2011hjpg

      Delete
    3. OldAFSargeFebruary 4, 2019 at 8:31 AM

      We have an ID. Unmanned from the looks of it.

      Thanks a bear.

      Delete
  9. Tom in NCFebruary 3, 2019 at 8:26 PM

    here is a nice set of photos of the restoration of the JRS-1

    https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/sikorsky-jrs-1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OldAFSargeFebruary 4, 2019 at 8:32 AM

      Those are nice. First time I saw her she was nearly ready to move out front.

      Thanks Tom.

      Delete
  10. a bearFebruary 3, 2019 at 9:06 PM

    JRS-1 reminds me of *this* crazy thing, another flying-boat story:

    https://medium.com/s/story/the-long-way-round-the-plane-that-accidentally-circumnavigated-the-world-c04ca734c6bb

    ReplyDelete

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