Christopher M. Reed

Colorful fallen leaves slowly floating down the stream on a sunny autumn afternoon. Prints at: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/leaves-in-the-stream-2021-christopher-reed.html

Spectral Tree against a moonlit sky. Prints at: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/spectral-tree-christopher-reed.html

Towering gray rainstorm clouds approach over the forest. A little blue sky is still visible, but far overshadowed by the oncoming cloud cover. Prints at: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/approaching-rainstorm-christopher-reed.html

Harrier mixed media artwork. Prints available in a number of formats and sizes at: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/harrier-christopher-reed.html

Fishing pond at McDade Park, Scranton, PA seen in April 2005.

F-15A Streak Eagle time-to-climb record holder on display outside of the Air Force Museum in the late 1980s. Having been stripped of its paint for the record flights, but after retirement the airframe was given a standard paint scheme (with the special markings) to protect it from the elements. After a long period of storage, Streak Eagle has since been refinished in its "bare" scheme, and is on inside display.

Tiger Swallowtail seen out back:

The B-45 was the first American jet bomber design to actually enter service, and although obsolete and out of service by the late 1950s, the type filled an important stopgap role in the early Cold War years, giving the USAF a tactical nuclear delivery capability in Europe for the first time, and the high-flying RB-45C recon models brought back important imagery of the USSR before the U-2 was available.

Replaced by the B-66 Destroyer, most surviving B-45s were quickly disposed of, but a new, including the NMUSAF's example, were flown as engine testbeds into the early 1970s.

The F-86H "Sabre Hog" was the last of the series to remain in service with the Air National Guard, the final examples not being retired until 1970, and even then some examples were transferred to Navy control for use as adversary aircraft and later drones.

Powered by a General J73 in place of the GE J47s used on earlier USAF Sabres, the F-86H also had a reinforced airframe, and the capability to carry tactical nuclear weapons. Most examples had a quartet of 20mm in place of the six .50 caliber machine guns carried by most American F-86s.

This particular airframe is preserved on a pole at the Beaver County Airport at Chippewa PA, and is seen in 2005.

Conceived of in the immediate aftermath of WWII to replace the piston-engined P-61 Black Widow as an interceptor, Northrop's F-89 Scorpion was made obsolete as Century-series interceptors entered service, but Air National Guard units continued to operate the type until as late as 1968. The NMUSAF's missile-armed F-89J model is seen in the facility's Cold War Gallery.