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November
14, 2018
Found
a reference to 52-4539 in a recent book I picked up - F-86
Sabre: History of the Sabre and the FJ Fury.
The author,
Robert F. Dorr, had a small section on some of the USAF sabres that
were transferred to the RoCAF.
A link
to view article: Page
72
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October
24, 2018
A hidden
gem. FineScale Modeler magazine placed FU-539 on the cover of there
April 2017 magazine! It was exciting to the sabre up front. Aaron
Skinner wrote an article on his process of painting the sabre. Article
title: "Metal from ACRYLICS" - Can water-based paints
provide realistic natureal-metal? The article on the FU-539
model is on page 21 through 27. Click the photo below or this link
to view the article: FineScale
Modeler FU-539
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September
25, 2018
An excellent
recreation of "008" RoCAF sabre. Photos here.
Model by: 
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September
10, 2018
An art drawing
of F-86008 (s/n 52-4539) by Rex Kuang. He has drawn many RoCAF sabres
with the side profile with details. Picture was posted on the ROCAF
F-86 Sabre facebook page. Many thanks to Rex for adding to his
collection of art! Click on photo to enlarge. Translates:North
American F86F-30NA Sabre Fighter 008 (American Serial# 52-4539) Republic
of China - 5th Battalion Taiwan, Taoyuan
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May
25, 2018
Tom
Masano Auto Group honored Crew Chief Walter Yocum during this
years Memorial Day weekend! They added his name to six billboards
across the Berks County area in Pennsylvania. Thanks Tim Yocum (Wallys
brothers' son) and Tom Masano for honoring our families!
Click here
or the above banner for larger photos and information.
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May
5, 2018
Justin Snow
finishes 5th in the debut of the "Tribute
to a Hero - Wally Yocum" #0 race car! It was
the "Public Safety 165 Race Presented by Whelen Engineering"
at the Myrtle
Beach Speedway (South Carolina). Also racing that night was
Thad Moffitt, Richard Petty's grandson. Click here for photos.
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May
5, 2018
I received
the mail package from Smithsonain National Air and Space
Museum for honoring Walter E Yocum Jr. on the NASM's Wall
of Honor. They enclosed a Certificate of Registry that will represent
the engraving of "Walter Wally Edward Yocum Jr".
Click
here to view the certificate PDF: Wall
of Honor Certificate of Registry
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May
1, 2018
Tom (Wally's
son) has volunteered to be crew chief for Justin Snow of the NASCAR
Whelen All-American series. Tom will also sponsor Justin's ride
for an upcoming NASCAR race. These are some of the behind the scenes
for the "Tribute to a Hero - Wally Yocum"
#0 race car.
Click
here for pictures of the "Tribute to a Hero - Wally
Yocum" NASCAR Whelen All-American Series race
car #0
Driver:
Justin Snow of Snow Racing
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April
27, 2018
A/2C Wally
Yocum and 2/Lt Ken Ewing's photo and slides have been mailed today
enroute to the Smithsonian
National Air and Space museum (Chantilly, VA location).
This is an exciting step in preserving their histories. The families
of Wally Yocum and Ken Ewing donated over 200 photos of Korea, Kimpo
Air Base (K-14) and surrounding areas during 1954. These will all
be scanned, marked with identification numbers, and preserved.
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April
19, 2018
Wally Yocum
and FU-539 go Youtube! As I gather information for the museum, I
put together a small video for Youtube. Note: Works best with high
resolution (HD). Link: https://youtu.be/obyuVWDlPpI
You may also view the original version here: walteryocumjr_korea.mp4
Title:
A/2C Wally Yocum Historical Photo Archive Korea 1954 336th Rocketeers
F-86F
Photos
from Walter "Wally" Yocum Jr. when he was stationed at
Kimpo Air Base (K-14) in 1954. He was apart of the 336th Rocketeers,
"Fourth but First". He was the crew chief for 52-4539
FU-539 F-86F sabre jet. His pilot was 2/Lt. Kenneth Ewing.
