Many of my aviation-minded friends have nothing to do with Facebook and perhaps little to do with the internet in general. With this in mind, I have created this file that may be opened and viewed at your leisure, without having to join anything, and with no disclosure of personal information. The photos in this file were mostly taken by me, and where they were not, it should be clear who they came from. The most recent addition to my Facebook group "Tom Hildreth's 104th Fighter Wing aircraft photos" is at the top, and the earlier postings may be seen by scrolling down the page. The file itself is small, but graphic- intensive, so depending on your internet service, it may take a while for the image place holders to fill in with the photo. Enjoy, and pass it on to people you know who may have a similar aviation interest.


When operating Thunderbolts, the unit at Barnes was officially the 131st Fighter Squadron, Single Engine 131FS (SE). When the unit equipped with the F-51H Mustang in November, 1951, it was designated 131st Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS). The squadron would operate the lightweight Mustang for only two-and-a-half years, equipping with the Lockheed F-94 in the Spring of 1954.

 


So what's in a number? Quite a lot when it comes to the number 333. The photo below, also contributed by John W. Lambert, shows Capt. Judge Wolfe of the 333 Fighter Squadron in his P-47N Thunderbolt. Wolfe had nine kills at the time of this photo. As I mentioned, triangular emblems/insignias were frowned upon, but with the number 333 it sure seems logical to me that the triangle in the artwork is justified. We see, at each of the inner triangle's vertices a die, with a value of three showing on each. I think that's pretty neat, and the image of the cobra descending from the clouds about to strike is very appropriate. (Someone say Death Vipers?) Now, about the number itself. On 8 December 1957, a new 333 Fighter Squadron was activated and assigned to the 4 Fighter Wing at Seymour-Johnson AFB, NC. It is still operating there to this day. This unit is a different and unrelated 333 Fighter Squadron. When you look it up on the AFHRA website, you will not see any of the WWII lineage and honors. Those have been permanently bestowed upon the 131 FS at Barnes in 1947 and cannot be claimed by another unit. When I was serving as enlisted historian at the 104th, I received an interesting phone call. The caller advised me that an Army Air Force veteran of WWII, who had been a member of the original 333 FS had contributed his personal effects to the 333 FS at S-J. A nice display of these historical items was being enjoyed at S-J, but didn't I think it belonged at Barnes instead? I agreed, but had no interest in making this situation into a cause for myself. Still, they've had a long time to admire it down south, and it is common for historical organizations to borrow materials from one another for display purposes. Just a thought.

 


Ten months before the 131st Fighter Squadron was extended federal recognition at Barnes Airport on 24 February 1947, the lineage and honors of the 333rd Fighter Squadron were allotted to the Massachusetts National Guard for anticipated post-war expansion. The hard-fighting 333rd had finished the war flying Republic P-47N Thunderbolts in the Pacific as a unit of the 7th Air Force. The photo below, provided by John W. Lambert of Phalanx Publishing Co., Ltd., shows two P-47Ns of the 333 FS flying from the island of Ie Shima on a combat mission. The cowl stripe on these aircraft is bright yellow with a pronounced black cheat line. Though headquarters frowned upon the use of triangular squadron emblems, the 333rd logically persisted in displaying theirs, and it can be seen on the side of the fuselage below the windscreen. The nearest Jug has personal nose art applied. Two years after this photo was taken, the 131st Fighter Squadron at Barnes would be equipping with the earlier, but excellent, F-47D version of the Thunderbolt. The P-47N retained the superb ground attack capability of the P-47D, and with longer wings (with clipped wingtips), that housed more fuel, it complimented the P-51 Mustang as an excellent escort fighter for the American bombers. With a full combat load the P-47N would top out in excess of 22,000 lb.

 


Here is a wonderful Kodachrome of F-47D 45-49264 of the 131st Fighter Squadron in the late 1940s. Taken at Barnes, this Thunderbolt has squadron leader stripes on the fuselage, but otherwise appears to be marked in a similar fashion to the Jug in the previous B&W photo of #411.

