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Steindaddie
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91st Observation Squadron from Crissy Field lining up over beautiful downtown Oakland on Tuesday morning, January 29th 1929. Flying the Douglas O2-H with their blue fuselages and yellow wings & tails - I'd love to see this photo in color !

post-1949-1228288251.jpg

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Crissy Field is a strange little airstrip with its northern edge about 50 feet from the SF Bay, and its southern edge occupied with foothills of the Presidio Army post up above... so, it could have been a dicey place to land when the wind and/or seasonal fog was up. Total length of the runway was pretty darn short.

 

Today it has become a hiking/biking trail and highly developed urban ecology experimentation zone, connecting the Marina district with Fort Point which sits almost directly under the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

The American Motorcycle Association also used to (and may still) operate it's annual Advanced Rider course out there.

 

Crissy link see:

http://www.parksconservancy.org/our_work/crissy/about.asp

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Speaking of Crissy Field, here is one of their O2-H's with the insignia of the 9th Corps Area, 1930. Don't know if it was official, but I sure wish I had this hunk of aircraft fabric in a frame!

post-1949-1228337987.jpg

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That is very interesting "nose art" for 91st Observation Squadron. Some historic Army officers served in that same neighborhood in 1930: Brigadier General Frank Lahm (reputed to be the first rated pilot in U. S. Military service) was Chief Air Officer of Ninth Corps Area in 1930 and Major General Douglas MacArthur was very briefly Commanding General of Ninth Corps Area in 1930 before he was promoted to General, November 1, 1930, and appointed Chief of Staff of the United States Army on November 21st. Great pictures, Steindaddie.

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A-8 Shrike of the 3rd Attack Group. Only 13 of these were ever built and it is commonly mistaken for it's offspring, the A-12. Most noticable difference is the A-8 has an inline liquid cooled engine, the A-12, a radial. It was one of the Air Corps first monoplanes, hence the massive external wing bracing. With all those braces and wires I bet this thing really made some noise while cruising the skies.

 

~Will

post-1949-1229025535.jpg

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...the A-12 Shrike...26th Attack Squadron from Wheeler Field late 1930's...

Another A-12 (or maybe the same one?) on the ground at Bellows Field ca. 1936 - '41, with a nice view of Olomana peak in the background.

 

post-1963-1229246586.jpg

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