MAPS display honors F-100 Super Sabre and its pilots

A warplane and its gallant pilots were celebrated over the weekend.

The new F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter exhibit at the Military Aviation Preservation Society Air Museum in Green is of both national interest and historical significance in military aviation.

This display recognizing the importance of the Vietnam-era fighter plane and honoring the pilots and ground crew members who flew and supported them opened in the spring at the MAPS Air Museum, but was formally dedicated Saturday night in a private ceremony.

"The F-100 Super Saber flew more missions in Vietnam than all of the other fighters combined," said Ken Ramsay, a member of the board of directors at MAPs who was key in bringing the display of memorabilia and artifacts to the museum, in part because he flew the plane in Vietnam. "(The plane's historical significance) is what we hope visitors will take away from it."

The permanent exhibition in one of the rooms on the recently renovated second floor at the museum was a years-long collaboration of MAPS, the Super Sabre Society and the Friends of the Super Sabre. Ramsay is a member of all three organizations and was able to mediate the collaboration and oversee the collection of items that are displayed in the exhibition.

Other sites for the exhibit were considered, said Michael Dean of Pennsylvania, a former F-100 ground crew chief and a member of the Super Sabre societies, who with his wife Linda helped organize the display. MAPS ultimately was chosen for reasons that included Ramsay's encouragement, the museum's mission to teach the public about military aviation history as well as exhibit airplanes, and the fact that the facility actually has an F-100 on display.

"They pride themselves in educating visitors," said Dean, who noted there is much to learn about the significant aircraft and the notable pilots who flew it. "They (MAPS) don't just show artifacts and memorabilia. They explain the items in display cases.

"And the Super Sabre pioneered supersonic jet flight. It was the first production aircraft capable of flying at supersonic speed in level flight."

Restoration of aircraft takes years

In a sense, the creation of the Super Sabre exhibit traces its roots to the restoration of the F-100 fighter now displayed outside of the MAPS hanger.

"I visited the MAPS museum about this time 20 years ago, in November of 2004," recalled Ramsay, who knew the previous director and was told that the museum had just obtained an F-100 to restore.

"That was on a Tuesday and the following Saturday I became a life member (of MAPS)," noted Ramsay, who had piloted F-100 fighters – a plane affectionately nicknamed "The Hun" because of its designated number (100) – while escorting bombers on 35 combat missions in Vietnam and later as an instructor pilot for the Air National Guard based in Dayton. "We would fly through woods and down valleys to get to the target."

Because of his experience and emotional ties to the aircraft – "It was my buddy" – Ramsay was made crew chief for the restoration of MAPS' F-100, which is on lease from the military.

"The plane came from a swamp in Florida," he explained. "It had been taken apart and dumped with a bunch of other planes. The fuselage was in two pieces. Many panels were missing. As we found more things missing, we made three more trips down to Florida. A lot of parts were buried.

"It took us more than seven years to restore it. We still do maintenance on it. Around 2019, we repainted it," said Ramsay, who claimed no personal recognition on the plane's exterior, even though he had the closest ties at MAPS to the F-100. "I didn't put my name on it because I never flew that particular plane. I put the name of a pilot who did fly the plane – Hoppy Hopkins of Virginia."

Still, memories return when Ramsay periodically sits in the plane to make sure the canopy still works, determine if there is moisture in the cockpit or "chase the birds and bees away."

"It brings back a lot of memories," he said. "Your hand wanders to the stick and throttle."

Exhibit was a longtime dream

So, that was the state of mind – the affection for an aircraft – that Ramsay possessed when he heard of the desire that the Friends of the Super Sabre had for designing and displaying an exhibit to keep the memories of the F-100 alive for pilots and to pass on the legacy left by those pilots to those unacquainted with the warplane.

According to Dean, the exhibition was the dream of Bob Dunham, a former Air Force pilot who flew the F-100 and was a co-founder of the organization.

"Bob started the collection of memorabilia donated by other F-100 Super Sabre pilots and crew chiefs," explains the organization's website. "Friends of the Super Sabre (FSS), Super Sabre Society (SSS) and MAPS Air Museum are continuing the mission to have the finest display of F-100 history in the world."

