Before, but not this model series. This is an f1 hundred d model. As one did most service in vietnam. This is an airplane that had a combat record we wanted to have. Israel report and to have this airplane here. Is to presenturse to those people who come to Museum Airplane set of actually fought in different theaters of combat. That is why this airplane was important. When the airplane was first designed, it was designed for an andto air, air combat plane air to ground. It had the capability to drop a nuclear weapon. This is a weapon of destruction. It is an absolute weapon of instruction and that is what it is designed for and that is how we use it. If a broad range of missions were assigned to this airplane is a came into the inventory. Later in its life, during the vietnam war, this airplane did not have the skill set of the f4 for instance. It was really used in an air to air role. It was used in troops and contacts. The majority of the missions that were flown with this airplane in vietnam were interdiction missions to lock andinflow of munitions people and equipment into vietnam. Close air support when we had troops in contact, when the fight was hot. This airplane was a prime airplane for helping for helping to defend troops on the ground. It has a very broad range of missions turning its lifetime. During the later part of his life it was an air to ground airplane for dropping bombs, strafing 20 millimeter weapon and also different types of munitions. This particular airplane was built in 1956. It was designed basically in that time. Late 40s and early 50s. The last f1 hundreds who lateely sometime in the 80s, early 90s, was a last Operational Missions that they flew, i think. When it came here, we took it off a pedestal in massachusetts. It was not in great shape. It had a lot of corrosion and metal fatigue. We had to replace a lot of those pieces and parts. We are to fabricate different pieces of material to put them on and make it presentable in a museum. That has been basically what ive been doing, mainly sheetmetal work, vacuuming out places that are full of bird the deepnd sand from paint. It is a long list of things to be done, but this is for me a labor of love. This is an airplane i have great affinity for. When this airplane was manufactured, the first place it landed after it left its manufacturing plant in california was Robins Air Force base right here. It landed here to get some upgrades before it went on to germany for service in europe. That was its first arrival here. Operational landing point was Robins Air Force base. That is one of the keys. For me, for my personal ties to this airplane, this was airplane that i flew in vietnam. This very tale number. Of the 226, missions i flew, i flew about 180 missions in this airplane. Mistress. Itanium it is what brought me home at times when it probably shouldnt have, when i abuse it, when i did things in order to survive, punished it and it held together. It is an airplane that i have such strong feelings for. There is no way i could not bring it home. The last mission i flew in this airplane was in september of 1969. I left vietnam, went home, and never heard about the airplane again. Interesting story, i had a painting done by an aviation artist, to pay my airplane in its battle garden he asked me if i knew it happened to it. I said no, i didnt. He knew somebody who did. When i contacted the person they told me where was in massachusetts and that got the ball rolling. I said if there is any way that we can bring that airplane in out of the cold and presented to in the combatrons form that it was, that would be my goal in life. That is what we are working toward. The museum of aviation opened in 1984, and it was an air force field museum. It is part of the air force museum program. The aircraft and other artifacts are on display here are actually a loan to us from the National Museum of the u. S. Air force. Museum has a mission of telling the story of Robins Air Force base and the people and mission. We have about 90 airplanes at the museum. Well over half of those are inside our four exhibit buildings. We have had airplanes that fly into Robins Air Force base and then we bring them down the highway and bring them to the museum. The f1 hundred d arrive at the museum in december of 2010. We had sent a team up to massachusetts to recover it. They loaded it onto a semi trailer and truck to down. On this trailer coming down the highway. It came into the museum and was brought up to the back of the scott hanger and taken off and brought into the hangar. The f1 hundred, because it was in such poor condition, we really needed to pull it apart, at least pull off the wings and the tail and pull the fuselage apart, the major components, so we could give a good evaluation of the condition of the airplane. As we get deeper into it, we saw that it was in bad shape. What that means is that some parts we have to pull off completely and they are only good for the trash. We throw those pieces away. We have another f1 hundred d fuselage here in the building that we have strictly for parts. We are able to pull some parts off of that and put them onto 2995, which is the airplane we are preserving. General godards input as a areat veteran and a pilot absolutely invaluable, because when it comes down to it, it is a fascinating piece of machinery. The Technical Information is going to be interesting to many people, but when it comes down to it, what were all about is people. This is a people story. People want to know about what are combat veterans experienced. By having an airplane that flew combat and having the man who flew it in combat, we can make a gut level connection for visitors. This man risked his life flying this airplane, doing missions that have almost been forgotten and certainly were unappreciated by many at home during the vietnam war. To very opportunity much personalize the story. In january 9, 1962, i was assigned to the 20th tax fighter wing in england. They immediately sent me into test flight section. One of the airplanes that i worked on was 995. My cousin saw it in air force magazine. He saw the restoration job with a picture of the general standing in the gun bay door right there. When i saw it, it sounded so familiar to me and i went through a box of papers i had and i came up with our actual 1962 inventory list. This airplane was on it. Excited, because i just absolutely always loved the f1 hundred. I worked on a lot of airplanes, but the f1 hundred has been a true love my whole life. As bad as that looks, that airplane is as beautiful as it has ever been. When theys was put this in the museum, it will be a showstopper for the whole thing, i am sure this will be the center of attraction. Through all of the just thetation and evolving of aviation and evolving of the turbine engine and evolving of the airframe and evolving of aerodynamics, a major part of it is this airplane right here. One of the very significant the firstthis is operational supersonic airplane. This is the first airplane that could fly in level flight and break the sound barrier. It was the very first one. That is extremely significant in aviation. In order to get the mock to, you have to get to mock one. There is a mock one right there. E righte is your mach on there. I wish i could intellectually come together with how this airplane and i arrived here. A number of circumstances. I spent 34 years in the military. In the study for years, i dont member a day i didnt want to go to work. It was because of this kind of equipment and the people that i worked with that made it such a rewarding experience. So my thrill right now is to be able to present an airplane that i have such a relationship with. As i said, my titanium mistress. I can now share with others and let them see what this airplane who putall the people together, who designed it and manufactured it and made available to the american war fighter is a story that we ought to be awful proud of. Find out where cspans local content vehicles are going next online at cspan. Org local content. Your watching American History tv. All we, every weekend on cspan3. While congress is on break, cspans primetime features a wide range of political views and topics. Veterans health care, and detectives on the centers for Disease Control and prevention. We visited china press,. Primetime, mondayfriday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. 202663400, or you can email us at comments at cspan. Org. Join the cspan conversation, like us on twitter. Richard nixons presidency ended and gerald ford, began. Gerald fords began. Richard nixon departed the white house for civilian life. Three speeches that the president delivered in his first month in office. We will see his swearing in ceremony and an address to the joint session of conference congress. First, the credit east room of the white house. This video is courtesy of the gerald r for