Published:
Apr 19, 2018 (6 minutes, 5 seconds long)
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April
18, 2018
Photos and
slides from A/2C Wally Yocum and 2/Lt. Kenneth Ewing will be donated
to the Smithsonian
National Air and Space museum. The pictures will be
scanned there, slightly adjusted, then given NASM museum numbers
to be reference and found on their website. I grouped the photos
of A/2C Wally Yocum's collection for reference identification for
the museum. It list notes on the pictures of the pdf as I present
them to museum. If you would like to use the photos, you can edit
the PDF and remove the text. The PDF will allow you to export the
photos in different photo formats.
Email from
the Supervisory and Acquistion Archivist representative at the Smithsonian:
"Thank you for resending your email informing us of the
material you have relating to your father ‘s service in South
Korea. You have done an excellent job with your website and your
father’s photography is very interesting; we would certainly
be interested in adding the images to the National Collection. "
Download
link: wallyocumjr1954_korea
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March
20, 2018
Mach 3 Design
Studio created a DCS skin for 52-4539! Their nice words: "
I was blown away by the sheer volume and quality of the material you
have payed here, and thank you for doing so! I love the history, and
I decided to create a skin based on "Sweet Rose". "
Mach 3 Design Studio used the actual images from the Fabulous Rocketeers
Logo, Sweet Rose and Dreaded Gomboo. Mach 3 Design Studio even made
Ken Ewing's personalized Rocketeer Helmet!
Click the
below link for the latest skin. Thanks Mach 3 Design Studio!
Screen shots
of Mach 3 Design Studio's DCS skin: Mach
3 Design Studio's DCS skin
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March
19, 2018
Four days
after finding the below picture from Larry's book - Karen, the son
of 2/Lt. John
R. Kidd of the 336th (Dec 1952 - June/July 1953 Korea period)
- sent me photos of John and included a high resolution photo of FU-539.
This picture appears original, not darkened or modified as the book
photo. Amazing photo and find! John Kidd had this photo copied and
framed on his den wall with some of his TWA career photos. He was
thrilled of this photo because the sabre jets had his divsions Rocketeer
insignia on it.
Click here
for the 1500 size, or here
for the original 6600 scanned size!
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March
15, 2018
Found a
book with a reference picture to 52-4539 in the 1953 era. It is
in the book "The 4th Fighter Wing in the Korean War"
by Larry Davis (Page 178).
Click here
to view the pdf page.
Photo caption:
An element
of F-86Fs from the 336th Squadron over North Korea in early summer
1953. The element was the basic combat formation of the UN fighter
forces. (John Africa).
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March
6, 2018
Last July,
Jon Pritchard made an excellent F-86 skin of FU-539 for DCS digital
combat. He enhanced and minor corrected the plane over a more updated
back drop for scenery. He really matched the plane up to what it
would of been like to see it in the skies in 1954. Thanks Jon!
Click
on the photo above or here
to view pictures (to
download). Click here
for the RoCAF F-86008 pictures (to
download).
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February
13, 2018
José
Pires, the photographer of the original images of FU-539 for AirFix
magazine, recently shared his amazing photos from that photo shoot.
Below is a link for the photos I reduced, slightly modified for webpage
viewing. He did an excellent shoot of doing pretty much a walk-around
of the of the sabre jet.
Click on
the photo above or here
to view pictures. José still has the model in his possesion
at this time.
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February
2, 2018
Color photo's
of FU-539 have been added to the website, and a color photo of my
father. Many thanks to Bob Ewing who allowed me to view and scan in
pilot Ken Ewing's slides. Pictures of his slides will be through out
this website. It gives a more in depth view of what the pilot and
crew chief saw during their stay in Korea. Photos are shown under
the K-14 photos section and the 1954 Rocketeers Squadron Guide.
