Post by Al on Feb 3, 2023 18:40:39 GMT -5
As stated in the Pittsburg post, this is one of the more to come sceneries
Madison Municipal Airport-Truax Field is another one of those interesting airports to me as it has a nice variety of civil traffic as well as USAF and ANG traffic during our era. This is a new airport built from scratch. Dan French did the custom (old) civil terminal and standard objects were used for the the rest.
Of course I would never have tackled this without John Hewson’s wonderful album depicting the airport nor could it have been done without DeltaDart’s prolific aircraft paints to make this true to life.
Here are a couple aerial shots to get an idea of the layout. First from the South side (you can see the alert hangers, center and the S.A.G.E complex right. Ken Lawson contributed his H block housing developed for Gander and modified for this scenery which go down the center of the airport behind the hangars.
and then from the north looking south over the Civil Terminal and GA area to the left and the ANG and USAF parking in the middle.
Let’s take a look first on the civil side. Madison has a decent amount of civil traffic in all years but didn't get its first Jets until 1965 when North West began flying 727s in to Madison.
The Civil terminal area in 1955 (custom Terminal by Dan French in the center)
And in 1962, not much has changed though you will start see L188s by now though only a DC3 is caught here.
and GA area on the north side of the terminal.
Now let’s cover the Military side and we will do the USAF separately from the ANG to make it less confusing.
In 1955 the 432nd and the 456th FIS were stationed at Truax Field flying the F-86D's (painted by Deltdart)
in August of 1955 the Air Force was implementing Project Arrow which was meant to bring back Distinguished squadrons and reunite them with their Historical Groups. So the 432nd moved on paper to Minneapolis and was replaced by the 323rd FIS which absorbed the aircraft and personnel of the departing 432nd. The 456th moved as well being replaced by the 325th FIS
We are now in the 1957 Traffic year and the 325th (in the front) and 323rd (far side) are flying the F-102’s. having converted in late 56. Notice that a few of the 325th aircraft had a yellow tail band. Our sources say at least one was painted this way with no explanation as to why, we choose to assume maybe four were painted this way as we like the scheme. (painted by DeltaDart)
From the 323rd side showing their paint scheme
Now, on to 1959 traffic. In October of 1957 the 323rd was reassigned to Ernest Harmon Air Force Base and the 61st FIS who were currently at Earnst Harmon moved to Truax in an exchange of assignments. Both of these squadrons can also be seen in Ken Lawson and my earlier release of Earnst Harmon AFB CYJT). The 61st retained their artic colors (forground) while at Traux. The 325th still remained a Truax.
In 1962 traffic only the 325th remained but with new squadron colors on their aircraft. The 61st was inactivated in July of 1960
Now we move to the 176th FIS of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. This particular unit had some usual history which you can read in more detail in Wikipedia but for our purpose here the 176th FIS was the only unit to fly 4 different models of the F-89 Scorpion. All of them depicted here in the four separate traffic years. Of course, we only have the J model available, but DeltaDart has done his best to dress it up for each year’s model and their unique paint schemes.
1955 traffic flying the F-89C
1957 traffic flying the F-89D
1959 Traffic Flying the F89H, a short lived model.
1962 Traffic Flying the F-89J, the Scorpions final version which they flew until 1966 before converting the F-102 themselves.
This scenery like Pittsburg is nearly complete. Funny thing is this scenery project is what caused the Pittsburg ANG project to happen. While doing research on Truax I saw a photo of an F-102 from the 325th visiting Pittsburg for some reason. I thought I remembered there was Pittsburg scenery released for CalClassic, discovered I somehow missed installing it and when I did discovered a great scenery with the basics I needed for the P.A. ANG. So, with Deltadart's help and Tom's permission to use the Pittsburg scenery, the PA ANG upgrade was born. With the installation of this project, you will see F-102's of the 325th visiting Pittsburg in the 62 traffic.
Release of this scenery is close; just have to get the documentation together and double check a few things.
