New England Warplanes

For those of you who are familiar with the airspace over New England and its environs, the weather and colors of the landscape can be incredibly beautiful, particularly in the fall when the leaves change color and the foam covered waves rise up along the North East coastline’s stormy shores. I live “across the line” from the state of Maine in the province of New Brunswick and have many relatives in various New England states. My ancestors first set foot in Massachusetts in 1632 and from there, a number of them came to the Saint John River in 1760. (Back then it was part of Nova Scotia until it was partitioned and the colony of New Brunswick was created on 16 August 1784). My first grandson Cole was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts on 29 November 2009, so I have good reason to visit New England often. As an Army Officer in the Canadian Forces, it has been my privilege to serve alongside a good number of the highly professional military men and women of both our nations while serving with them at NORAD on Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs and alongside them in Germany, Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Afghanistan. I have learned much about our common history, and this fascination has led me to write about it and to seek out the stories about the military airmen and women and the aircraft they flew that helped preserve our security when warclouds darkened our skies. As an aviation enthusiast, I have learned over the years that a lot of other people like me have an interest in military aircraft and aviation history. Unfortunately, many retired warplanes which helped to make this history happen have completely disappeared, particularly those from the early years. Fortunately, a good number of retired warplanes continue to exist, preserved in aviation museums and in some cases as gate-guardians in a wide variety of locations throughout the New England states. Volunteers working in many of New England’s museums have been successful in preserving a good number of retired military aircraft, and many are still being sought and in some cases, being restored to flying condition again. As an aviation artist, photographer and enthusiast, I have attempted to keep track of where these warplane survivors are presently located and to make that information available to others with the same interest. For those of like mind, the purpose of this handbook is to provide a simple checklist of the classic military heritage aircraft that have been preserved in New England. The book includes a number of photographs to illustrate an example of each warplane preserved in New England wherever possible, and to list the locations in each of the six states where one can find these surviving aircraft now. It is exciting to see the actual numbers of restored warplanes increasing as a few rare examples are being recovered from their crash sites in the wildlands, traded for, or bought back from owners who have been flying them in other countries. In a few outstanding cases, accurate replicas have been constructed and are making a welcome return appearance. One of the aims of this book is to help an enthusiast track down New England’s retired warplanes and to have on hand for reference more detailed information about them such as a serial number and a museum location which might be helpful in learning the history of a particular aviator and the aircraft he or she flew. The aircraft detailed in this handbook are listed alphabetically by manufacturer, number and type. The data is also appended with a list of most of the current aircraft found in the various collections and air museums in New England.