Mick
SOH-CM-2025
I looked for pictures of Glenview in two places. One is Paul Freeman's Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields, and the other is Google; I just asked Mr. Google for images of Glenview.
On the Freeman site it's in the Chicago Northern section, about half-way down the page. There's a photo "looking east" that shows the terminal facing east with the long runway in front of it, to the east, just like Maskrider's scenery.
It must have been on Google images that I saw a photo that shows the runway markings just as they are in Maskrider's scenery, with the north-south runway marked 35 at the northern end (heading 170*) and 17 on the southern end (heading 350*).
Further down the page on the Freeman site are a couple blimp shots, one showing a blimp at one of those portable mooring masts.
In the late 1940s the reserve bases were at their peak. There was a virtually unlimited supply of surplus aircraft and discharged pilots, the planes bought and paid for and the pilots happy to fly for part time wages. The Reserve bases in the big metropolitan areas each had squadrons of all kinds: fighter, attack, anti-submatine, patrol, utility, transport and blimp, usually with multiple squadrons of each type. There might be five or six each of fighter squadrons and attack squadrons, two or three anti-sub, patrol bomber squadrons, and a couple utility squadrons and blimp squadrons. They all used aircraft from a base pool, so the squadrons didn't have unique markings. The bases didn't have any blimps; all the Navy's blimps were home ported at Lakehurst, and the Reserve squadrons would fly a crew to Lakehurst to pick up a blimp for drills, then return it afterwards. Blimps designated for Reserve use had "U.S. Naval Reserve" markings on their envelopes, and they all had NAS Lakehurst lettering on their control cars. Each Reserve base had one or two of those portable blimp masts that could be wheeled into position on the field and wheeled out of the way when not in use.
As an aside, I sometimes scratch my head wondering how a portable mast on wheels could hold a blimp in a breeze. They must have used plenty of really strong tie-downs!
On the Freeman site it's in the Chicago Northern section, about half-way down the page. There's a photo "looking east" that shows the terminal facing east with the long runway in front of it, to the east, just like Maskrider's scenery.
It must have been on Google images that I saw a photo that shows the runway markings just as they are in Maskrider's scenery, with the north-south runway marked 35 at the northern end (heading 170*) and 17 on the southern end (heading 350*).
Further down the page on the Freeman site are a couple blimp shots, one showing a blimp at one of those portable mooring masts.
In the late 1940s the reserve bases were at their peak. There was a virtually unlimited supply of surplus aircraft and discharged pilots, the planes bought and paid for and the pilots happy to fly for part time wages. The Reserve bases in the big metropolitan areas each had squadrons of all kinds: fighter, attack, anti-submatine, patrol, utility, transport and blimp, usually with multiple squadrons of each type. There might be five or six each of fighter squadrons and attack squadrons, two or three anti-sub, patrol bomber squadrons, and a couple utility squadrons and blimp squadrons. They all used aircraft from a base pool, so the squadrons didn't have unique markings. The bases didn't have any blimps; all the Navy's blimps were home ported at Lakehurst, and the Reserve squadrons would fly a crew to Lakehurst to pick up a blimp for drills, then return it afterwards. Blimps designated for Reserve use had "U.S. Naval Reserve" markings on their envelopes, and they all had NAS Lakehurst lettering on their control cars. Each Reserve base had one or two of those portable blimp masts that could be wheeled into position on the field and wheeled out of the way when not in use.
As an aside, I sometimes scratch my head wondering how a portable mast on wheels could hold a blimp in a breeze. They must have used plenty of really strong tie-downs!
§¶ã–=…EŒˆX Jƒð f‚Ê3BÙ"@3’ˆíÏaÃÄ@f}2¼ýœBY 4c‚;Cì힃‡¡êT z쀄Tlƒ£§‚››®‘‚sFfrbz>ƒ ÔÄŒŸQ0à ` ¦Eþé©@ú > ¤õ@Î…p°›!Ø8
