Warplanes of the USA: Arizona, Peoria, Prescott, Quarzite, Safford, San Carlos, Scottsdale, Show Low, Tempe, Vail, Winslow, White Hills, and Yuma

Arizona Warplanes preserved

Peoria

(Mike Freer, Touchdown-aviation Photo)

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak (Serial No. 52-6675), FS-675, mounted on a pylon.

Aircraft preserved in Phoenix, Arizona, are presented on a separate page on this website.

Pima. Arizona Aerospace Foundation.

Douglas B-23 Dragon (Serial No. 39-0051).

Sikorsky HH-3F Pelican (Serial No. USCG 1476), located in the PA&SM.

Prescott. 96 miles North of Phoenix.

Beech T-34B Mentor (Serial No. BG-327), Reg. No. N18PS. Beachit LLC, PO Box 13069, 86304-3069.

Deford Mk. IX Spitfire replica (Serial No. MK9EX), Reg. No. N1940K. Robert E. Deford

North American AT-6 Texan (Serial No. 42-85599), Reg. No. N7421C. William S. Modes, 3205 Wasatch CT Unit 20G, 86301-6630.

Prescott, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 3200 Willow Creek Road, 86301-3720. 100 miles North of Phoenix.

(NASA Photo)

(Skytamer.com, John Shupek Photos)

(kb7ywl Photo)

Lockheed F-104N Starfighter (NASA 811), Reg. No. N811NA, c/n 683C-4045, model 683-10-19).

Quartzite. City static display. 150 miles West of Phoenix.

(Skytamer.com, John Shupek Photo)

McDonnell-Douglas NRF-4C Phantom II (Serial No. 65-0941).

(Skytamer.com, John Shupek Photo)

McDonnell-Douglas NRF-4C Phantom II (Serial No. 66-0384).

Quartzite. National WASP World War II Museum.

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots[2] or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became trained pilots who tested aircraft, ferried aircraft and trained other pilots. Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during World War II. Despite various members of the armed forces being involved in the creation of the program, the WASP and its members had no military standing.WASP was preceded by the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Both were organized separately in September 1942. They were pioneering organizations of civilian women pilots, who were attached to the United States Army Air Forces to fly military aircraft during World War II. On August 5, 1943, the WFTD and WAFS merged to create the WASP organization.

The WASP arrangement with the US Army Air Forces ended on 20 December 1944. During its period of operation, each member's service had freed a male pilot for military combat or other duties. They flew over 60 million miles; transported every type of military aircraft; towed targets for live anti-aircraft gun practice; simulated strafing missions and transported cargo. Thirty-eight WASP members died during these duties and one, Gertrude Tompkins, disappeared while on a ferry mission, her fate still unknown. In 1977, for their World War II service, the members were granted veteran status, and in 2009 awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. (Wikipedia)

In early 1943, as the Second World War raged on, several different plans to utilize female aviators to help perform pilot duties (everything except combat) were consolidated at Avenger Field in Sweetwater. Known as the WASP (Women’s Air Force Service Pilots), the program introduced something the country had never seen before – women flying military planes. The WASPs ferried aircraft, towed gunnery targets, transported equipment and personnel, and flight-tested aircraft that had been repaired.

Heritage travelers can learn all about this highly successful program at the National WASP World War II Museum, housed in Hangar 1 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Inside you’ll find photos of WASP trainees, life-sized cutouts of the leaders of the program, and information exploring the seventy-seven different types of aircraft flown by the WASPs (every aircraft in the Army's arsenal). Meet Fifinella, a female fremlin designed by Walt Disney for a proposed film from Roald Dahl's book "The Gremlins". During World War II, the WASP asked permission to use the image as their official mascot, and the Disney Company granted them the rights

The museum opened on May 28, 2005, the same day the first class of WASPs graduated 62 years later. Look for the WASP wings, designed especially for the WASPs with its center diamond symbolizing the shield of Athena, Greek goddess of war. At war’s end, all WASP records were classified and sealed, a policy that lasted for the next 35 years. The women who served finally received full military status in 1977 with legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter. In 2010 President Barrack Obama awarded the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal, providing final recognition to all the women in the program who took to the skies to serve.

The museum underwent an extensive renovation and expansion during 2020, and reopened in 2021 with a new Welcome Center and Gift shop, a temperature and humidity-controlled archival vault and suite, a fully stocked Catering room, state of the art Conference Room, and a beautiful Exhibit Gallery.

(USAAF Photo)

Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leaving their plane, "Pistol Packin' Mama" in 1944. These four female pilots leaving their ship at the four engine school at Lockbourne are members of a group of WASPS who have been trained to ferry the B-17 Flying Fortresses. Qualified pilots were in short supply in the USA in 1942, and many were needed to ferry newly built trainer aircraft to the flight schools in the South in order to train more of them. 28 experienced civilian women pilots volunteered to make those ferry flights from the factories to the training schools, forming the first female squadron in America late in the summer of 1942. Between November 1942 and December 1944, 1,074 more women were trained to fly for the squadron, first in Houston and later at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Two programs were founded by Nancy Love and Jacqueline Cochran, the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment. These programs later morphed into the Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program. All aircraft operated by the USAAF were flown by WASPs. In addition to ferrying, they towed gunnery targets, transported equipment and non-flying personnel, and flight-tested aircraft that had been repaired before the men were allowed to fly them again. For over two years, the WASPs went on to perform a wide variety of aviation-related jobs and to serve at more than 120 bases around the country. These 1,102 WASPs flew wingtip to wingtip with their male counterparts and were just as vital to the war effort. Their story is commemorated in the National WASP World War II Museum.

