11bee Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Gonna be near Batksdale AFB, would love to get some pics of B-52's. Anyone know if there are any decent spotting areas? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scotthldr Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 From memory back in 1997, there wasn't any places that I/we found that give any kind of view of the a/c while they were on the ground. Best bet would probably be to position yourself further down the approaches of the runway. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Seems like there are some wide-open areas near the runways if I remember right.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scotthldr Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Wish you were with us back in 1997, we couldn't find anywhere. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Well, to be fair, I was living in the area going to school '89-'96, so it may have changed.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jefropas Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 IIRC, there's a few parking lots on the NE side of the base that you could get some decent shots if they don't call the police on you. I think the entire south side is heavy woods and swampy areas= possible gators...best of luck! Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted February 19, 2017 Author Share Posted February 19, 2017 Actually, after a bit of googling, I found that BAFB is the home of the Global Airpower Museum. Small collection of neat stuff inside but the best part was the outdoors display that includes approx 20 aircraft ranging from an immaculate P-51 to an SR-71, a couple of BUFF's and many others. Never thought I'd get to poke around a Vulcan! Nice way to kill a few hours. Highly recommend it for anyone passing through that part of LA. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
parche Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 You found the museum before I found this thread. I enjoyed the museum when I visited on an alert one time. I have some pictures from my visit buried somewhere. Some that may or may not have been from the flightline too :) Cheers, Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Funny you mention the Barksdale Vulcan....first time I saw that one was in the air as I was flying over it in a Cessna 152, believe it or not. I did my flight training at Louisiana Tech about an hour away and on one of my cross-country training flights we came down toward Shreveport from the north and were cleared to overfly BAFB en route to the Downtown airport. Not sure how often that happens for a 19-yr old in a Cessna, but I was stunned to be looking down at the A-10 flightline underneath me. Well, as I was hitting one end of the field I was ASTONISHED to see below the unmistakable shape of a Vulcan! I had no idea there was a museum there, and being 1989 I wasn't sure if there were still a few around so naturally I thought it was a visiting beauty. Had I been a passenger and not trying to control and talk etc I might have noticed the other non-standard aircraft around it including a MiG-21F-13; DEFINITELY not visiting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 Regarding the Vulcan, I think I recall that it was here on a SAC exercise and caught fire on the ground. It was damaged beyond repair so the RAF bequeathed it to SAC as a display piece. Beatiful aircraft.,... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve N Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 They've also got a B-17, B-29, and a horribly inaccuratly painted B-24. SN Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Wow, quite a story on the Vulcan...always like learning stuff like that. As far as inaccuracies, the one time I got up close to there on the ground I was primarily interested in the MiG-21. It was early 90's by then and Fishbeds were still a bit rare in the USA. I was horrified to see it was painted in silver dope by what must have been a house brush! We modelers know that silver paint and large-bristle marks do not go together. Ever. Was interested further in seeing the tires were Goodyears; okay, tough to find spares here at that time....too bad they didn't actually fit the wheel rims.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Got back from my stay in the region. Here are a few pics of the aircraft lineup at the museum. If you ever end up in the scenic Bossier City, LA area, this is well worth a few hours of your time. If you visit during a weekday, good chance you'll see some BUFF's flying as well. Edited March 12, 2017 by 11bee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Deducting points for cropping out that SR-71.... :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lancer512 Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 On 20.2.2017 at 11:57 PM, 11bee said: Regarding the Vulcan, I think I recall that it was here on a SAC exercise and caught fire on the ground. It was damaged beyond repair so the RAF bequeathed it to SAC as a display piece. Beatiful aircraft.,... AFAIK, they also left a Vulcan at Goose Bay, for the same reason. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChesshireCat Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 On 2/19/2017 at 4:35 PM, jefropas said: IIRC, there's a few parking lots on the NE side of the base that you could get some decent shots if they don't call the police on you. I think the entire south side is heavy woods and swampy areas= possible gators...best of luck! Jeff On 3/12/2017 at 1:04 PM, Lancer512 said: AFAIK, they also left a Vulcan at Goose Bay, for the same reason. and snakes! Lots and lots of snakes, and not the good kind Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Winnie Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 On 3/12/2017 at 11:04 AM, Lancer512 said: AFAIK, they also left a Vulcan at Goose Bay, for the same reason. That is correct, and I may have photos of it somewhere on in my collection of crap... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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