constalation question

[Daveroo]

Connies were based at McClellan according to my dad as an uncle of mine named richard ( i never knew the man) was supposed to have been a navigator on a connie based at McClellan ,supposedly there were three of them,they were weather planes according to dad,dad also says they flew from sacramento,to the aleutions towards japan and back,again doing weather related work,,,,seems like it would have to have heck of a lot of fuel to me...unles they made stops...but even so..what model would this plane have been...model meaning..ie:EC-121 being electronic warfare? WC-121?...where would i find info on where/when ect he was active?...ive never tried to look him up before..

i know about my other relitives,,

moms two brothers,,one was an oilier,then pile driver during the entire [acific ops with the sea bees ,the other joined the army aircorp in 1946,,did 4 years active..ivented a few goodies for the airforce and then spent the rest of his days at McClellan working in the elctronic department

a great uncle last name of bennington served on the uss bennington at one point,was on a ship at Iwo when the flag was raised...he swore up and down he was on watch..and someone pointed out to him something was going on on the peak,,,,,and he looked at another ship and missed everything....cant think of the name of the ship he was on though...

another uncle,the navymans brother,,was a tanker in pattons 3rd,,he was said to have been "yellow"..and i believe it...this guy was arrested for robbing a gas station and killing a 17 yo,and then years later he was arrested for making gay porn in hollywood,,,,think he got stabbed in folsom...

and my grandpa spent the war as a plumber (he was 32 in 1941) mostly under the building at a naval base in idaho....they had three shifts..two worked,,and the third played cards under the buildings ,,,so they all got paid...and people just love unions....

[argo147]

I didn't see anything about a specialized weather recon version of the connie, but I don't think that means that there wasn't one. According to Wikipedia the 552nd Airborne Early Warning Wing flew RC-121's and EC-121's out of McClellan. It's possible that they fitted weather equipment to one of those, the USAF did the same thing with some of it's RB-36H's flying out of Travis

[Daveroo]

I didn't see anything about a specialized weather recon version of the connie, but I don't think that means that there wasn't one. According to Wikipedia the 552nd Airborne Early Warning Wing flew RC-121's and EC-121's out of McClellan. It's possible that they fitted weather equipment to one of those, the USAF did the same thing with some of it's RB-36H's flying out of Travis

may i ask how you got that info?...i see wikipedia..but did you access anywhere else?..thanks

[argo147]

The info on the 121's came from wikipedia, but the stuff I have on the RB-36H's comes from a book I have here called "Magnesium Overcast" by Dennis R. Jenkins, really neat book if you like the B-36. Basically I guess it's a bit of speculation on my part, since I can't find anything regarding a weather recon version of a connie. Knowing that the USAF made it's B-36's capable of preforming that mission with some modifications without designating it a WB-36 make it's seem plausible to me that they could have done the same thing with some EC/RC-121's.

[Daveroo]

The info on the 121's came from wikipedia, but the stuff I have on the RB-36H's comes from a book I have here called "Magnesium Overcast" by Dennis R. Jenkins, really neat book if you like the B-36. Basically I guess it's a bit of speculation on my part, since I can't find anything regarding a weather recon version of a connie. Knowing that the USAF made it's B-36's capable of preforming that mission with some modifications without designating it a WB-36 make it's seem plausible to me that they could have done the same thing with some EC/RC-121's.

thanks for the info on the book,ill look into that,i love books too...on one of the wiki pages for the connie,,accually the main page,L-749 at the very bottom,they said they made 8 specialised weather variants..BUT..this is now mute as ive since found infomation that the "uncle" (he was my blood coousins father,but he and my aunt were not married long) was Ssgt with the air force,i believe that was it,,made major later?...im not sure those are correct of airforce or not...but he was a navigator on the longrange radar version,and he(they) went on three to foud day ops out of McClellan..found a ltter and it has...we were looking for bears and badgers over the nothern pacific...

[argo147]

Those must have been some pretty tense times if they did find some bears or badgers.

[Willy]

The Navy used some C-121s (designated WV-1 or WV-2 aka "Willie Victors") as "Hurricane Hunters" in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Squadrons using them were VW-4 out of Jacksonville Florida or Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico and VW-1 out of Guam.

That's the only weather use of Connies by the US military that I'm aware of. But then I pay more attention to the Navy anyway.