Nothing like a tornado to ruin your airplane collection

"Just wear your damn mask..." (jimal) 01/12/2014 at 09:10 • Filed to: Planelopnik

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Courtesy Hartford Courant

I knew about the tornado that damaged or destroyed much of the New England Air Museum collection in Windsor Locks, Conn. on October 3, 1979, but I never saw this image before. While I can't name every single aircraft, the ones I can are heartbreaking to any aviation enthusiast; B-29 Superfortress, B-47 Stratojet, B-57, B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell, A4 Skyhawk... just to name a few.

The museum has been rebuilt and some of these planes have been replaced, while others are still in their restoration yard, for possible repair/restoration decades later or to be parted out.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 09:32

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P-2V Neptune I think, right side up nose pointing to the right.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 09:35

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Late 60's or early 70's Chevy Pickup (just tying Jalop back in here).

HayeedDSalamme > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 09:44

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The Flying Fortress was B-17.

HayeedDSalamme > HayeedDSalamme 01/12/2014 at 09:48

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And it's Windsor Locks. End nitpicking.

Just wear your damn mask... > HayeedDSalamme 01/12/2014 at 09:57

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And I spell chekced and everything...

Fixed now. Thanks for the corrections.

Just wear your damn mask... > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 10:06

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I'm trying to figure out if this is a C-130 Hercules or one of the other, less common transport aircraft.

everyonejustcalmdown > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 10:15

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This is why you dont leave your toys laying in the yard.

The Transporter > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 10:29

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It's a Douglas C-133 Cargomaster.

Here's a picture from a different angle:

The 8 wheel main gear and the weather radar gumbdrop on the nose was the giveaway.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 10:30

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Looks like C-141 landing gear. But no C-141 wings are in sight.

It's not a C-130 nor a C-5 main landing gear configuration.

Edit: Yes it may well be a C-133.

hobbitturd > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 10:35

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Ooh, I think that's my stolen bike!

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 10:35

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Maybe a C-141. That looks too big to be a C-130.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 01/12/2014 at 10:37

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I'm thinking C-119 Boxcar.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 01/12/2014 at 10:40

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C-133B from Wikipedia.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 01/12/2014 at 10:46

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I was looking at this:

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 01/12/2014 at 10:47

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Ahh, I was looking at the wrong one. You're right on the P-2.

Just wear your damn mask... > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 01/12/2014 at 10:51

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Or perhaps a C-133 Cargomaster? C-141's were still in service in 1979.

Just wear your damn mask... > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 01/12/2014 at 11:16

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Also from Wikipedia:

"C-133B AF Ser. No. 59-0529 was at the New England Air Museum . However, a tornado swept through the museum in 1979, badly damaging many aircraft in the outdoor display collection, including the C-133."

CarMudgeon > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 11:24

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Heartbreaking. A Douglas C133 in the centre. Below that a Douglas A3 Skywarrior, just to the right of that, a Martin B57. Above and to the right of the C133 are what appear to be a C2 Greyhound, a C119 Flying boxcar, and above those what might have been Howard Hughes' Lockheed Constellation.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 11:26

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"... badly damaging many aircraft ... including the C-133. "

Wow! Nice work.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 11:36

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You're correct. From Wiki

C-133B AF Ser. No. 59-0529 was at the New England Air Museum . However, a tornado swept through the museum in 1979, badly damaging many aircraft in the outdoor display collection, including the C-133.

dean_acheson > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 11:42

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http://www.aopa.org/summit/news/20…

I guess the B-17's fate would be the most interesting to me, after the B-29.

Dusty Ventures > dean_acheson 01/12/2014 at 12:10

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About five years ago my brother and I got a full backstage tour of the museum, including a visit to the restoration yard (so much good stuff back there) and a tour of the inside of the B29. It was fantastic and the restoration of the 29 was incredible. I just wish I had more than just a potato to shoot with.

sublakedesron > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 12:16

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That B-17 'Liberty Belle' has had quite the run of bad luck. First a tornado and then in 2011 it made an emergency landing in a field and promptly burned up.

Aaron James > everyonejustcalmdown 01/12/2014 at 12:42

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If the weather doesn't get them, you can bet that your dad will back over them on his way to work one morning.

B1n > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 13:15

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I like planes. Just went to Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, again, and enjoyed it. I've also been to the Pima museum, more than once. I've probably been to other museums.

The point of machines is to do work. I'm not a big fan of static displays, unless, the example displayed is one of one.

stoopit > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 13:36

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Had the tornado taken a very slightly different course, it would have been a pile of L-1011, 727, 737, 747 DC-9, etc and maybe DC-10 if they weren't still grounded after the famous Chicago Cartwheel earlier that year.

TsarAlexander > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 14:05

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It turns out that airplanes are designed to catch wind!

TsarAlexander > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 14:06

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I spy a B-52 and some old post-WW2 vintage flying fortresses.

