During the 1970s (my schooldays), I became interested in military aircraft. I lived on cycling-distance of Soesterberg AB and often went there (often in schooltime..)
When this interest developed into an intiative to spend a vacation cycling in the UK, from one air base to another, I gathered sufficient stock to start trading with a few correspondents.

One of these correspondents was Ben Knowles Jr., from Tucson, Arizona.
He was a Master Sergeant in the USAF and traded in such a volume, which I frankly had difficulty in meeting. So we only traded a batch when I had gathered sufficient material to send him, which meant we exchanged letters infrequently and possibly only twice a year. In his letters he was brief and to the point, only referring to what was enclosed.
Early 2009 I learned Ben Knowles had passed away in 2008.
Since I found few photos by his name on the internet, I started digging among the remnants o fmy early start in aviation photography. Among a few hundred b&w negatives I found a selection which had been sent to me by Ben some 30+ years ago. As a tribute, I would like to showcase some of them.

I replied:
"Don't really know much about him; he was one of my earliest correspondents with whom I exchanged slides and/or photo negative of military airplanes.
That was over 30 years ago. After a few years when my interest in aviation declined to an extend I did not travel much for aviation photography any more, he decided to cancel the exchange as he did not like to exchange small (e.g. 15 quantities).
To me he came across as a bit gruff, very much involved in aviation photography and his collection. I tried to learn more about him while we wrote a few notes in the accompanying letters with the batch of photo material, but he volunteered very little.
He was retired I think, when we swapped material, as I seem to recall him signing his letters with ‘MSgt (ret.)’. But it could be that he retired during the time we wrote each other, in the 1970s mainly."

Ben Knowles was in an excellent position to photograph aircraft which had arrived for storage at the Military Aircraft Storage & Disposition Center (MASDC, later renamed AMARC). However, some of the aircraft on the ramp of Davis-Monthan AFB may have been operational visitors and as such I have referred to them in the information as 'DMAFB' instead of 'MASDC', relying blindly on the info I have with the negatives.

The negatives were scanned, using an Epson V500 flatbed photoscanner. Adobe software was used to enhance the results.

Davis-Monthan AFB on Wikipedia

In Sep.2014 I received the following kind email:
"Enjoyed reading about my father on the internet!
He would've never used the internet or even a computer at home. Funny to see his name there.
He loved his hobby/obsession.
We had two freezers in our kitchen: one for food and the other for film. Kodak loved him!
Stacks of slides in every room of the house, with a magnifying glass next to them.
On our vacations if there was an airplane within a 100 miles of the highway we were on, we made a detour...
Again thanks for your blog."
Ben Knowles III

For more correspondents see HERE and for other noteworthy authors see my Dossier Index

During the early-1970s I traded B&W negatives with MSgt (Ret.) Benjamin Knowles who resided in Arizona. Most of his military planes were photographed at the Arizona Air Base and the storage yard, MASDC (as it was named then). He wanted to trade in larger quantities then I could produce so after a few years he ceased it with the rather gruff remark ".. let's stop sponsoring the postal service", which frankly hurt a bit. Unequal partners so to speak, fortunately there were others who had more patience with this schoolboy ☺
Item as on my page of former (1970s & 1980s) correspondents.

MSgt. (Ret.) Benjamin Knowles, trading military aeroplanes (B&W negatives)
Boeing RB-47E, 53-2104 of the US Navy, G.E. Engine Test Bed. MASDC, Nov.'74.

Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk, 153663/SC-22 of VMAT-102 (USMC, MCAS Yuma,AZ). Davis-Monthan AFB, Sep.'74.

Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk, 154631/SC-16 of VMAT-102 (MCAS Yuma, AZ). Davis-Monthan AFB, Sep.'74.

Grumman F-14A Tomcat, 158980/NK-202 of VF-2 (FAIR Miramar). NAS Miramar, Oct.'74.

Grumman F-14A Tomcat, 158995/204-NK of VF-2 (FAIR Miramar). NAS Miramar, Oct.'74.

Grumman F-14A Tomcat, 159461/115-NK of VF-1 (FAIR Miramar,CA). NAS Miramar, Oct.'74.

Northrop YF-17A prototype #02, 72-01570. Edwards AFB, Aug.'74

Douglas TA-3B Skywarrior, 144866/23-TR of VAQ-130 (NAS Alameda, CA). Davis-Monthan, May '74.

LTV A-7E Corsair II, 156807/403-NE 'USS Ranger' (USN). FAIR Lemoore,CA. NAS Miramar, Oct.'75.

LTV A-7D Corsair II, 72-179/EL of 23 TFW (England AFB, LA). Davis-Monthan, Feb.'74.

McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II, 158359/205-NE of VF-21 'USS Ranger' (USN). NAS Miramar, Oct.'74.

Republic F-105B Thunderchief, 57-793 of 108th TFGp (New Jersey ANG; McGuire AFB,NJ). Davis-Monthan, Nov'74.

Republic F-105B Thunderchief, 58-789 - 108TFGp (New Jersey ANG, McGuire AFB,NL). Davis-Monthan AFB, Nov.'74.

Douglas C-47, 0-15700 of the Golden Knights Army Para Team (US Army). MASDC, April 1975.

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