Meanwhile you can entertain yourself with the just released KPIT ANG.
Al
Madison Municipal Airport-Truax Field is another one of those interesting airports to me as it has a nice variety of civil traffic as well as USAF and ANG traffic during our era. This is a new airport built from scratch. Dan French did the custom (old) civil terminal and standard objects were used for the the rest.
Of course I would never have tackled this without John Hewson’s wonderful album depicting the airport nor could it have been done without DeltaDart’s prolific aircraft paints to make this true to life.
Here are a couple aerial shots to get an idea of the layout. First from the South side (you can see the alert hangers, center and the S.A.G.E complex right. Ken Lawson contributed his H block housing developed for Gander and modified for this scenery which go down the center of the airport behind the hangars.
and then from the north looking south over the Civil Terminal and GA area to the left and the ANG and USAF parking in the middle.
Let’s take a look first on the civil side. Madison has a decent amount of civil traffic in all years but didn't get its first Jets until 1965 when North West began flying 727s in to Madison.
The Civil terminal area in 1955 (custom Terminal by Dan French in the center)
And in 1962, not much has changed though you will start see L188s by now though only a DC3 is caught here.
and GA area on the north side of the terminal.
Now let’s cover the Military side and we will do the USAF separately from the ANG to make it less confusing.
In 1955 the 432nd and the 456th FIS were stationed at Truax Field flying the F-86D's (painted by Deltdart)
in August of 1955 the Air Force was implementing Project Arrow which was meant to bring back Distinguished squadrons and reunite them with their Historical Groups. So the 432nd moved on paper to Minneapolis and was replaced by the 323rd FIS which absorbed the aircraft and personnel of the departing 432nd. The 456th moved as well being replaced by the 325th FIS
We are now in the 1957 Traffic year and the 325th (in the front) and 323rd (far side) are flying the F-102’s. having converted in late 56. Notice that a few of the 325th aircraft had a yellow tail band. Our sources say at least one was painted this way with no explanation as to why, we choose to assume maybe four were painted this way as we like the scheme. (painted by DeltaDart)
From the 323rd side showing their paint scheme
Now, on to 1959 traffic. In October of 1957 the 323rd was reassigned to Ernest Harmon Air Force Base and the 61st FIS who were currently at Earnst Harmon moved to Truax in an exchange of assignments. Both of these squadrons can also be seen in Ken Lawson and my earlier release of Earnst Harmon AFB CYJT). The 61st retained their artic colors (forground) while at Traux. The 325th still remained a Truax.
In 1962 traffic only the 325th remained but with new squadron colors on their aircraft. The 61st was inactivated in July of 1960
Now we move to the 176th FIS of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. This particular unit had some usual history which you can read in more detail in Wikipedia but for our purpose here the 176th FIS was the only unit to fly 4 different models of the F-89 Scorpion. All of them depicted here in the four separate traffic years. Of course, we only have the J model available, but DeltaDart has done his best to dress it up for each year’s model and their unique paint schemes.
1955 traffic flying the F-89C
1957 traffic flying the F-89D
1959 Traffic Flying the F89H, a short lived model.
1962 Traffic Flying the F-89J, the Scorpions final version which they flew until 1966 before converting the F-102 themselves.
This scenery like Pittsburg is nearly complete. Funny thing is this scenery project is what caused the Pittsburg ANG project to happen. While doing research on Truax I saw a photo of an F-102 from the 325th visiting Pittsburg for some reason. I thought I remembered there was Pittsburg scenery released for CalClassic, discovered I somehow missed installing it and when I did discovered a great scenery with the basics I needed for the P.A. ANG. So, with Deltadart's help and Tom's permission to use the Pittsburg scenery, the PA ANG upgrade was born. With the installation of this project, you will see F-102's of the 325th visiting Pittsburg in the 62 traffic.
Release of this scenery is close; just have to get the documentation together and double check a few things.
Meanwhile you can entertain yourself with the just released KPIT ANG.
Al