Nick drives Stick (not Stig) > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 14:57

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I was at the Sun N' Fun air show a few years back, when we got hit by a tornado... 46 airplanes got totaled and the porta-potties next to the building we were in went flying up in the air.
Imagine sitting in one of them...? That would have been a shitty situation!

Just wear your damn mask... > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 15:59

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Here is another shot from The Courant, featuring a F-102 Delta Dagger and a Jalopnik friendly Pinto and Oldsmobile something... and a tossed Coke truck.

Pulpiteer > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 16:25

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I don't think I ever really realized how small, in comparison to more "modern" aircraft, a B-29 actually is/was.

Bubbles22 > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 17:05

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Appears to be a B-29. A rather rare plane these days.

Buick Mackane > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 01/12/2014 at 17:57

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I flew the P2v Neptune and P3c Orion sub hunter when I was in the US Navy. Also got some seat time in the Grumman S-2 Tracker and S-3A Viking. Spent most of our time patrolling the Mediterranean Sea for Russian submarines.

ranwhenparked > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 01/12/2014 at 18:12

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Windsor Locks is also home of American Honda Motor Co's Northeast region sales office.

TheTick247 > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 18:21

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Not a tornado, a Decepticon orgy.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 20:01

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B-25. Favorite. Bomber.Ever.

BobbyMike > Buick Mackane 01/12/2014 at 22:52

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My dad flew in both the P2 and the P3. For the last 8 years he flew out of Moffett Field with VP9. Interesting life as he was out of the country six months of the year.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Dusty Ventures 01/12/2014 at 22:56

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I got to tour the inside of Jack's Hack a few years ago at a museum function. The quality of the restoration is just amazing.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Just wear your damn mask... 01/12/2014 at 22:59

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Amazing the B-29 only lost its wingtips. I live in CT and used to go to Bradley for annual fire training. I'd always stop by the museum (and on open cockpit days too) just to hang out with these cool old planes. The B-47 survived only to be taken away a few years ago to be turned into a gate guard somewhere.

i-do-strange-things > Just wear your damn mask... 01/13/2014 at 00:31

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As soon as I saw the headline, I knew this is what you were going to post.

I was 2 miles away from there that day working for a commercial roofer. It started to rain so we covered the materials + broke for lunch. It stated raining harder so we called it a day + drove 30 miles back to the shop. On the way the, the radio station went into the EBS tone-saying there was a tornado warning. When we got back to the shop, the boss told us the airport got hit.

The bar we ate lunch at came thru fine-the building to the left was gone-and the two story hotel to the right was now one story. The tarps never even blew off the job site.

The worst sight of the aftermath was on the road leading to the museum. Even thought they had a sign saying "no stopping", how could you not stop to look at the sight of all the planes too damaged to repair bulldozed into one big pile. I cried.....

FelixScout > Bubbles22 01/13/2014 at 02:23

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It feels a bit more B-50 which is an even rarer plane.

lighttech > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius 01/13/2014 at 03:11

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you got to love a plane with a 75 mm cannon and 10 .50 machine guns !!!!

Just wear your damn mask... > i-do-strange-things 01/13/2014 at 06:58

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I was 9 years old and moved to Connecticut days before Hurricane David in early September. Interesting weather times those couple of months.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > lighttech 01/13/2014 at 08:14

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Great story of the yahoos in the theater telling the engineers back in Burbank how the plane should be used and how it should be built.

dean_acheson > Dusty Ventures 01/13/2014 at 09:36

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Do you know the fate of the B-17? I got the walk through of FIFI about a year ago.

Grizwold > Just wear your damn mask... 01/13/2014 at 10:53

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Actually, seeing the intake a bit behind the canopy, I'd say its a F-106.

Just wear your damn mask... > Grizwold 01/13/2014 at 10:55

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Cant' be a 106. Look at the tail.

Grizwold > Just wear your damn mask... 01/13/2014 at 11:13

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Doh! It's been a while. You are certainly correct.

Just wear your damn mask... > Grizwold 01/13/2014 at 11:18

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I had to look that one up. They're both Convair and they're both Century Series, so it isn't too difficult to confuse them.

Dusty Ventures > dean_acheson 01/13/2014 at 12:48

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Sadly I do not :(

MotoArigato > Just wear your damn mask... 01/13/2014 at 15:07

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What always amazes me when I go to a museum or air show, but especially here where the planes are literally laying on top of one another, is how small the B-29 and B-17 are compared to more modern craft. As a kid I assumed an F-14 would tuck under the wing of one of these bad boy bombers, but like Bernie Ecclestone, it is more their history and manner in which they present themselves that apparently made me think they were larger than life.

Bubbles22 > FelixScout 01/13/2014 at 19:25

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Possible. I can't see it well enough to tell the difference.

FelixScout > Bubbles22 01/13/2014 at 21:18

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Yeah the tail fin is the tip off but I can't really either.

I, (State Your Name) > sublakedesron 01/14/2014 at 14:52

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Tragic.