Passion for flight that started at an early age

  Teterboro NJ 1949,

First Airplane to conduct a "Solo" flight.   During his first solo flight, Neubauer's engine quit and he had to glide back to the airport and execute a dead stick landing!   Neubauer took flying lessons on his own time prior to the enlisting in the military often washing airplanes in exchange for a flight lessons.   He would routinely hang out around the Teterboro airport  to look for opportunities to explore his passion and find a path into aviation.  

• Length: 21 ft 6 in
• Wingspan: 35 ft 2 in
• Height: 7 ft
• Wing area: 170 ft²
• Empty weight: 740 lb.
• Max. takeoff weight: 1,220 lb.

      Powerplant: 1 × Continental A65-8 piston engine, 65 hp

Goodfellow AFB, Tx.  1952  Hours 134
The Texan originated from the North American NA-16 prototype (first flown on April 1, 1935).Powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1340-49 Wasp radial engine. The USAAF received 1,549 .  The AT-6B was built for gunnery training and could mount a .30 in machine gun on the forward fuselage. Crew: 2 (student and instructor) 

• Length: 29 ft
• Wingspan: 42 ft
• Height: 11 ft 8 in
• Wing area: 253.7 ft²
• Empty weight: 4,158 lb
• Maximum speed: 208 mph at 5,000 ft
• Cruise speed: 145 mph
• Range: 730 miles
• Service ceiling: 24,200 ft

  Reese AFB 1953 -Hours 80

 Multi-Engine Rating on May 16, 1953.   American twin-engine medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades. Crew: six (pilot, co-pilot, navigator/bombardier, turret gunner/engineer, radio operator/waist gunner, tail gunner)

• Length: 52 ft 11 in
• Wingspan: 67 ft 7 in
• Height: 16 ft 4 in
• Wing area: 610 sq ft
• Empty weight: 19,480 lb.
• Max. takeoff weight: 35,000 lb.
• Powerplant: 2 × Wright R-2600-92 14-cylinder radial engine  1,700 hp
• Maximum speed: 272 mph (237 km, 438 km/h) at 13,000 ft
• Cruise speed: 230 mph (200 knots)
• Range: 1,350 mi (1,174 nm., )
• Service ceiling: 24,200 ft
• Guns: 12–18 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns
• Hardpoints: 2,000 lb. (900 kg) ventral shackles to hold one external 
• Bombs: 3,000 lb.  bombs

Mitchell AFB, NY 1953-1955 Hours 1,321

C-46 was a transport aircraft originally derived from a commercial high-altitude airliner design. It was instead used as a military transport during World War II  by the United States Army Air Forces as well as the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps.  Known to the men who flew them as "The Whale," the "Curtiss Calamity," [the "plumber's nightmare", and among ATC crews, the "flying coffin", the C-46 served a similar role as its counterpart, the Douglas C-47 Skytrain, but was not as extensively produced. At the time of its production, the C-46 was the largest twin-engine aircraft in the world, and the largest and heaviest twin-engine aircraft to see service in World War II. After World War II, a few surplus C-46 aircraft were briefly used in their original role as passenger airliners, but the glut of surplus C-47s dominated the marketplace with the C-46 soon relegated to primarily cargo duty. The type continued in U.S. Air Force service in a secondary role until 1968. However, the C-46 continues in operation as a rugged cargo transport for Arctic and remote locations with its service life extended into the 21st century. 

Mitchell AFB 1955 - 1957 Hours 255
 

The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat,twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to November 1969 (over 32 years, a world record at the time), over 9,000 were built, making it one of the world's most widely used light aircraft. Sold worldwide as a civilian executive, utility, cargo aircraft, and passenger airliner on tailwheels, nosewheels, skis, or floats, it was also used as a military aircraft.

During and after World War II, over 4,500 Beech 18s were used in military service—as light transport, light bomber (for China), aircrew trainer (for bombing, navigation, and gunnery), photo-reconnaissance, and "mother ship" for target drones—including United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) C-45 Expeditor, AT-7 Navigator, and AT-11 Kansan; and United States Navy (USN) UC-45J Navigator, SNB-1 Kansan, and others. In World War II, over 90% of USAAF bombardiers and navigators trained in these aircraft.