 


Here is a quality shot of an F-47D Thunderbolt of the 131st Fighter Squadron. This was the first combat type flown at Barnes, starting in 1947.Historical minutia department-I have often wondered why the 131st at Barnes received P-47D series aircraft while the 101st at Logan received P-47N series aircraft. My best guess is that the 101st got the jump on postwar federal recognition by four months over the 131st, and so was able to obtain newer aircraft of a more advanced series. I don’t know the date of this photo. The markings applied to this “Jug” (MASS NG) would lead us to believe they were applied before the 18 Sep 1947 National Defense act that created the U.S. Air Force, or, perhaps more accurately, before the T.O.s or other directives were issued to include the letter “A” to distinguish the aircraft as an Air National Guard resource vs. Army National Guard. Or, the photo could have been taken after 18 September 1947, and the unit personnel had not yet updated the lettering. Because we don’t know the date of the photo, we also don’t accurately know if the aircraft was a P-47D or an F-47D, as that change occurred sometime in 1948. Red stripes were added to the bars of U.S. military and Naval aircraft beginning 11 January 1947. It is commonly stated that the bar to either side of the star is to consist of two white stripes with one red stripe, all three of the same size, within a blue outline. It appears that a common error has occurred on the fuselage application of the bars on this aircraft, as the red stripe appears to be smaller than the white stripes, and is probably the same size as the blue outline instead. You will notice in the stars and bars under the starboard wing that the red stripe appears to be the same size as the white. (At least to my eyes)..A color drawing of the port side of this aircraft in Francillon’s The United States Air National Guard (ISBN: 1 874023 27 1) reveals the horizontal stripe on the tail is red.

 


From June 1993, this is a shot I took of 612 outside a HAS at Ramstein.

 


It's all in the numbers, and sometimes that can be a problem on the flightline of a tactical unit. For a number of years, the 104th operated two F-100 aircraft with the "last three" of 740. If you were positioned just right, some distinction could be made from a distance, as one of the aircraft was a two-seater. Still, I'm sure there are old-timers here who could tell stories of when things ran amuck because of this s/n duplication.The center aircraft in this photo is F-100F 56-3740 (later QF-100F), while the most distant aircraft is F-100D 55-3740 (later QF-100D). Lottery players may want to note that it was actually the last FOUR numbers that were duplicated between these birds, a rather surprising coincidence.

 


Sometimes a fog bank can make a photo a bit more interesting. This is F-100D 55-3578 from Barnes at Otis ANGB on 15 May 1976.

 


Here's a shot of 644 arriving for the show at Otis on 4 August 1995.

 


While serving in an A-10 unit, I saw two Army Reservists watching the action on the range. Their conversation may have included one guy turning to the other and saying, "I'm glad they're on our side". Today, due to decisions made within the Beltway, I can only respond, "I'm sorry, so very sorry, but next time we won't be there for you."

 


Twenty-three years earlier than the landing shot of A-10 #630 below, we see a different Republic product descending to the same runway at Barnes, this time it's F-84F 51-1662.

 


The TB-25K at Barnes was used for training the radar operators who flew in the back seat of the Lockheed F-94 interceptors. Sources clam all TB-25Ks were modified versions of the WWII B-25J, but I can't find a B-25 with s/n O-430643 anywhere. More research needed.

 


I think this is a shot of the 104th Alumni folks. I took it from the roof of Bldg 1 during the 50th Anniversary in 1997.

 


I never did take many shots of Hogs in the air. This one shows 630 landing on runway #20 at Homedrome on 10 July 1993.

 


For the 131st/104th serial number list, click on the following delightful image of Mustangs at Barnes

 


Army aircraft often parked near the old terminal building at KBAF. This shot has nothing to do with the 104th, and it's a terrible picture. But as it happens, this Piasecki CH-21C is the only Shawnee that I recall photographing. The date is October, 1963.

 


This image of Republic F-84F Thunderstreak 52-7051 is from an old color print of mine from around April, 1965. Apologies for the quality, but from this one we can see that after IRAN, many of the Thunderstreaks were issued to the ANG in gray paint, similar to "ADC" gray. This shot was taken at Barnes ANGB, Westfield, Massachusetts. Green external tank tips normally would suggest assignment to the 101st TFS, but I think this aircraft was assigned to the 131st TFS at the time of the photo.

 


End of the line for many 104th TFG Sabres. This photo was taken at the Davis-Monthan boneyard on 9 September 1968 by Neil Aird, who kindly shared it.

 


A-10A 78-0659 from Barnes at the annual Glens Falls, NY fly-in on 19 August 2000. This airport, KGFL, has been renamed Floyd Bennet Memorial Airport, though many historical aviation events a generation ago took place at a different Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn,NY. Two A-10s from Barnes attended the annual fly-in in 2000, an event that has been replaced by a hot air balloon gathering in the last couple of years.

