Aircraft

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Cool!

[Texas Lawdog]

Ed's daughter, Evelyn did know how famous Bill really was. She knew him as,"Tex" and not as Bill. I got to know Ed's  wife, Martha real well. She was a real "hoot".

[Texas Lawdog]

They had a 2 day air show at Chino on May 4-5. They had 5 of the 6 P -38s did a flyover during the air show. There are only 6 fly able P-38 in existence.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

What a sight it must've been!

Was "Glacier Gal" one of them?

[Texas Lawdog]

SHB, I did not get a list of the planes.

[Texas Lawdog]

"Thoughts of Midnite", "HoneyBunny", "23 Skidoo", "Tangerine", and "Glacier Girl".

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Cool!  "Glacier Gal" is one of the early versions.  You can see a difference looking at the engine cowling right under the prop spinner.  I THINK the planes with "G.G." are the only ones surviving of the early models.  (I say the ones WITH "G.G." because it's my understanding that it's being attempted to get a couple MORE from that glacier, but I don't know if that continues.)

LOTS'o'Bucks involved ...

[Texas Lawdog]

CAF had a P-38 at one time, I have not seen it in nears.  It was configured as one of the photo recon models, I saw it crash land in Breckenridge several years ago, nothing since then.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I LOVE P-38s.


Of course, I could say the same about P-51s, Spitfires, Tigercats, Mosquitoes, Hellcats, Fokker D-VIIs, A-26s, F-86s, Twin Beeches, Bearcats, and many other flying machines.



One of our SMVS (Scarlet Mask Vigilance Society - our NCOWS Olde West shooting & re-enacting club) members, Mr. Robert "Chief Oldtimer" Browning, was - I just found out - a former pilot.  Back in 1940 he was 16 and began a short career (just a couple years) as a crop duster down Texas way.  He said that at the time, DDT was not legal to use as a bug killing chemical so they used powdered sulfur.  Take a guess what plane they used!?!




Give up?





SPADs!  The guy he worked for had a bunch of wrecks (an acre & a half!!) along with 4 or 5 flying SPADs.  The wrecks were all types, not just SPADs, but he bought them surplus from Uncle Sam.  Many folks may not know that after WWI the US Army Air Corps used SPADs they had purchased from France into the 1920s.  Captured Fokker D-VIIs and a few D-VIIIs (not many D-VIIIs were built by the end of the war - fortunately for the Allies!) were also used by our early pilots. 

He (Bob) is very interesting to listen to because he has a great memory and despite his age, he's still pretty active, including shooting most of our monthly matches as well as some SASS matches.  After he passed 18, he joined the Army and began his flight training to be a pilot, but about 3 or 4 weeks into training, they found out he was mostly deaf in his Left ear so they said "Bye."  He didn't even have to turn in his uniforms when they released him from service.  Needless to say, he was disappointed as well as a little pi$$ed, so he went out to a field in California (where they released him) with his duffel bag full of uniforms and set fire to them!   

Bob said the SPAD was pretty easy to fly, as were several other biplanes he flew during his " 'Duster" career.  The only plane he ever owned was a Stinson L-5 he bought after WWII.

It was cool finding all about this guy's other life "back when."  He'll be 85 his next Birthday.  Great Guy!

[Texas Lawdog]

Those WW2 vets are neat to talk to. The B-29/B-24 squadron has a WW2 vet, that  was a fighter pilot.  He was a member of the "Eagle" squadron before the US entered the War. His name is Bob, I cannot remember his last name. He flew Mustangs and P-47s. Bob was 93 on his last birthday. He is still sharp.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

My friend Bob WISHES he was a WWII vet.  He joined, got thru induction and past the first few training flights before the "Docs" found out he was deaf in one ear.

Disappointed is a good way to describe his feelings about the issue.

[Texas Lawdog]

"Glacier Girl" is owned by a guy from Houston.

[Major E A Sterner]

TL,here's a plane the CAF should look into acquiring...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/16/original-air-force-one-stuck-in-arizona-desert/?intcmp=obnetwork

[litl rooster]

[Texas Lawdog]

The "Connie"  would need to  be painted in a USAF. MATS markings to be considered.

[Texas Lawdog]

The Dixie wing of the CAF is restoring  P-63 Cobra. It should not  be too long until it will be flying again.  Congrats to the Dixie Wing for restoring such a rare Warbird.

[pony express]

Airshow at Lake of the Ozarks today, not a real big show compared to some, but only the third annual one.

[pony express]

A few more:

[pony express]

Texas Lawdog may be familiar with some of these planes, I'm sure they make some of the shows down his way. The AC47, and Gunfighter P-51 are out of Kansas, I believe the TBM is from the Missouri CAF. The B-25 that was scheduled at first couldn't make it due to engine problems. Couldn't afford a ride on Gunfighter, it runs $1650 a ride, and his available rides were sold out before the airshow even began. Unfortunately at the moment, I was too broke to go for a $150 Stearman or $180 PT-19 ride. Local bank along with several other local businesses sponsored rides for local WWII and Korea vets in the AC-47 and TBM, I think 16 rides, had a drawing to choose who got to go. Usually they do that in the B-25. Also had several Pitts doing aerobatic shows, and a group of (I think) 6 doing some formation flying, with 2 or 3 different types of small civilian planes I'm not familiar with.

[Texas Lawdog]

The B-25 on tour is "Made In The Shade". The P-51, "Gunfighter" Usually tours with "FIFI", our B-29. The job of keeping these 70 year old aircraft is a expensive and difficult one at best. These aircraft require constant maintence. I am a Life member and I belong to three squadrons. The CAF is my first love and CAS, being my second love.