When military-issued shorts, Century-series fighters, and platinum blondes were all in
Actress Barbara Lang hanging out with one of the 327th Fighter Interceptor Squadron’s Convair F-102 Delta Dagger interceptors, 1957. The location is George Air Force Base, California, about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, meaning Lang only had to drive a little over an hour to get there.
The F-102 became the standard Air Defense Command (ADC) fighter starting in mid-1956, and the 327th FIS was the first operational squadron equipped with the delta-winged interceptor.
And, yes, the shorts were standard issue, being part of the brief 1956 USAF Summer Uniform which paired the 505 short sleeve shirt with khaki short pants.
Everything you see above soon faded.
The USAF ditched the shorts soon after the photo was taken. The 327th moved to Thule Air Base, Greenland in July 1958 and was inactivated just two years later. Lang retired from acting in 1960 with about a dozen credits to her name and passed in 1982 at the still young age of 54. The F-102 by the 1960s were increasingly transferred to Air National Guard units and retired altogether by 1976, with the type just in Air Force service for 20 years. George AFB itself outlasted them all, closing in 1992.
More photos from the same series above here.