Aircraft: TA-4J Skyhawk
Custodian: VC-5
BuNo: 155117
Modex: UE-14 |
Location: air-to-air
Date: June 1991
Photo credit: from Missy Cummings
Contact:
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Description: Mount Pinatubo in the
Philippines erupts and Checkertails Skyhawk BuNo 155117, UE-14
is there. Actually the Checkertail Skyhawks are on a fly-away.
"The very last photo "JUN 1991 Thar She Blows!" credited" from Missy Cummings," was taken by LT Lance Patterson in a TA-4J. The pilot of the plane in the picture was LT Jude Stafford. I don't recall who was in the back seat. The photo was taken at 27,000 feet, about 10 miles east of Clark Air Base looking directly west. The top of the cloud was around 45,000 feet. If you look straight down from the tail of the plane you can see in the shadow of the cloud the coastline of the northwest side of Subic Bay. This photo was taken at about 9:45 am on June 12, 1991. We managed to get four airplanes airborne on short notice and flew them off to Okinawa. It was the first major eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. The big one that destroyed Clark Air Base and shut down Cubi Point came three days later on June 15.
Lance Patterson
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