More Cold Warriors

Here are a couple more shots of some Cold War aircraft from the Mojave flight line. Above is a MiG-15 with my son Travis, age 11, in for scale. This is a Korean War era plane in a two seat trainer variant, I believe a MiG-15UTI.

Pictured above is a white F-86 Sabrejet, another Korean War veteran, with the nose of a second one peeking out from the hangar. In the late 1990s when I took this picture, these two planes were still earning a living towing targets for gunnery practice under contract to the Air Force. Later the company lost the towing contract and put the F-86s up for sale. If I'd had $50,000 to spare in 1998 I could have bought one.

The gray painted aircraft in the picture are all Vietnam War era F-4s. These planes had all been mothballed at the "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. They were brought back up to flyable status and flown to Mojave where special radio flight controls were installed. This turned them into remotely-piloted drones, officially designated QF-4s, which were also used for target practice.