Mitchell AFB, NY 1955-1990 Hours 3,500

C-47  is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II  and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.  During World War II, the armed forces of many countries used the C-47 and modified DC-3s for the transport of troops, cargo, and wounded.  More than 10,000 aircraft were produced in Long Beach and Santa Monica, California and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City plant produced 5,354 C-47s from March 1943 until August 1945.  The United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command had Skytrains in service from 1946 through 1967.  Several C-47 variations were used in the Vietnam War by the United States Air Force, including three advanced electronic warfare variations, which sometimes were called "Electric Gooneys"
EC-47s were also operated by the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian Air Forces.  A gunship variation, using three 7.62mm mini-guns, designated AC-47 "Spooky" often nicknamed "Puff the Magic Dragon" also was deployed.  

Sculthorpe RAF 1960-1963 Hours 265
 

The CV-240/340/440 series was used by the United States Air Force (USAF) for medical evacuation and VIP transport and was designated as C-131 Samaritan. The first model  C-131A, was derived from the CV-240 model, and was delivered to USAF in 1954.

The earlier trainer model, designated the T-29, was also based on the Convair 240 and was used to instruct USAF navigators for all USAF aircraft and those USN Naval Flight Officers (NFOs) selected to fly land-based naval aircraft. First deliveries to the USAF were made in 1950 followed by large production quantities until early 1955. The USAF and the USN operated T-29s in separate units at separate locations until 1976. In 1974, the USAF T-29s with the 323d Flying Training Wing (323 FTW) at Mather AFB, California began to be replaced by the Boeing 737-derived T-43. In 1975, the Navy retired all of its T-29s assigned to Training Squadron Twenty-nine (VT-29) at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, deactivated VT-29, and merged their advanced navigator training program for land-based NFOs with the Air Force's program at Mather AFB 

Crew: 3

• Capacity: 40
• Length: 74 ft 8 in
• Wingspan: 91 ft 9 in
• Height: 26 ft 11 in
• Wing area: 817 ft²
• Empty weight: 25,445 lb
• Max. takeoff weight: 42,500 lb
• Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800  radial engines, 2,100 hp
• Maximum speed: 315 mph
• Cruise speed: 280 mph
• Range: 1,200 mi (1,930 km)
• Service ceiling: 16,000 ft (4,880 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,520 ft/min (463 m/min)

Davis Monthon AFB 1963-1965 Hours 282  

U3A is an American six-seat, low-wing, twin-engine monoplane that was produced by Cessna between 1954 and 1980. It was the first twin-engine aircraft that Cessna put into production after World War II.  The 310 first flew on January 3, 1953 with deliveries starting in late 1954. The sleek modern lines of the new twin were backed up by innovative features such as engine exhaust thrust augmenter tubes and the storage of all fuel in tip tanks in early models.

In 1957, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected the Cessna 310 for service as a light utility aircraft for transport and administrative support. The USAF purchased 160 unmodified 310A aircraft with the designation L-27A and unofficially nicknamed Blue Canoe, later changed to U-3A in 1962.  Some USAF aircraft were later transferred to the US Army and US Navy and the type continued in US military service into the mid 1970s.  Neubauer used this aircraft to fly as  "chase plane" for the U2  spy planes returning from top secret reconnaissance missions from around the globe during the height of the cold war.     

• Capacity: four passengers
• Length: 27 ft 0 in
• Wingspan: 35 ft 0 in
• Height: 10 ft 6 in
• Empty weight: 2,850 lb.
• Gross weight: 4,600 lb.
• Powerplant: 2 × Continental O-470-B  240 hp
• Maximum speed: 220 mph
• Cruise speed: 205 mph
• Range: 1,000 mi (869 nm.)
• Service ceiling: 20,000 ft
• Rate of climb: 1,700 ft/min

