World War II | Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller

It has been nearly ten days since my last post. I’ve been pretty active, just not doing much photography for a few days. We spent the last weekend in Fredricksburg visiting with some very dear friends from Houston. We visited the Nimitz Museum with it’s adjacent World War II exhibits. We also made a trip to Enchanted Rock, a mammoth solid sandstone rock/hill/mountain. Call it what you will. Afterwards we quaffed a couple of cold drafts at the local beer garden. A wonderful time was had by all. It was nice to get away and do something different. I believe it was the first time in many years that I made a trip somewhere and didn’t come home with a memory card filled with images. This time it was just photos of our friends and us.

Anyway, back to the present. Yesterday, Wednesday, we took a friend on our little birding trip. She wanted advice on her photography and camera use. She came away with a large assortment of photos, as did I. Here are a few of mine. I hope you enjoy them and click on any of them to see enlargements.

Great Egret doing a bit of feeding.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Bullock’s Oriole

Vermilion Flycatcher – female

Cattle Egret

Great Blue Heron wrestling with a snake. It took several minutes for the heron to eventually win the fight and swallow it.

It’s that time of year. A few days ago I posted some of my birds of another type, the United States Air Force Thunderbirds. This is about some other warbirds, that to some, time has forgotten. Soon, on October 9-10 the Commemorative Air Force will have their annual big air show at their headquarters at Midland International Airport, Midland, Texas. They were once known as the Confederate Air Force, but of course some people can’t let anything alone, and they had to change their name for “political” reasons. But for non-interupted excitement you shouldn’t miss it.

I have attended several times and there is non-stop flying, featuring predominantly old World War II fighters and bombers. One of the stars of the show is Fifi, the only flyable B-29 Superfortress left in the country. It is a nostalgic journey for me to see these old warbirds. I am of the age to remember them very well. Check out http://airsho.org to get more information.

P-51 Mustang

B-29 Flying Fortress "Fifi"

B-17G Flying Fortress "Sentimental Journey"

TBF Avenger

Also, last but certainly not forgetten to me, are the two more photos that I’d like to share with you. I was stationed at now defunct Ardmore AFB, Ardmore, Oklahoma for three years back in the 50s. It was home to the 463rd Troop Carrier Wing, part of the old Tactical Air Command. Chief of Command was General Curtis LeMay. He used to visit us and when he did he arrived in the C124 Globemaster pictured below.

C-124 Globemaster

In December of 1957, we at Ardmore AFB, received the very first operational C130 Hercules. It was flown in by a civilian techie from Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, the builders. It became part of the 463rd Troop Carrier of the 838th Air Base Group. We received an outstanding unit citation with this aircraft and her sisters. I was very proud to be part of that citation. This is the actual aircraft as it arrived from the factory. It, with the same tail number, is now sitting on a pedestal in the Air Park at Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas. By the way, these two black and white photos carry my copyright, as do the others. I was the photographer that took the pictures and they are part of my personal collection.