The Boeing Stratocruisers of the Mojave Desert 1960s-1970s | Transocean Northwest Airlines Pan Am 

What a magnificent experience and wonderful memory. You are so lucky to have experienced this Stratocuiser travel adventure.

Sounds like quite a adventure.

Granted you’re family was very well off to afford such a trip. You are very lucky to have experienced it.

@@jolu7019 your

Hope it's not too rude but i Enjoyed your story more than the video itself 😂

You are very lucky. What a great memory from your childhood.

From the various accidents that I read about regarding the Stratocruisers I realized their engines were not very reliable like other radials of the day.

@@JetFlix As in other radials of the day were reliable? R-3350 TC's on Connie's and DC-7's seldom, if ever, lasted to TBO. In flight engine shutdowns were routine. Only the lowly R-2800 on the DC-6, Convair and Martin piston airliners might be considered reliable. I think the 377's propellers were another source of trouble, as in the Pan Am flight 6 ditching.

@@jimandmandy C-54 of MATS let us down. Engine troubles caused a two week stay on Kwajalein Atoll while they got another engine and had it installed. R2000-9 engines. Likely the cause of one that crashed after taking off from there 6 years earlier.

@@jimandmandy it was common to have 1 of 4 engines shut down during a flight. Pilots expected a failure often. I flew here and turbo props for an airline and never lost San engine over my entire career.

@@jimandmandy Might that explain the lack of propellers on the planes in these photos?

Hello Norcal, thank you for sharing these amazing observations from your onboard visit to the Strat. The last comment about it being an accident waiting to happen was interesting. As several were lost, due to various engine problems being the common factor. The Strats served from 1949 to 1960. And then they were done forever.

B-50 wing and engines, not B-29.

@@dongmo1 You are correct, but in the moment B-29 was what came to mind. Possibly because my cousin crewed a B-29 in Korea and because of TV programs like Victory at Sea. I don't recall ever seeing a B-50 anywhere.

B-29 and B-50 wings are more or less the same. I looked into that a year ago, when researching how many B-29's remain, and just as brain candy, I started looking around & seeing if I could scrounge enough parts to possibly build an airworthy B-29...and, I actually found enough airframe parts, along with a set of 3350's!

B-29 didn't use R-4360 engines.

Thank you very much for your lovely comments on my coverage of the VARIG Electras and Ponte Aerea operation. This was the aviation highlight of my life I would say. I met many great people who worked for VARIG back in the late 1980s and early 1990s and it’s just too bad the L-188s are gone and the airline is gone. Sending you my best regards from Vancouver Canada

So it's in Farrah condition 😅

DON Q is a unique place It’s a theme room hotel Look it up Great place to visit And yeah the plane is still Gorgeous piece of metal

Does it have a leaky Fawcett.....@@JTA1961

Yes, it was such a unique airplane us. It was a double Dekker and it was huge by the standards of the 1950s. And for this reason, it formed impressive memory on many a young plane spotter of the day, including yourself.

Thank you for this interesting info on the Northwest Strat retirement for Electras timing .. I was not aware.

Fantastic comment thank you so much!!! You have lived through wonderful life experiences! Wow!

Wow, what fabulous memories you have from that sad trip to the funeral in 1954. Not too many people can remember their Stratocruiser flights. I was born in 1964 so it was well before my time. My memories are on Air Canada, Viscounts and Vanguards and TCA to various operators here in Canada. Thanks for your wonderful comments, and thanks for sharing them

Thank you for taking the time to share your amazing memories from the 1950s. I really appreciate it and I’m sure others here will enjoy seeing it as well. You’re lucky to have these memories .. you were born at the right time to have experienced the golden age of airline travel. I was 2 decades too late to experience the Stratocruiser, but I did get to experience Viscounts and Vanguards and DC-8a here in Canada when I was growing up. I appreciate your support and thanks again.

Did you take any photos or slides? It would be fabulous to see.

Amazing stuff.. your parents lived in interesting times for sure!

What an amazing memory you have. Thank you so much for taking the time to share so we could all see this. You are very lucky of your parents involvement with this fascinating airline.