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January
5, 2018
On the facebook
RoCAF Sabres page, there was a book posted by a user with an article
story devoted to a sabre jet squadron (5th Fighter Group). On the
one page, it had a photo (#7) that shows the pilots posing for a picture
in front of 52-4539. This is during the 1955 timeframe. Just the year
before, 52-4539 was the back drop to the crew chiefs of the USAF Fabulous
Rocketeers.
Click here
to see the 52-4539 sabre jet and the 1955 RoCAF group pilots (Also
on my RoCAF webpage): 52-4539
and the RoCAF Pilots Group Photo
Additional
information on the 5th Fighter Group: F-86008
/ RoCAF Sabres Webpage
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December
18, 2017
Thanks to
Bob Ewing, I got to see and scan in the Fouth Fighter Interceptor
Wing yearbook for 1954. It had photos of Ken Ewing and photos of my
father. It also allowed me to know the pilot class and crew chiefs
for that year. I will try to piece together the 336th pilots with
their sabres for that timeframe on my 336th Rocketeers Guide webpage.
Shortcut link: The
1954 USAF 336th Fabulous Rocketeers Squadron Guide
Click here
to see 52-4539 sabre jet and the 1954 USAF "B" Flight crew
chiefs photo: 52-4539
and the 1954 "B" Flight Crew Chiefs
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December
6, 2017
We received
the Republic of Korea Service Medal for our father.
Click on the picture for larger photos of the medal and letter we
received with that medal. Back of medal reads (vertical): "June
25, 1950, Engaged in Action of War, Medal"; (circular fashion
at bottom of medal) "South Korea"
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November
16, 2017
After the
24539 sabre's service in the USAF, it was then transferred to the
RoCAF (Republic of China Air Force). After searching much time looking
for it, a breakthrough happened. I received an email from David,
the son of Gen. Frederick Wu-O Chiao. Frederick was the Commander
of 5th FG 1954-1955 - the very first FG equipped with F-86's in
the RoCAF. He was stationed at Taoyuan AFB at that time. In his
photo collection, was this gem! It was exciting to see this picture!
Thank you David. F-86008
/ RoCAF Sabres Webpage
Click
on photo to view larger, and also some other photos from Taoyuan
at that time.
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October
5, 2017
Paper work
was sent out for our father to receive the Republic of Korea
Service Medal.
Its background:
"The medal was originally offered by the ROK in 1951 to United
Nations forces serving in Korea and adjacent waters. At the time U.S.
law prohibited the U.S. military from wearing medals issued by foreign
governments. Congress changed that in 1954, but by then most U.S.
service members eligible for the medal had returned home.
In 1998 the Republic of Korea renewed its original offer of the ROKWSM
and on Aug. 20, 1999, the Defense Department approved the acceptance
and wear of the medal.
Approximately 1.8 million U.S. veterans of the Korean War are eligible
to receive it."
- Kentucky
Department of Veterans Affairs
If you
feel anyone you know is eligible, follow this link to the ROK Service
medal form: Click
here
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An excellent
color photo of Tech Sgt Albert Raymond next to Slo-Mo-Shun II. This
was the nose art on the sabre before "Sweet Rose". Albert
Raymond was an Air Force radar and radio technician. Thanks much for
his son to share this photo! Cockpit area notes C/c Dick Burns and
ARM Donald Girven. They were the crew before my father maintained
it.
Click on photo to view
larger.
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Jon Pritchard
made an excellent F86 skin for FU-539 sabre. Excellent recreation
that looks very realistic!
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Airfix Model
World wrote an article about José Pires's FU-539 model build.
The added many detailed photos of the effort that was put into building
it. Click the magazine cover or link below to view. There is also
another article afterwards that has Sabre related information.
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José
Pires took wonderful photos of the model FU-539, built from Eduards
model kit. Below is a link of some pictures of the finished product,
and well as a link to his message board. A detailed article was published
on the March issue of Airfix Model World.