Southeast Asia 1966-1967 

Hours 712/620 in combat missions

 The L-19 received the name Bird Dog as a result of a contest held with Cessna employees to name the aircraft. The winning entry, submitted by Jack A. Swayze, an industrial photographer, was selected by a U.S. Army board. The name was chosen because the role of the army's new aircraft was to find the enemy and orbit overhead until artillery (or attack aircraft) could be brought to bear on the enemy. While flying low and close to the battlefield, directing the airstrikes to the target the pilot would observe the exploding shells and adjust the fire via his radios, in the manner of a bird dog (gun dog) used by big game hunters.   During the course of the Vietnam War, 469 O-1 Bird Dogs were lost to all causes. The USAF lost 178, the USMC lost seven, and 284 were lost from the U.S. Army, South Vietnamese Forces, and clandestine operators. Three Bird Dogs were lost to enemy surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). To learn more about FAC pilots visit:  http://www.fac-assoc.org  

• Length: 25 ft 9 in
• Wingspan: 36 ft
• Height: 7ft 3½
• Wing area: 174 ft²
• Empty weight: 1,614 lb
• Max. takeoff weight: 2,400 lb
• Powerplant: 1 × Continental O-470-11 flat six piston, 213 hp
• Maximum speed: 130 mph
• Range: 530 miles
• Service ceiling: 20,300 ft
• Rate of climb: 1,040 ft/min

Mitchell AFB 1967- 1970 Hours 51
 

 An American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute. The first C-119 made its initial flight in November 1947, and by the time production ceased in 1955, more than 1,100 C-119s had been built. Its cargo-hauling ability and unusual appearance earned it the nickname "Flying Boxcar".   In 1951 Henry J. Kaiser was awarded a contract to assemble additional C-119s at the Kaiser-Frazer automotive factory located in the former B-24 plant at Willow Run Airport in Belleville, Michigan.  Initially, the Kaiser-built C-119F would differ from the Fairchild aircraft by the use of Wright R-3350-85 Duplex Cyclone engines in place of Fairchild's use of the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engine.

Kaiser would build 71 C-119s at Willow Run in 1952 and 1953 (AF Ser. No. 51-8098 to 51-8168) before converting the factory for a planned production of the Chase C-123 that would never occur. The Kaiser sub-contract was frowned upon by Fairchild, and efforts were made through political channels to stop Kaiser's production, which may have proven successful.  Following Kaiser's termination of C-119 production, the contract for the C-123 was instead awarded to Fairchild. 

• Capacity:62 troops or 35 stretchers
• Payload: 10,000 lb. (4,500 kg) of cargo
• Length: 86 ft 6 in (26.37 m)
• Wingspan: 109                                
• Height: 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m)
• Wing area: 1,447 ft² (134.4 m²)
• Empty weight: 40,000 lb. (18,000 kg)
• Loaded weight: 64,000 lb. (29,000 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 74,000 lb. (34,000 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-4360-20[radial engines, 3,500 hp each
• Maximum speed: 296 mph (257 knots )
• Range: 2,280 mi (1,980 nm)
• Service ceiling: 23,900 ft
• Rate of climb: 1,010 ft/min
   

Andrews AFB 1967 - Tyndall AFB 1972

Hours 383
 

A four-engine transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces and British forces in World War II and the Korean War.  Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian airliner (the Douglas DC-4).  Besides transport of cargo, the C-54 also carried presidents, prime ministers, and military staff. Dozens of variants of the C-54 were employed in a wide variety of non-combat roles such as air-sea rescue, scientific and military research and missile tracking and recovery. During the Berlin Airlift it hauled coal and food supplies to West Berlin.

After the Korean War it continued to be used for military and civilian uses by more than 30 countries. This was one of the first aircraft to carry the President of the United States and to assume the call sign Air Force One.

• Capacity: 50 troops
• Length: 93 ft 10 in
• Wingspan: 117 ft 6 in
• Height: 27 ft 6 in
• Wing area: 1,460 ft²
• Empty weight: 38,930 lb
• Loaded weight: 62,000 lb
• Max. takeoff weight: 73,000 lb
• Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-2000-9 radial engines, 1,450 hp each
• Maximum speed: 275 mph
• Cruise speed: 190 mph
• Range: 4,000 mi
• Service ceiling: 22,300 ft