Thank you for the great comment Aidan very much appreciated. I was so happy to briefly visit Manchester and Liverpool a few weeks ago. You are lucky to have your Vangaurd, Viscount and Britannia memories from MAN. These slides of Stratocruisers were in a slide collection I acquired and had to be shared.

Amazing you saw these Ellis!! Did you also take a set of these slides at the time.

@@JetFlix Sadly not. Back then I was concentrating on learning to fly.

Kodachrome was a truly amazing product. I have slides from my childhood 50 or so years old that look like they were shot yesterday. They are the time capsules of film.

Thank you very much for your comments. I appreciate it and I’m glad you agree that the quality of the images was very high. Kodachrome is the highest quality of slide film available. There is a lot of debate as to the reasons why the emergency exits were removed. You’ll see tons of comments with many different views I guess we’ll never know for certain.

@@JetFlix WAS the highest quality...

Yes I’ve seen many photos and slides of the Stratocruisers refuelling F4 phantoms over Germany and Europe during this era.

Great to hear!

@@JetFlix the public is allowed in the cockpit bring your captain's hat and take your photo.

My understanding was that was a nose section of a C-97 that was painted to look like a NWA Stratocuiser….I hope that I am wrong. I’ll have to stop by the museum.

The nose section at the San Diego museum at Gillespie is an old ANG KC-97 that had last been with the Arizona ANG at Phoenix.

Thanks for telling us about this

@@JetFlix When I find the episode, I'll post more info.

Yes when I got these slides I knew they were special and justified putting the video together to share them. Thank you for the commet.

Thank you for these amazing comments so fascinating to hear. And in one of my videos I stated that the acronym TALOA must mean something and I’ve read that book that you’re referring to cover to cover several times and I never found out what the hell that means .. it’s a mystery beyond the great pyramids UFOs and Sasquatch all combined! If you could, please tell me what the heck TALOA stands for ..that would be amazing. It’s actually painted on the side of the Transocean aircraft but in the year 2023 mystery persists.

@@JetFlix Thanks for your kind words. If my memory is right I think I read somewhere TALOA stands for "Transocean AirLines Oakland Airport". I still have contacts with other daughters of TALOA pilots and will ask them for confirmation.

Exactly … !! The planes were 25 years old 50 years ago. The are like Jules Verne strampunk machines compated to present day airline technology.

@@JetFlix has anybody thought to do a pictorial of the 747s of today being parked out in the desert awaiting scrapping?

Thank you for this very nice comment with the historical nod to these two great aviation families.

Awesome. What an interesting connection. I can "read" the pride you have also, in your Pop & his work. All the best.

Me too!!! I would love to see what the interiors looked like. It would be an amazing time machine view. And I did just that when I visited the parked TWA Convair 880s at Mojave in the 1980s. I have a slide of myself sitting in a seat in the cabin.

Omg ,safe them and try one alive ?

Probably stripped out inside.

Thanks for letting us know this fact I appreciate it.

Just like you, I also like 1/72 scale when it comes to airline models, and I also have a number of Stratocruiser models in my collection too.

What a precious account! Thanks for sharing!

Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for letting me know that you enjoyed my video. I appreciate it.

Thank you I appreciate your comment and I’m glad you enjoyed my video.

Great observation thank you for pointing this out

The good 'ol 146th TAW! Back in the '90's, they got their own base, and moved from Van Nuys, out near Port Hueneme. Some of the old ANG hangars at Van Nuys are still there, though some were demolished during a huge re-model at the airport. I remember seeing the Super Guppy's at Long Beach on occasion, moving stuff for Douglas Aircraft, in the early-mid '80's.

Yes definitely the aircraft of the 146th TAW. The C-97G out at Fox Field is from Van Nuys ANG.

My pleasure!

I think someone else also mentioned this TV show thanks for telling us too.

Glad you enjoyed my video

For a few decades …

That's all the value they had.

Beautiful is not the term I would use to describe them. Bloated, plump, or tubby would be more accurate.

@@gregb6469 Functional would be more accurate. The C-130 is also quite ugly but perfectly suited for its intended function.

​@@gregb6469- Eye of the beholder I guess Greg? You can see the B-29 bones in these Stratocruisers, which are beautiful planes.

