I had been reading about the Hickory Aviation Museum, located at the Hickory Regional Airport, since I've been down here. It didn't sound like a big place, a handful of aircraft out on the ramp, and some indoor displays, but a museum is a museum, and they have a Tomcat, so I figured I'd check them out. They're located in the airport terminal, and when I got there this afternoon, there was a sign in the window saying "Closed for Spring Cleaning" until the beginning of March...I went into the terminal, and they said someone was in there, so I should go on in. I ended up meeting Kyle, the guy who started the place 20-some years ago. He apologized for the mess (they were moving and cleaning things) but he saw my camera, and brought me out onto the ramp. He started telling me about the airplanes and the museum, and an hour later, I knew all about the place, and finally started taking some photos! I ended up spending close to three hours there, much of it just talking with Kyle and the volunteers. He had a ton of stories to tell about the history of their airplanes. It was really pretty impressive for a relatively small place - about a dozen aircraft in all, including a very early-build F-105B, Navy FJ-3M (the M signified it was equipped with air-to-air missiles, an early use) an F-4B, and the aforementioned F-14D. They were a really friendly group, and I think I may be their newest member, I know I'll be back again.
North American FJ-3M Fury. This was the first airplane they obtained, back in 1991.
F-105B 54-0107 One of the earliest F-105s built, it was used for climatological testing of the F-105 and retired by the Air Force in 1959.
LTV A-7A Corsair II which saw combat in Vietnam with three different air wings, beginning with VA-82 in 1968.
McDonnell Douglas F-4B
Grumman F-14D BuNo 163902 "Felix 107" from VF-31. It made the last "official" US Navy flight of the Tomcat - well, not including the flight of Felix 101 to FRG.
A pair of classic Navy fighters...
Hispano HA-200 SAETA, a jet trainer designed by Willy Messerschmitt and used by the Spanish Air Force in the 1960s.
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