Dean said Dunham, who had gotten the chance to fly the coveted F-100 by graduating at the top of his class at the Air Force Academy and excelling during pilot training in the 1960s, began collecting memorabilia and artifacts about the F-100 and was storing it all at his home in Texas while he vainly searched for a location to exhibit the items.

Finally, said Dean, "he picked up the phone and contacted Ken (Ramsay) at MAPS. With encouragement from Ramsay, the executive board accepted the artifacts and agreed terms for an exhibit early in 2014.”

"Now Bob knew that all his memorabilia had found a permanent home," said Dean. "Sadly, Bob died before he had the opportunity to see the fulfillment of his dream."

Dunham "flew west," the aviation terminology for death, in May 2014.

Memorabilia brought to MAPS

Fortunately, Dunham had enlisted Dean and his wife, Linda, as well as their friend Bob Weston -- all officers in Friends of the Super Sabre -- to carry on the collecting of artifacts and the planning of the exhibit.

Construction of the display was delayed for years by ongoing renovation of the second floor of MAPS into exhibit and meeting rooms, restrooms, a kitchen and a banquet hall. During that time, Friends of the Super Sabre was incorporated in Ohio as a nonprofit allowing the group to solicit donations.

Finally, artifacts and memorabilia were trucked from Texas to Ohio and work began on erecting the exhibit. Additional items for display continued to be collected and during the last couple of years Dean and his wife made six-hour trips to MAPS almost monthly to help MAPS staff and volunteers put together the exhibit in a 29-foot by 24-foot room on the second floor of the museum.

Display cases contain items that honor not only the aircraft -- among artifacts is an electrical unit that took a bullet and saved an F-100 that Dunham had been flying on a combat mission in Vietnam – but also the pilots who flew them.

Noted American military pilot Richard Glenn "Dick" Rutan, who "flew west" in May, is among those who are recognized. Rutan was member of Commando Sabre, a top-secret group of highly experienced F-100 pilots who flew low-altitude flights over North Vietnam and Laos spotting targets during the Vietnam War. Later, Rutan became the first man to fly nonstop, unrefueled, around the world.

Also honored is Col. George "Bud" Day, a veteran of three wars and the first commander of that skilled and secret Commando Sabre group, whose love for the song "Misty" was the reason that it became the radio call sign for pilots. Day was shot down during a mission, spent years as a prisoner of war as the cellmate of John McCain in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, and never gave up information about himself or his flying group.

"So, in the exhibit, we have his mess dress uniform with all his medals and ribbons," said Dean. "He is the only one to receive both the Air Force Cross and the Medal of Honor and we have both in the exhibit."

Celebrated as well are such pilots as the legendary Robert Anderson "Bob" Hoover, lauded by aviation pioneer Gen. Jimmy Doolittle as "the best stick and rudder man ever," and Air Force Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, the first "right stuff" test pilot confirmed to break the sound barrier.

Visitors will find parts on display from actual F-100 fighters, which were used at one time by the Air Force Thunderbirds formation-flying show group.

"The Thunderbirds flew the Super Sabre during two different periods," said Ramsay. "We have a vertical stabilizer that actually came off of one of the Thunderbirds planes."

Such artifacts will both interest and educate visitors to the exhibit. It is in keeping with the mission of MAPS.

"Where History Takes Flight," the MAPS website says. "History is not made by airplanes, but by the men and women who designed, built and flew them."

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On "X" (formerly Twitter): @gbrownREP.

About the exhibit

WHAT – F-100 Super Sabre exhibit

WHERE – MAPS Air Museum at 2260 International Pkwy., North Canton

WHEN – The exhibit opened in the spring, was dedicated Saturday Sept. 14, and will be on permanent display

WHY – The exhibit honors the plane, its pilots and ground crew members of the F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter plane

WHO – Collaboration of MAPS Air Museum, the Super Sabre Society and Friends of the Super Sabre

OTHER INFO – The exhibit can be viewed during normal museum hours, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $15 for adults, $13 for seniors, $8 for children 6-12 and free for children younger than 6. Veterans receive $2 off admission, and World War II or Korean War veterans get free admission. Group rates are available.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: MAPS Air Museum honors F-100 Super Sabre and its pilots