Anybody know if the Naval Air Reserve Wing a NAS Squantum had any F6F-5(N)s on charge? Had everything else… TBM-3Es, F4U, SB2C, F6F-5, PBYs. Only found a couple photos. One is a -5, 1947, on its nose. Other is a -5,circa 1950, taxiing out after an F4U…
My thought is not while a training base, Night Fighter Training Unit (NFTU) was located at Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Charleston, Rhode Island.
O.K. I’ve seen photos of Reserve F4U-5N s out of Akron(?) and Oakland. Least the caption said they were -5Ns… Figured the wing out of Squantum might have had a couple on hand … especially seeing they must have had a radar shop for the TBMs. But I guess a quick trip to RI for NF practice every now and again (could keep flight hours up on “stock” F6Fs.) makes sense.Its only 1.5 hours drive time(50 miles by air) to get there.
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I think of Akon and Oakland as more like fleet squadrons after your training is over with. Squantum seems more like a second level training base after basic flight school. They seem to have a good spread of basic propeller aircraft in use at the time. Night fighter would be advanced training and done elsewhere or a secondary school like Top Gun. Just my guess.
No. They were/are Reserve. Hence the International Orange fuselage band and (later) location name. Started in May 46 with orange yellow band and ID numbers with station nme under cockpit. BuAer spec changed to Interntional Orange in June but did not become law until Jan 47. Not sure when the station nme was applied. At some point it was applied to upper and lower wing also, the Los Alamitos F4U-4. Squantum WAS conversion training during WW2.FAA TBF sqns trained there before heading back to the UK. FAA Corsair crews did conversion at Quonset Point,RI. and then Brunswick,Me.before heading
home.
I know they were but there is a difference between training units and next level units which I called fleet units. Fleet units can be active or reserve.
Today’s Navy reserve is very different as most of those units fly aggressor aircraft (F-5s and F-16s) but if you look at the Marine Corps after basic flight school etc there is no difference in the pilot that goes to VMFA-112 a reserve unit or VMFA-232 a active unit both are F-18 pilots. Those pilots at Akon and Oakland are no different than the active duty pilots of the day. Some might say better as they mostly experienced former active duty pilots and had more hours flying than newer active duty pilots. Squantum pilot are still in training but they moved on from basic flight school.
I love this photo. That was the area where I grew up. The green area just over the tail is where my first home was. Or at least where it would be built in a few years.
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O.K. If you say so.