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January
3, 2017
Javier Bordon
paints a beautiful picture of FU-539! "The painting it was done
with Sakura japanese watercolors and condor natural hair brushes over
Pentel graphit leads lines on 0.5 mechanical pencil. the paper support
is some similar to Fabriano A4 but do not remind the mark in this
moment. in the final render I applied some photoshop adjusts and retouchings
using as fountain the same colors of the original painting but refocused
anhancing contrast of areas, the original painting looks similar to
the eye but due scaner tends to wash the color the photoshop adjust
was unavoidable to keep the piece more similar to how it looks at
the direct eye watching" - Javier Bordon
Artwork
and history of Javier's work
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An excellent skin produced
by zsoltquack on the MilViz (Military Visualiztions).
"Our
motto is, and has always been, quality or why bother" - MilViz
Skin download: ZSB_MV_336th
FIS_Sweet_Rose.zip
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July
15, 2016
'President
Memorial Certificate' from President Obama. It reads:
The
United States of America
honors the memory of
Walter
E Yocum, Jr.
This
certificate is awarded by a grateful nation in recognition of
devoted and selfless consecration to the service of our country
in the Armed Forces of the United States.
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March
9, 2016
Tidbits
of the private funeral for our family's hero at the Delaware Veterans
Memorial Cemetery, Bear, Delaware.
002-2III-A-18
Pictures from March 9th
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February
29, 2016
In
memory of the crew chief of Dreaded Gomboo / Sweet Rose.
Walter
"Wally" Yocum Jr. (1934
- 2016)
National
Defense Service Medal
United Nations Service Medal
Korean Service Medal
Good Conduct Medal
Republic of Korea Service Medal
Ambassador for Peace Medal
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February
25, 2016
An incredible
recreation of FU-539 from Torsten Schumacher in Germany. Many thanks
to him and his time crafting such a remarkable piece! Click on the
photo below to view pictures of his model recreation. Photos
of Torsten's Incredible work
Click here
for: Torsten's text message
and my fathers hospital story |
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Eduard model
company added an article on FU-539 and a brief history with story
account from my father. Click the magazine cover or link below to
read. The full magazine can be found on Eduard's website: www.eduard.com
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In late
September, I received an email from the Eduard model company. They
were interested in making a decal variation for their 'Ultimate Sabre'
F-86F 1/48 scale model kit. You may now purchase it on their website
(model kit #1163). Click the picture or this link
to view their instruction sheet, photos, decal sheet of their promotional
model.
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My father was an honored
guest before the start of the NASCAR race in Martinsville, Virginia.
He spent time with Richard Petty and the Major General Garrett Harencak
of the USAF (Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and
Nuclear Integration). My father got to show a picture that he carries
in his wallet and talk about stories of the'Sweet Rose' F-86F sabre.
More photos are under the Tidbits (Family/History/Aviation)
catagory.
Collage photo: click
here
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September
2015
I recieved
an email from an individual asking about the history of this plane.
It was a nice surprise. He found a picture of a painting of FU-539
before my father and Ken Ewing took control. This was the 1953-1954
possible era of the plane. If everyone has any leads to this actual
painting, please email me on the link on the bottom of the page. It
appears to be painted by Eugene A. Beinert. Thanks!
Larger
view of painting
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An actual
replica of FU-539, made out of wood in 1955! It has been preserved,
in mint condition. Pilot Ken Ewing gave this to his brother, and he
held it since. My father saw this model in Virginia, June of 2015.
Click the below graphic to see a larger view and more information
around the wood model.
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Spring 2015
'President
Memorial Certificate' from President Obama. It reads:
The
United States of America
honors the memory of
Kenneth
Curtiss Ewing
This
certificate is awarded by a grateful nation in recognition of
devoted and selfless consecration to the service of our country
in the Armed Forces of the United States.
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