A busy day at PIK

An ex-Marines C-130, now with the US Navy.

Derived from the B-24 / PB4Y-1 Liberator, the Privateer was a dedicated maritime patrol aircraft with a single tailfin. 739 Privateers were delivered to the US Navy from late 1944. Photo from: US Navy - National Naval Aviation Museum

Aboard the USS Kittyhawk off the coast of Western Australia.

Registered N54281 in 1990 apparently in preparation for a ferry flight to a museum but reported to have been scrapped instead.

An early S-55, delivered in April 1951. To NACA in 1953. Seen here with an X-15 drop model. Later to N4781S. Photo from: NASA

To Indiana Museum of Military History as N4619N in 1984. Reregistered N14835 in 1985. Converted to an air tanker and lost while firebombing at Reserve, New Mexico on June 27, 1998.

The Cutlass was cutting edge technology. This airframe spent the summer of 1955 at NACA Ames for testing. Photo from: NASA

At the Avalon Airshow 2007

A Black Lions F-14D during its landing at the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Persian Gulf (or Arabian Sea). Fighter Squadron (VF) 213 was busy at that time with their final cruise with the F-14 Tomcat.

Lockheed's experimental VTOL project. Two were built, but the design never managed vertical take-off. The project was cancelled in 1955, leaving the second aircraft (138658) incomplete without an engine. The flying prototype 138657 was donated to Hiller Aircraft for further VTOL testing, but its fate is unclear. Reliable sources say that only parts (engine and props) of this aircraft survived these tests, others say it is the aircraft that went on display in Florida in the mid 1990s, and that for reasons unknown it was painted as 138658...
Note: this design is often quoted as "XFV-1 Salmon", but it was in fact unnamed. Salmon was the name of Lockheed's test pilot for the project. Photo from: Library of Congress

A VF-31 Tomcat being prepared for another Operation Iraqi Freedom mission. The radar received some maintenance and bombs put ready to attached underneath the fuselage.

A fine study of a resting F-14D on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt during operating Iraqi Freedom.

Touch down of a VF-213 F-14D during the Tomcat sunset cruise. The squadron embarked the USS Theodore Roosevelt together with VF-31 Tomcatters for this memorable deployment.

Destroyed on the ground at Andersen AFB, Guam, 1992-08-27 by typhoon "Omar".

Sold as N4206L

145221 displayed as '143492' in VF-13 markings.