 


Here's another shot from Stan Lukasiewicz. This is Lockheed F-94B 51-5495 of the 131st FIS/104th FIG taken in the Mid-1950s at Westover AFB. When the 104th expected to equip with F-16s in the 1990s, a contest among wing personnel to design new 104th markings was about to be held.. When I started hearing enthusiastic unit members talking about "Darth Vader" or other topical imagery on the vertical stabilizers, it seemed we were about to abandon the red and white stripes that had served to identify the 104th very well since its initial recognition in 1947. In the end, Darth Vader never showed up on base, and all some of us have left from that time is a dusty official wing ballcap with an F-16 zooming across the front. That item ought to be collectable by now .

 


Before there was Falcon Drive, Buck Pond road extended all the way across the front entrance of Barnes Air Guard Base to the Rt.202 intersection. You could stop your car just off the approach end of runway 20 at Barnes and watch airplanes. Before I had a telephoto lens, this was one of the few places I could get close enough to an aircraft in flight to get a picture. Determined to get some landing shots of the F-86s, one day in September, 1961, I talked my mother into parking our 1953 Chevy at the north end of the runway on Buck Pond road. I took this shot more or less successfully with my old Agfa 120 bellows camera (1/200 sec max), but the next pair of jets were a few feet lower. Mom demanded I get back the car before,"one of these damn things takes the roof right off. We departed quickly, mom handling the old column shifter like she was NASCAR-bound, making it clear she would never stop there again.

 


Here's a shot of 104 at Ramstein on 18 June 1993.

 


When the support personnel of the 104TFG came back from the Cold War deployment to Phalsbourg AB, France, they returned on new MATS C-135 Stratolifters. Forty-five of these aircraft were purchased as an interim jet transport while the Air Force awaited the arrival of the Lockheed C-141A Starlifter. Apparently informed by a local news release, I positioned myself at Cooley Brook reservoir in Chicopee on 3 July 1962 and photographed two MATS C-135s landing on Westover's runway 5. This photo shows a turbofan-powered C-135B, while the other aircraft I photographed that day was a turbojet-powered C-135A.

 


A-10A 79-0104 during a "Snowbird" deployment at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ., 14 January 1988.

 


This camouflaged VT-29A visited the 104th on a gray day in August, 1973. I don't know how many of the Convairs were painted like this, but they looked cool. I saw a few of them, including the CT ANG's of course. Challenge for modelers: It seemed to me that no two of them were the same.

 


I found this related 3-view in Naval Fighters Number Fourteen, the Convair T-29/C-131 by Steve Ginter and Nick Williams ISBN 0-942612-14-0, Copyright 1987.

 


Continuing with the F-94's service with the 131st, the following link will bring you to a video showing these aircraft at Otis AFB in the 1955-1957 time frame. I believe the original 8mm film may have been made by Dr. Allen, who was possibly the flight surgeon at the time.

8mm movies at Otis AFB 1955-1957


Sure wish I had a sound track to go along with this photo. These are F-94s from the 131st FIS making a pass....someplace, perhaps Barnes. Notice the aircraft farthest to the right has .50 cal gun pods added underwing, which doubled the aircraft's armament to 8 guns.The fourth aircraft from the left is actually a T-33.

 


Visiting Barnes for a conference on 17 April 1991, this is the 23 TFW COs jet, 79-0196. This Warthog was decorated on the starboard nose with a considerable combat tally. I have since seen photos of the heavy battle damage to the tail section of this aircraft that occurred during combat missions over Iraq. The A-10 does indeed bring its pilot home in instances where other tactical aircraft would be on the ground in pieces. Just my strongly-biased opinion.

 


The 104FW Fight line at Barnes ANGB on 8 December 1996. Looks nice, but there's so much work to follow.

 


Click the following link to see a 3-minute slideshow of 104FW activities and people in the early to mid 1990s.

Barnes slideshow


In the typical nose-down landing attitude of the big Douglas transports, this is C-54G 45-0542 of the 104th TFG, MA ANG landing runway #02 at Westfield, MA., May 1972.

 


Giving my granddaughter a little flat bed scanning experience today. In her first-ever print scan, we see the old tree line at Barnes welcoming a radar-invisible on 24 August 2001. This F-117A Stealthfighter is #812.