Amazing .. thank you for telling me

As I produce videos like this one that you were watching, I’m wondering if you have any photos or slides that you could share with or gift to me so that I could use to make a similar video on the Guppy … if you have any film content, movies, promotional materials I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you Jimmy for sharing the awesome memories that you have from your early years when your dad was on these monsters of the sky (in military uniform, of course). That’s what makes my channel so rewarding for me .. Hearing from people that have happy memories from the videos. it’s wonderful. I’m wishing you all the best and thanks for commenting my video.

Yes they were at Fox Field down the road. Did you see the Human Fly on top of the JAL DC-8 in the mid 1970s?

@@JetFlix Nope, I missed that but I have seen the video's. There was a Connie and a DC-7 in a race but I was most interested in the P-38's.

Fascinating historical tid bits thank you so much for sharing. If you have any Aero Soace Lines slides, models or historical data I could use for a video please let me know.

True fact, the KC-97 was a piston pounder, and it was mismatched to the fighter jets of the jet age that it needed to refuel.

If only they could be made to sound like a Tele...😁 Nice car!!! At first I thought it was an American '68-'70 Ford XL Sportsroof. But I checked out your channel and saw that it's an Australian Ford Landau.

Born and raised in Vancouver I am also an Air Canada Viscount and Vanguard fan.

There's photos of it on the Aerial Visuals website. I toured that plane around 1980, it was amazingly complete right down to the airliner interior. The info on the website is wrong, it was scrapped in the late '90s. Why it wasn't donated to a museum is beyond me. All the remaining examples are military C/KC-97s.

You're very welcome, thank you and I am glad you found it. Perhaps you could subscribe to my channel.

@@JetFlix 😉, I already had👍

@@JetFlix Im from NZ & I have always loved reading all sorts of subjects & very early on planes captured my attention & because it's nice to dream also I'll occasionally look up the site "hanger67". A.couple of planes I drool over are our old NZ airforce alumni, the A4 Skyhawk & the BAC Strikemaster, both of which are for sale this very moment, sigh. Then again also onsite is another fav, the Douglas AD4 Skyraider, A7 Vought Corsair, Saab Draken (Viggen's better) etc etc. In essence, there are so many types & models of aircraft that capture our attention & create some feeling of longing or awe or nostalgia within us simply by seeing or hearing them, a childhood model maybe, that when they come with an intriguing or emotive story also they remain forever a part of our fascination. As a kid there was a big triangle shaped junkyard that had a simple wire fence around it within bicycle distance. It was actually some guys personal "stuff" collection rather than being an operating junkyard, but as a kid all I saw was fascinating old stuff & my imagination would be off & running. There was old farm equipment, bulldozers, cars, trucks....but right in the middle was a DC3, the most amazing site for a young kid. After discovering the "junkyard" it wasn't long before progress claimed it unfortunately & where that old plane went & how I'll never know. A few years later I saw tucked away in the middle of nowhere, parked up next to some guys garage sans wings & similarly about to cause my imagination to run rampant, was an ex NZ Airforce Bristol Freighter. These things would do the run up to Vietnam & Malaya previous to that when our troops were serving during those 1950's & 60's conflicts. Seeing as how the Bristol freighter almost looks like a flying tadpole with its "2 storey" flight deck & wouldn't usually stimulate any type of longing I think it was knowing my uncle did 2 tours of Vietnam & so most likely at some time also endured what must have been an interminable island hopping flight from NZ up to Vietnam & Phuoc Tuy province in one these planes if not that very one before boarding a truck or chopper & ending at Nui Dat camp where our field troops were based. 25 or 30 years later I lived not close by exactly but also not too far relatively speaking from that middle of nowhere property & still as intrigued as I was at about 12 years old I took a drive to see if it was still around & to my surprise & the rekindling of my rampant imagination it was, albeit dirtier & overgrown by weeds it was still there. I apologise that this has rambled on much like a freighter flight to "Nam" in the 60's so I'll just say while I had dreams of buying or at least saving that plane from scrapping I could never find anybody around or any reply to notes left in the mailbox & only heard at most from immediate locals that the guy living there was a bit of a recluse & so it seemed. I'd still check it's existence on the few times I'd be out that way to "nowhere in particular if you don't live right there" which I rightly didn't technically, literally or exactly reside at, only my hope that yet another piece of history wouldn't be scrapped for convenience sake kept me making those trips with fingers crossed until the last when I came across only a cleared site & a new house being built. The last time I had any information was when my partner forwarded me a link to an obscure article which explained that the owner of the property had passed away & his surviving sister & brother in law got the section cleared of all the overgrowth & thankfully recognised the significance of the plane & a club or enthusiasts had either purchased it or the plane was donated to be preserved & hopefully put on display with replacement wings, mock wings or wingless as the case may be, but it did survive & I also could put my personal, quiet, low level obsession away satisfactorily when I knew what the outcome was. How do we come to be interested or fascinated in all or in certain aircraft? Would you believe me if I said I had no idea? These are merely two instances in my youth but there were actually many pinches of my "interest with planes" nerve in hindsight & yet I would not have been looked on as or would ever have described myself as primarily an aero enthusiast because I've had similar fascinations or nostalgia with trucks, trains, ships, motorbikes, military, cars as well as every subject I could take an interest in really & if a person is curious about things there can be many. It maybe also helps never really having just enough money to own & also pay for the required ongoing upkeep of a costly interest which could possibly dull the enthusiasm & romanticisms we feel for those interests which had captured our imaginations. But the reality is that the whole field of aviation is not only an interesting topic for me it is branded within my feelings & a subject thats not difficult in the least for me to be passionate about. Thank you & I'll look forward to more on your channel. All the best...🛫