(USAAF Photo)

Nancy Love in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Nancy Harkness Love is known for becoming the first woman to be certified to fly the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as well as the Douglas C-54 Skymaster, North American B-25 Mitchell, and several other military aircraft. By June 1943, as Director of of the Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS) Love was commanding four different squadrons of WAFS at Love Field,Texas; New Castle, Del.; Romulus, Mich., and Long Beach, Calif. The WAFS merged with the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) on 5 August 1943, creating the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), and Love was placed in charge of all ferrying operations. In total, she was certified to fly 19 military aircraft. Love continued to work on reports detailing the work of the Air Transport Command after the WASPs were disbanded in 1944. After the creation of the United States Air Force, Love was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1948.

(USAAF Photo)

Jacqueline Cochrane in the cockpit of a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk during the Second World War. She was a pioneer in the field of American aviation and considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation. She was an important contributor to the formation of the wartime Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and the WASPs.

(WASP Museum Photo)

Dorothy Britt (later Mann) was one of only 1,100 women who trained as pilots with the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

(Eric Friedebach Photo)

Boeing PT-17 Kaydet (Serial No.) 506

Cessna UC-78B Bobcat (Serial No.)

Fairchild PT-19A Cornell (Serial No.)

Grumman F9F Panther (BuNo.)

(WASP Museum Photo)

Nodrth American AT-6D Texan (Serial No. 41-34166), Reg. No. N14166.

(Moreno Aguiari Photo)

Vultee BT-13A Valiant (Serial No.)

Safford.

North American T-6G Texan (Serial No. 49-3256), Reg. No. N7487C, Safford Aviation Service Inc., 4550 East Aviation Way, 85546-9479.

San Carlos

(Skytamer.com, John Shupek Photos)

(kb7ywl Photo)

North American F-86D Sabre Dog (Serial No. 51-5915), mounted on a pylon.

(Skytamer.com, John Shupek Photos)

Grumman HU-16C Albatross (BuNo.137915, c/n G-388, Reg. No. N4796U.

Scottsdale. 10 miles East of Phoenix.

Aeronca L-16A (7BCM), (Serial No. 47-0934), Reg. No. N10497, Isaac Lundell.

Beech (B45) T-34A Mentor (Serial No. CG-21), Reg. No. N134FA.

Beech T-34A Mentor (Serial No. 53-3358), Reg. No. N6HK '58'.

Douglas DC-3-S4-C4G (Serial No. 6352).

North American P-51D-20NT Mustang (Serial No. 44-12962), C/N 111-36245, Reg. No. N51KJ. Jerry D. Owens, 5018 East Dahlia Drive, 85254.

North American P-51D-25NA Mustang (Serial No. 44-73343), "Live Bait", Reg. No. N551JV. Jon Vesely.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed (Serial No. 07695165), N321ST. Donald A. Swan, 19815 N. 84th Way, 85255-3972.

Scottsdale. MATS Constellation Group, 15111 North Hayden Road, No. 160-190, 85260.

(Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation Photo)

Lockheed VC-121A Constellation (Serial No. 48-609), 2601, USAF MATS, Reg. No. N494TW. This aircraft was exported to South Korea in 2005.

Show Low.

Beechcraft C-45H Expeditor (Serial No. AF-544), Air Transit Inc., PO Box J, 85901.

Tempe, Arizona Historical Society Museum.

(rjmcdonough1 Photo)

North American AT-6 Texan (Serial No.), BP200.

Warplanes preserved in Tucson are presented on a separate page on this website.

Vail, American Legion Post 109, 15921 South Houghton Road, 84747. 20 miles Southeast of Tucson.

McDonnell NF-4E Phantom II (Serial No. 66-0294). Located near the intersection of W. Sahuarita Rd and South Houghton Rd on the Northwest side of town.

Valle, Planes of Fame Air Museum, Grand Canyon Valle Airport, 755 Mustang Way, Valle-Williams, 86046. Located half way between Williams, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon, 200 miles North of Phoenix. Aircraft in this museum are presented on a separate page on this website.

Winslow. Meteor Crater Visitor’s Center. 20 miles West of Winslow off Hwy I-40.

(bluesnote Photo)

Apollo Test Module (Boiler Plate No. 29).

White Hills

Canadair CT-33 Silver Star, ex-RCAF (Serial No. 21559), Reg. No. N83TB, Christopher J. Meyer.

Yuma, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS). Yuma International Airport (YIA), 85369-5001. The MCAS is located in Yuma on the Colorado River, in southwestern Arizona. Yuma Proving Ground is located 26 miles north of Yuma, Arizona on U.S. Hwy 95, just east of the California border.