 


This shot below is the "banner" photo that extends across the top of the Facebook group page. I took this shot in September, 1962. Shortly after this I began seeing the round Air Guard badge on both sides of the tail of ANG aircraft of all types, with small state names placed above it. I've often wondered if this was a result of the 1961 Berlin federalization. Perhaps it was felt there was a need to tone down state identity a bit.

 


I'm reaching back to some old B&W prints here, as the original negatives no longer exist. This 17 February 1963 shot of flight of 104TFG Sabres entering the break at Barnes is a bit amusing. Even after some necessary cropping, they look so small. I always liked the whistle as the Sabres came around in the tight pattern, but the oncoming doppler of the F-15's twin engines today is in a different category. The F-86H had a brief career with the active-duty Air Force, and in many establishments it was quickly replaced by the F-100 Super Sabre. The H was designed as a fighter-bomber, and operational capability as a special weapons carrier was considered from the start. The special store would be carried on the inboard port pylon, while the outboard would carry an external fuel tank, and both stores positions on the starboard wing would carry fuel tanks. Indeed, in 1956-1957, the F-86H was deployed in USAFE as a nuclear strike fighter.

 


F-86H-1-NH 22035 131TFS/104TFG MA ANG at Barnes, 17 February 1963. I'm not going to say it seems like it was only yesterday.

 


Clean machine: F-100D 55-2879 landing at Barnes Muni., 26 July 1975.

 


Visitor from Lincoln. F-86L 53-0586, was assigned to Nebraska's 173 FIS/155 FIG and was photographed on the ramp at Barnes ANGB in October 1963 by Al Duncan. The 173 FIS operated the interceptor version of the Sabrejet for seven years beginning in January, 1957. The squadron insignia can be seen on the drop tank, while NEBR is seen above the circular ANG badge on the vertical stabilizer.

 


F-100D 56-2995 131 TFS/104 TFG MA ANG at Pease AFB, NH 27 June 1975. I believe this jet was recently trucked from the ANG Museum at Otis ANGB, MA to the USAF Museum at Robins AFB, GA. It served in USAFE as well as Vietnam.

 


Needless to say, my brother and I went nuts when this thing taxied past at Barnes Airport. The date on the photo border is January, 1959. I believe this was what 52-2042 looked like for a little while. I took this shot with my first camera, an Argus with the fixed 1/25 sec. nonstop-action shutter, and the optional always blurry lens. It was my only chance to photograph this job.

 


B-1B Lancer about to touch down on runway #20 at Barnes on 27 August 1999. The Bone from Ellsworth AFB was arriving for the 104th-sponsored air show.

 


A-10A makes steep pull up during the 104FW's 50th Anniversary celebration during October, 1997.

 


The Lockheed F-94 Interceptor at Barnes

The F-94 series served with the 131st Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS) at Barnes from 1954 to 1958. I often saw them flying around as a kid in Holyoke, but they were a little before my time as a photographer. One of the guys I met while serving at Barnes was Stan Lukasiewicz, another kid from Holyoke. A few years older than me, Stan happened to have a camera back then. This photo by Stan depicts a Lockheed F-94A, the county's first radar-equipped jet interceptor. Developed from the T-33, the F-94 was a stop-gap design to be operated only until the more complex Northrop F-89 Scorpion entered service. Lightly armed, the F-94A and B possessed only four .50 cal machine guns, but it won high praise from active-duty USAF units during the Korean War, providing effective airbase defense at night and in adverse weather, and functioning well as a bomber escort B-29s and B-26s in the offensive role. I mentioned seeing a lot of F-94s as a kid. If you picture being at Barnes in 1957, here is a list of other operators of the type a quick hop away. It shows how important this platform was during the height of the Cold War, in spite of all the talk one reads in the military aviation press about the F-94 being outdated. You fight with what you fly, then, as today.
27th FIS ADC Griffis AFB, NY
60th FIS ADC Otis AFB, MA.
101st FIS MA ANG Boston-Logan
102nd FIS NY ANG NAS Floyd Bennet, Brooklyn, NY
118th FIS CT ANG Bradley Field, CT
133rd FIS NH ANG Manchester, NH
134th FIS VT ANG Burlington, VT
136th FIS NY ANG Niagara Falls, NY
137th FIS NY ANG White Plains, NY
138th FIS NY ANG Syracuse, NY
139th FIS NY ANG Schenectady, NY

 


Hot off the scanner, this is F-100F 56-3882 of the 104TFG landing at Westfield, Massachusetts, sometime in 1977.