Yes I have seen old images of KC97s drogue refuelling F4s. There was a speed mismatch between the two types. The KC-135 was much better suited to the task. Did you ever take 35mm color slides while inflight .. of other aircraft you were in close formation with?

@@JetFlix The KC97 we refueled from had the boom configuration. We were weight restricted due to slow speed

I fondly remember the Illinois Air National Guard flying those KC97L's out of Chicago's O'Hare Field. You'd first hear the sound of the four P&W R-4360 engines followed by the loud roar of the J-47 jet engines suspended near the wingtips. I believe the Illinois Air Guard transitioned to the KC-135s about 1974.

That ditching not far out of Seattle near Portland was quite something.

Yes, I remember this accident. My folks house had a view of Puget Sound and Maury Island about where this accident happened.

@@JetFlix Portland is nowhere near Maury Island. Maybe you're thinking of Tacoma.

Thanks for telling us that I appreciate it.

Wow!!!! Amazing!!!! May I ask .. did you Dad take a lot of color slides of the aircraft??? I am always looking for images to make viseos like this.

Thank you so much for the awesome insight into the tails and they’re easily being able to be folded down.

Yes, there are a number of military versions of this aircraft the KC-97 still around various airfields across the US ..which is nice. But I do not believe there is a single Boeing Stratocruiser in existence anywhere on planet earth in the year 2023 sadly.

Glad you enjoyed it

Thanks for watching Freddy

I believe if I’m not mistaken, what you were referring to it was a Boeing 307 Stratoliner not a Boeing Stratocruiser that was used for this particular conversion.

@@JetFlix you are probably correct. I know best Boeing 726, 757 and 767🤪

Must have been in the early 1960s

Great, thank you very much for that Jay. I appreciate it.

This makes sense too.

What a sad coincidenc. What I find amazing about Jim Croce is that the world has no video or film archive of his work .. if you search RU-vid, there’s almost nothing for some strange reason.

I know …

That’s too bad but I think there’s quite a number of KC-97 and C-97’s at various museums across the United States that are sitting outside in the elements.

This makes sense. Thank you very much for the suggestion on what causes. We appreciate your insight here.

Thank you so much for the comment and thank you very much for subscribing to my channel as well. I really appreciate that.

Just need to wait for the creation of a time machine. Who knows maybe it already exists .. hence all the UFO activity meddling with U.S. Navy flight operations.

We think these parts were needed for other planes .. but we will never know for certain.

I have never counted my Models, so I don’t know. Sadly. Dusting does not happen often enough but I am the one to do that job.

Great comments thank you again Ryan. I did not know about the NW reactivation of the Strats in the summer of 1960. I think the Israeli Air Force operated the Strats into the early 1970s but I do not have details.

Texas Air Guard kept theirs into mid 70s.

Yes Northwest had square windows, good point.

Is it a color slide as I collect vintage slides of airliners.