"It
is the Air Force version of the Shriners
Clown Car," said McWilliams. There is only one existing model
FB-111A.
"It
was always a hit, always, and we made money for the squadron,"
McWilliams said. McWilliams is now Chief of Logistics for the Battle
Management Systems Wing at Hanscom Air
Force Base, but he worked at the Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth
N.H. from 1985 to 1989.
At
Pease, McWilliams first became familiar with the model FB-111A.
As commander of the 509th Field Maintenance Squadron, McWilliams
modified the model F-111A to an FB111A.
McWillians, who spent 20 of his 22 years of active duty
working with some version of F-111 jets, moved from Pease to the
Pentagon where he was a Program Element Monitor responsible for
interfacing directly with Congress and the Air Force.
Pease
closed down in 1991, "and I didn't think much more about it,"
McWilliams said of the model FB-111A.
But,
McWilliams and a group of friends formed the FB-111A Association
about 12 years ago to remember the planes and the many years of
work that they had devoted to them.
McWilliams
said that one day about six years ago he heard that someone had
found the original model FB-111A that had been at Pease.
"What
do you mean, you know where it is?"
McWilliams
remembers being shocked that the plane was still intact, but was
discouraged to find that it was in dire need of repair.
McWilliams
said that the model FB-111A that was stored at the Air Force Sergeant's
Association in Portsmouth,
N.H. still bore his original signature from
1987 but required extensive body work and repainting.
"It
was painted like a Thunderbird, which is absolutely ridiculous for
a 111," McWilliams said.
The
Civil Air Patrol repaired the body and replaced the deteriorated
fiberglass and sheet metal. The FB-111A Association offered to repaint
the plane on the condition that they could restore it to its original
appearance.
McWilliams
took it upon himself to repaint the model, which was hauled on a
trailer to his Westford home. The unusually damp fall weather delayed
the restoration.
McWilliams
said, "my wife said, you're going
to kill yourself out there. The weather is going to get worse before
it gets better." So it did, and, as rain drenched the yard,
McWilliams squeezed the 20-foot model into his garage.
"I
spent about six weeks in there, virtually every minute," McWilliams
said.
McWilliams
worked diligently to restore the paint exactly as it had originally
appeared, which he said is very important because the emblems on
both sides are very historically significant and are an
homage to the plane's predecessor World War II bomb wings.
The
right side represents the 509th bomb wing. The 509th composite group
was the parent organization in World War II that dropped the Atomic
bombs on Japan. The nose
art on the right side depicts a Gloucester
fisherman and represents the "Spirit of the Sea Coast."
This is a tribute to the perseverance exemplified by the fisherman
who go out in bad weather and are responsible for the safety of
their ships. "All of that is tied into a sense of mission and
a sense of responsibility," McWilliams said.
The
left side represents the 380th bomb wing from Plattsburgh,
N.Y. which is the direct
descendent of the 380th bomb group, a B24 heavy bomb group and one
of the premier bomb groups in the Pacific. The nose art has the
emblem "King of the Heavies" that represents Plattsburgh.
"Both
units have a very, very rich history and we wanted to capture that
heritage which is what the original planes did," McWilliams
said.
After
hand-painting the entire plane without even the help of stencils,
McWilliams helped load it onto a trailer so that it could participate
in a Civil Air Patrol Parade.
"It
became something of a big splash at the Civil Air Patrol [in N.H.],"
McWilliams said. The model was also a big hit in McWilliams' Westford
neighborhood.
"All
of the kids in the neighborhood have just been camped over here,
watching the plane get put together," McWilliams said
Although
he said that the FB-111A Association has a very cooperative and
friendly relationship with the Civil Air Patrol, McWilliams hopes
that the model FB-111A will "someday, somehow" be owned
by the FB-111A Association.
Page base location - http://www.F-111.net/t_no_FBG_files/Mini-FB-111A/index.htm |