 


Visitors at Barnes. On this October, 1961 day a flight of four F-86Hs from Logan dropped in. I don't know what the story was behind this photo, in which I managed only to acquire the front 2/3 of the bird as it taxied to the 104th ramp. In spite of this flaw I scanned the 6X9cm negative recently, and offer a very HiRes version at the following link. When you open it, the only thing missing is the whine of the J-73 engine as it passes by. Sorry, But hey, who else is going to bring you a new shot of an operational F-86H in such detail?

 


Cold Bed down at Westfield for these two Warthogs.

 


434 Squadron at Barnes ANGB, 1997. Click on link below for photos and story.

434 Squadron, Canadian Armed Forces at Barnes


 


The following contribution comes from MSgt. Andrew Biscoe at Westover ARB PAO. The F-15 Eagles currently equipping the 104th FW operated training messions from Westover, and ASA missions from Otis ANGB on Cape Cod while the runway at Westfield was being replaced. In this shot by Andy we see F-15C 84-016 taxying into the parking ramp at Westover ARB, Mass., following a local training mission. The F-15s will be at Westover for about three more weeks. They're all expected to be back at Barnes Municipal Airport by early December (2013).

 


Another shot of a 104FW F-15C taken at Westover by MSgt. Andrew Biscoe.

 


Very interesting shot of 104FW F-15s with a resident 439AW C-5 taking off in the background at Westover ARB.

 


Here's a question for the old timers, or just anybody smarter than me: When the Cessna U-3 aircraft were operated by USAF in the 1960s, they were called "Blue Canoes", so what were they called (if anything) after they recieved the gray c/s like this one photographed at Barnes in 1972?

 


F-84F 51-1817 131TFS/104TFG MA ANG at KBAF 5 May 1965

 


Quite possibly the same aircraft above photographed as a permanent static display at Camp Robinson, AR in 1998 while I was attending an ANG Historian's Conference.

 


The link to the following story was contributed to group member Art Spafford. Thanks, Art.

Passing of CMSgt. Ted Kowal


F-86H 52-2068 at Barnes on 17 February 1963.

 


A-10A 78-0696 131FS/104FW at Barnes 11 November 1996.

 


A-10A 82-0659 103FS/111FW PA ANG at Barnes 8 December 1996.

 


Old, but looking good, this is C-47A 42-100673 MA ANG at Barnes Muni AP, MA 1964

 


Wearing the unit colors on the underwing tank tips, this is F-84F 51-9381, October, 1966.

 


Built in Kansas City, this is F-84F 51-9420, photographed at Barnes in 1970.

 


One of my rare color shots from those days, this is F-84F 52-6411, photographed while landing on runway 2 at Barnes in 1970.

 


F-84F 51-1640, photographed while landing on runway 2 at Barnes in 1970.

 


F-84F 51-9420 landing at Barnes.

 


F-100F 56-3740 131TFS/104TFG MA ANG at Barnes Muni., 2 May 1978.

 


F-100F 56-3882 Barnes Muni, MA., 30 Sep 1972.

 


F-100F 56-3899 131TFS/104TFG MA ANG at Barnes Muni., 26 July 1978.

 


F-84F Thunderstreak taxying back to the ramp at Barnes, October, 1970.

 


A-10A 78-0626 131TFS/104TFG MA ANG at Barnes ANGB, Westfield, MA,7 May 1989.

 


A-10 firing pass on the Grayling Range in Michigan, 28 June 1987.

 


A-10 outside a hardened aircraft shelter at Ramstein, June, 1993..

 


78-0616 getting cleaned up after overnight snowfall, on 8 December 1996.

 


A-10A 78-0628 at Last Chance inspection, Gulfport,MS 12 August 1992

 


Early days with the Warthog: A-10A 78-0632 at Barnes, 17 November, 1979.

 


F-84F displayed as 51-9480 aboard Barnes ANGB, 19 April 2006.

 


Towing the dart, December, 1964. Watching the earlier target sleeve being pulled aloft was interesting. The pilot tasked with this duty spent much of the flight at a very high throttle setting, and I would assume a wary eye on the fuel guage.

 


Not a 104th aircraft of course, but "The Doobie Flyer", the Martin 4-0-4 of The popular Doobie Brothers band was an interesting type photographed at Barnes on 6 August, 1977.

 


T-33A 53-5327 131TFS/104TFG MA ANG at KBAF Sep 1961.

 


T-33A 52-9542 landing runway #2 at Barnes, March 1971.

 


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