USAF F-5 Aggressors Part 4

[Old Viper Tester]

All from the 65th Fighter Weapons Squadron at Nellis.

 

S/n 72-1386, February 1981. Vietnamese Air Force scheme.

 

71-0846, May 1981. Pumpkin scheme.

 

73-0846, June 1983. Pumpkin scheme.

 

73-0866, October 1981. Pumpkin scheme and a replacement rudder.

 

73-0897, April 1981. Frog scheme.

 

 

74-1509, April 1981. Old Ghost scheme.

 

74-1512, February 1981. Old Ghost scheme.

 

74-1516, April 1981. Old Ghost scheme.

 

74-1529, November 1980. Old Lizard scheme

 

Thanks for looking,

Sven

[modelling minion]

Another brilliant set of pics Sven.

Great set of 73-0897 in the Frog scheme, will make it very easy to replicate on a model.

 

Craig.

[Boman]

Nice collection!

 

Thought 65TFTAS carried blue/yellow numbers while the 64TFTAS carried red/yellow?  

[HOUSTON]

Sven...

 

 

FABULOUS  ... FANTASTIC  photos. 

 

Thank you.

[Old Viper Tester]

2 hours ago, Boman said:

Thought 65TFTAS carried blue/yellow numbers while the 64TFTAS carried red/yellow?

I think the early '80s were a time of transition. When I first arrived at Nellis in 1980, both squadrons carried red bort numbers. I don't know when they started with the blue numbers, but I assumed the blue numbers for the 65th were being introduced as the aircraft were repainted. Don't know if they ever got to point with all 65th aircraft carrying blue numbers before they were disbanded. Sometimes aircraft ended up being parked across squadron lines, 64th in 65th slots or 65th in 64th slots. The only way I kept them straight was with the maintenance assignments lists for the 57th FWW. 

[Boman]

I have Afterburner decals sheet and there was a clear distinction between 64th and 65th, and combined with the photos I've found online seems to indicate clearly that the 65th were blue/white or blue/yellow, while the 64th were red/yellow.     

[Old Viper Tester]

21 hours ago, Boman said:

I have Afterburner decals sheet and there was a clear distinction between 64th and 65th, and combined with the photos I've found online seems to indicate clearly that the 65th were blue/white or blue/yellow, while the 64th were red/yellow. 

The Afterburner schemes are all 1983 or later.

 

As I mentioned before, I was posted to the 57th FWW from June 1980 to June 1981, and there definitely were no blue bort numbers on the line in 1980. The first incidence I have of blue bort numbers is in February 1981, 74-1529, the next in April 1981, 74-1571. The transition did not happen overnight, and I have mages provided by a Nellis-based photog show red numbers on 65th jets in 1987 (72-1386, 72-1391) and 1988 (74-1540). Maybe they were going back to red in anticipation of the squadron being disestablished in 1989?

 

I do not have a good answer for blue numbers on 74-1514 of the 64th. An image I have in April 1981 has blue, when I shot it again in 1984, they were red again. Maybe it was a mistake, or maybe the jet made a quick detour from the 64th to the 65th and back again. A jet moving between the two squadrons was not unheard of, but it certainly was rare. The January 1981 maintenance status summary shows '1514 as being with the 64th, so does the May 1981 summary. I don't have any of the interim summaries for comparison.

 

From the data I have, the 65th operated F-5Es with red bort numbers from October 1975 to January 1981 and there were still aircraft with red numbers into 1988.  If you have photos of blue numbers on a 57FWW jet before 1981, I'd be interested in seeing them.

 

Sven