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59-0069 was moved from Griffiss AFB, NY in
1994 and was repainted as
F-106A 57-2463.
  
59-0069 painted as 57-2492 at Great Falls, unknown date. (Darrell Anderson
collection)
This is 59-0069 at Griffiss AFB before being moved for display to Great Falls, Montana in 1994.
     
Special thanks for making this addition to our
F-106 "Still Serving" page:
- Mr. Stephen B. Waters, Publisher, Daily Sentinel Newspaper, Rome, New York
- Michael W. Corbett, Colonel, USAF, Commander, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Rome,
NY
- Rose Brancato, Col. Corbett's secretary
E-mail message from
Major Steve Mehring
with information compiled from
interviews with Montana ANG crew chiefs:
Our (Great Falls) F-106 is indeed 59-0069. Here's some factual
info and some spicy intrigue as well.
Wright Patterson had known we were looking for a bird for our unit for
some time. They found out that the folks in New York (Griffiss) didn't want theirs
anymore (can you believe it?). Arrangements were made and we hired a contractor to
remove the six from a pole mount, remove the wings and package her up on two flatbed
trucks (one for the wings and one for the rest).
On 10 June 1994 we received the aircraft in Great Falls. Guess
what -- she had no landing gear because the previous owners decided to not outfit the
aircraft with gear. It was in a gear up position on the pole so they didn't bother
putting gear inside.
The reason for that goes back to its history and how it became a static bird in the first
place. She crashed on the runway at Griffis and the right MLG was destroyed and the
strut punched a large hole right thru the wing. Apparently the
depot (SMALC) decided against a reconstruction since the
106 fleet was near the end of active service. So, their sheet metal shop patched up
the wing and tossed the gear, along with the fairing doors and lots of other stuff.
Apparently she wasn't all that complete on the underside while on display there -- maybe
that's why they wanted to dump her because she was a little ugly. Oh yeah, they also
pretty well gutted the cockpit, the savages. Her paint job was likewise in
deplorable condition.
Anyway, we put her back together and for lack of parts, she sat for
three years out in the back forty perched on 55 gallon drums under the wings and
tail. Very unflattering.
In the meanwhile some very dedicated crew chiefs began a volunteer
quest for parts. One even took vacation time to drive to Tyndall and connect with
some friends who worked in the QF-106 program. He was able to secure panels, another
radome, tires, brakes, wheels, and lots of other parts from wrecked QF's. He even
got the tail hook from one of our original B Models, # 57-2517. The parts were
packaged up and sent via military channels to Great Falls.
Another crew chief knew someone at the Ogden (OOALC) depot and he
obtained both MLG and the nose gear from the condemned pile. They were likewise
shipped via military channels as they were still military assets.
Finally, in the summer of 1997 a group of volunteers (including some
retirees) spent over two weeks sanding, cleaning, fixing sheet metal, refitting all the
parts, and painting. The result was the reincarnation of one of our F-106s from the
glory days. She was repainted with the 120th Figher Interceptor Group (the 120th
FW's name at that point in history) paint scheme and is now known as tail # 57-2463.
She was the centerpiece of our unit's 50th Annviersary celebration and now has a place of
honor on
the flightline, sitting as if she was FMC and ready for a mission, right next to our
T-Bird that also looks ready to fly and our F-86.
Now for some wierd stuff. It turns out that old balls-69 was
involved in us not winning William Tell in 1978. We were tied with Griffis that year
and the top individual pilot score would tip the balance. Turns out the pilot of
balls-69 was a regular visitor to our unit and flew our aircraft regularly -- in fact he
was being recruited to transfer to the 120th at the time. But this time he was
working with the Griffis boys, and the word was there was some skullduggery and maybe some
outright cheating done by the pilot of balls-69 (something about what he claimed in the
pilot debriefing that had a bearing on the score). That caused us to end up second.
The crew chief of the 120th bird that was competing head to head with this guy is
still on duty, and he was NOT happy to see 69 show up on our airfield. Bad feelings still
were present for this crew chief and he wouldn't touch the plane. Still won't.
Still feels if the pilot wouldn't have lied & cheated then we would have won.
I have the pilot's name, and many recall the incident, but to pass his name along
without the benefit of his side of the story would be unfair, so I'll not mention it.
But, it's part of the history and intrigue of this airplane.
Major Steve Mehring
Commander, 120th Logistics Support Flight
120th Fighter Wing (ACC), Montana ANG
Great Falls IAP, MT 59404
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