Any Aviation Junnkies?

[echo1]

Hi Aerobats,

Besides firearms, my boys and I are motor heads, auto and flying machines, and have more than a few die cast classic cars and planes. I worked for a crop dusting outfit for 10 years, and my boys were raised as airport bums, we've gone to many an airshow, car show or swap meet. When we went to Bristol for NASCAR, we spent hours at the Tennessee Air Museum, home of the P-47 association. This is one of our display cases. If you really know your stuff, the Caped Crusader lookin guy is "ZAR" aka Jimmy Franklin, his rig THE STARSHIP PRIDE, a Piper Aerostar. Enjoy, PAX

Top shelf: Zero, Warhawk, Mitchell x2

Bleriot IX and a Ryan on top of a Concorde. Wright Flyer. White Beechcraft 18 missing props. Looks like a silver Sikorsky S42 flying boat, with a 707 and 737 next to it. Space shuttle in back. Travel Air Model R (MYSTERY SHIP), yellow Waco-based(?) MAC TOOLS racer. LOCKHEED VEGA, Silver DC3.

P-51D. Zero. MOSQUITO (can't see it that good). Lancaster. B17. Red and white Mustang-derived racer. Another Warhawk. Black Widow. WRIGHT FLYER HIDING UNDER TAIL.

Fw-190 (CAN'T SEE IT BUT IT'S A RUSSIAN CAPTURE -- RED STAR). Hellcat. MiG-3. Another Hellcat in the back on top of a GRUMAN F3F-F (again too small me thinks). Late-mark Spitfire over a Stuka. Corsair over a Hellcat over Bf-109. Early-model Thunderbolt over a C-47.

A French DEWOITINE D-520. Seafire. 109. Looks like another MiG-3, over a Corsair. P-38 Lighting under another Black Widow under another Warhawk. Mosquito above another 'Cat, next to a Corsair.

 

[Rhino]

Nice collection. I, er, might have a similar stash, but prefer the real thing.

 

[medicmike]

Aviation junky here. Grew up in aviation, dad was an Air Traffic Controller and commercial pilot with his ATP certificate, he spent many hours flying for an air ambulance company. First job at 14 was washing planes and sweeping hangars. Lots of family friends were airshow, crop duster and tanker pilots. Worked for cropdusters for a few years mixing, loading and twisting wrenches on old 450 Stearman dusters. Hung out at a local warbird collection on my days off and got to help work on some cool old iron. Still love anything that flies and miss my airport bum days.

ETA: I worked the pits one year when Jimmy Franklin was performing in Medford, OR. I used to be friends with Lee Omen that was his wing walker that fell off the plane and had a dramatic rescue in Hillsboro, OR.

 

[echo1]

Nice collection. I, er, might have a similar stash, but prefer the real thing.

I've got 900+ hours and have owned a PA22-160, a 182E, and a Rallye Minerva. Our operation had a J3, a C172, a C210, and a 440 Wright Stearman with a constant speed prop, metalized fuselage and sprung steel gear (like a Cat) with wheel pants. That baby was fast. You could hear the flyin wires sing.

Aviation junky here. Grew up in aviation, dad was an Air Traffic Controller and commercial pilot with his ATP certificate, he spent many hours flying for an air ambulance company. First job at 14 was washing planes and sweeping hangars. Lots of family friends were airshow, crop duster and tanker pilots. Worked for cropdusters for a few years mixing, loading and twisting wrenches on old 450 Stearman dusters. Hung out at a local warbird collection on my days off and got to help work on some cool old iron. Still love anything that flies and miss my airport bum days.

ETA: I worked the pits one year when Jimmy Franklin was performing in Medford, OR. I used to be friends with Lee Omen that was his wing walker that fell off the plane and had a dramatic rescue in Hillsboro, OR.

I worked in ag aviation from '76 to '85. We ran 440 Wright Stearmans then switched to 450 Pratt Ag Cats. I'm back at it with Jensen Aviation in Pingree, ID. This will be my 3rd season coming up. I hit every air museum within 500 miles while I was there, andon my way home. PAX

 

[medicmike]

We ran 440 Wright Stearmans then switched to 450 Pratt Ag Cats.

There is nothing like the sound of a 985! I got a bit of right seat time in a Beech 18 that my dad was flying back when I was a teen. That bird now hangs in the Boeing Museum of Flight.

I didn't get a whole lot of stick time but did get some dual in some cool planes. Seems like the stars never aligned with money and access to airplanes to get too far past soloing. I do feel honored however, to have spent the time in aviation that I did. Even if it was mostly on the sidelines.

 

[Tex929rr]

The Mrs was a T-38 instructor pilot in the USAF for seven years and then a FedEx pilot for another 27 years. She has a commercial helicopter license but when she retired from FedEx she completely gave it up. She has been a volunteer firefighter with us for 20 years and is just finishing paramedic school. I thought she’d never give up flying - she had her private license in high school but she is happy. Of course we have T-38, 727, DC-10, and MD-11 models and prints all over the place. At different times in her career she got to fly an F-16 and a P-51.

 

[tangoparson]

ETA: I worked the pits one year when Jimmy Franklin was performing in Medford, OR. I used to be friends with Lee Omen that was his wing walker that fell off the plane and had a dramatic rescue in Hillsboro, OR.

