Midwest Meets South: The Aero Experience Visits Texas and Arkansas

By Mark Nankivil

The Aero Experience looks back on our coverage of the recent Southern Tour with a look at visits to Gainesville, TX, Dallas-Fort-Worth and Fort Smith, AR. We visited the iconic ATL-98 Carvair, Miss 1944, at Gainesville Municipal Airport, TX. The Carvair was originally manufactured as C-54 44-9023 and was registered for civilian use under several operators before being converted to the Carvair aircraft No. 9 (of 21) and used by British Air Ferries. The Carvair employed an open-nose configuration for loading cars for cross-channel flights and other bulk cargo operations flown by other carriers. It is hoped that it will return to flying status in the future.

The Aero Experience Southern Tour included a stop at the Vintage Flying Museum at Fort Worth's Meacham Field. We caught the Douglas A-26K, Special Kay, taking off on a Saturday and her return when we went back on Sunday. The museum staff was great, and there were some magnificent aircraft on display. Some of the flyable aircraft we saw were tenants and not necessarily part of the Museum itself. The EA-3B Skywarrior was recently restored. Also featured here are the Douglas C-47, Southern Cross; Royal New Zealand Air Force Harvard; the Commemorative Air Force B-24, Diamond Lil; a Lockheed T-33 (RCAF Silver Star), Piaggio P.136L1 Royal Gull amphibian; Douglas A-26B Invader, Night Mission; and Stinson L-5 Sentinel.

At Ft. Smith Regional Airport, we found military aircraft on the TAC Air apron, including this T-38 Talon and F/A-18C Hornet.