[]

Huh. Small world. I thought I was the only one left who remembered Franklin.

I grew up in his home town. My family and his were fairly good friends. Jimmy, his dad and his little brother all gave me some of my first flight hours. Kinda cool to get your pre solo instruction by a bad ass airshow pilot. Of course, after solo i started hanging with some duster pilots. Talk about just plain nuts.... Got to help wrench a couple times on Franklin’s Waco biplane and the aerostar.

I’m over a thousand hours now and probably still haven’t had as much fun as those days hanging out with them.


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[echo1]

Cool stories guys. When I worked ag in the '70's, lots of different folks would drop in, many WWII Army Air Corps vets. They had the coolest accounts. Nothin like flying a hot rod Stearman. PAX

 

[Tex929rr]

I posted this in the cool pics thread, but the last Doolittle Raider, Dick Cole, lived a few miles from us and used to come to our VFD functions. Coolest, most unassuming guy you would ever meet. I’ve shot at the little gun range his son in law built behind his home. He passed on a while back. The pics are him with the Mrs at one of his birthday parties at our hall (102, I think) and his memorial flyover.

 

[echo1]

Very cool, the Raiders were some of my all time heroes. I remember when they turned his goblet over, PAX.

 

[Analog Kid]

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted a P-38..what an awesome design. WWII P-38 Discovered Under 300 Feet of Ice.

Long Lost WWII P-38 Discovered Under 300 Feet of Ice in Greenland

The P-38 "Echo" is part of the Lost Squadron of aircraft that were forced to crash land in Greenland during a blizzard.

www.popularmechanics.com

 

[Analog Kid]

Restored glacier girl.

 

[Rhino]

Glacier Girl lives in San Antonio...

 

[Rhino]

I posted this in the cool pics thread, but the last Doolittle Raider, Dick Cole

Cole was a special guy. So was DeShazer, and Hite, Nielsen, Ozuk, Gen. Jones, and the rest of them.

 

[Texas45]

Glacier Girl lives in San Antonio...

Sure does.
Lewis is a good customer.
Good friend of mine works on GG and all his other toys.
Really neat to see the items that came up from the hole and the thingy that made the hole.

One of the others in his collection P 51 and my 3 Mustangs.

This was taken about 8 yrs ago.
Had it made in to a print that hangs in my house.

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[Rhino]

Sure does.
Lewis is a good customer.
Good friend of mine works on GG and all his other toys.
Really neat to see the items that came up from the hole and the thingy that made the hole.

One of the others in his collection P 51 and my 3 Mustangs.

This was taken about 8 yrs ago.
Had it made in to a print that hangs in my house.

Then we probably have some mutual friends.

 

[echo1]

Restored glacier girl. View attachment 245265

Too cool. I remember when they went after those ships. When I was in video production, I put a camera over Lefty Gardner's shoulder, and shot video of his P38's acrobatic routine. One day looking forward, the next day looking aft. Then I had 3 cameramen shooting from the ground, spread out along the length of the field. I spliced it with some shots of him at Reno, to make a compilation for my demo reel. I morphed audio/video of Carlos Santana shot in SF during a Carnival festival. Turned out sweet, got me some gigs.

Sure does.
Lewis is a good customer.
Good friend of mine works on GG and all his other toys.
Really neat to see the items that came up from the hole and the thingy that made the hole.

One of the others in his collection P 51 and my 3 Mustangs.

This was taken about 8 yrs ago.
Had it made in to a print that hangs in my house.

Nice photo op. I've got a '66 Sunbeam Tiger, my 3rd. It's got a '67 K code Hi-po 289. I'm an AMX guy too. PAX

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[tangoparson]

Too cool. I remember when they went after those ships. When I was in video production, I put a camera over Lefty Gardner's shoulder, and shot video of his P38's acrobatic routine. One day looking forward, the next day looking aft. Then I had 3 cameramen shooting from the ground, spread out along the length of the field. I spliced it with some shots of him at Reno, to make a compilation for my demo reel. I morphed audio/video of Carlos Santana shot in SF during a Carnival festival. Turned out sweet, got me some gigs.

Best air show I think I ever saw was Lefty Gardner in the P38.

CAF big show in Midland in the late nineties early 2000s. He had finished his regular show and they put the airport on hold to let a Southwest airliner sneak in

To kill time till he could land and the next act could take off Lefty just stooged around and improvised and made it up as he went along. Don’t think I have ever seen a more outstanding display of airmanship. Probably 15 or 20 minutes worth.


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[echo1]

That time period was the end of airshow hey day. Me and my boys spent years going to all the shows, and because I worked for a crop duster back then, we got invited to many a BBQ. A few times I flew in with my 182 teamed up with a buddy in a 177. I had to hold short on the taxiway to let Franklin get his Waco out once. My boys went bonkers. I've got a picture or my oldest sitting on Strega's wing with Bill Destefani. It was the first outing with the ship and it wasn't Strega yet, still in OD. Those were some good times, you can't even airport bum these days. I know for a fact, you can pick up hella chicks with a Stearman. PAX

 

[majormadmax]

Glacier Girl lives in San Antonio...

Yep.

P-38F Lightning — Lewis Air Legends