Since we are talking vintage aviation...

WOW!!!
That is so sweet. The lines of a 195 are so flowing. The cowl is so beautiful with the blisters.
POLISHED GOODNESS
Thanks for the post

 

I would see

I would see these out on the flight line at Ft Eustis, VA, usually with a large tractor trailer box slung on the bottom. I believe that there was a person sitting behind the pilots section who control the level of the box, when it was raised or lowered. This A/C was 95% function and only 5% form.

 

Back in the mid-70s when I was Boilermaking, we used a lifting service to set the two stainless steel halves of the 34 foot diameter rain shield on top of a 605 feet tall smokestack at the Portage, WI power plant. A Sky Crane came in to make the two lifts. The pilot set down and had a quick talk with the erection crew I was on. We were going to be on top of the stack landing the rain shield. I don't remember much of anything he said except for the part about
" If anything goes wrong, there's a guillotine on the load line. The helicopter and I are my first priority. Sorry about your luck. " There were no pictures, sorry

 

.........WOW!!

 

This reply does have something to do with the P-38, so bear with me. I may have mentioned this before but, the first job I had when I got out of high school in 1962 was working at Cimarron Field, OK. The field is just southwest of Yukon and has since been renamed Clarence E. Page Airport in 1978. Mr. Page operated a WWII primary flight training school at Cimarron and another school at Mustang Field a little to the west in El Reno. Mr. Page was still running the operation when I went to work there. One of the four hangars had burned and a lot of the engines in that hangar that could be salvaged were pickled and stored outside under tarps. At one time, there were 1500 Allison V-1710's, both left and right hand rotation. The shop there at the field had a contract to rebuild these engines to power mud pumps for oil drilling rigs. One of my jobs was to run these rebuilt engines in for four hours on a test stand. There were every imaginable type of aircraft engine stored in the other three hangers. The reason I mention the Allison's is that at the far south end of the field, there was a P-38 just sitting and I sometimes would take my lunch down there, climb up into the cockpit and try to imagine what flying one of those machines would be like. If it sounds juvenile, it's probably because I graduated when I was just 17 and anything with horsepower and speed fascinated me. I tried everything I could to get Mr. Page to get this beautiful aircraft flying again. I know a lot of the guys in the shop would have worked on that restoration for free. I wish I knew but I don't have any idea what happened to the plane. Mr. Page did offer to sell me one of the many North American T-6's and Harvard's in a basket for only $2000 which was just about a year's pay at the time. Had I only had a little foresight, I could have saved one of them out of all that I smelted down and poured into little aluminum bricks. The following should be a link to the Cimarron Field and Mustang Field Museum.

THE CIMARRON FIELD AND MUSTANG FIELD MUSEUM

 

That's a great story about your experiences at Cimarron....and thanks for the link.

 

You're welcome. What is the name of the museum where you took the picture of the P-38? I hope it hasn't become a victim of this Covid pandemic.

 

That P-38 looks like it's in the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, Oregon. The museum is in the only remaining WW II blimp hanger, and boy is it HUGE!!!
My late brother-in-law was a p-38 pilot. He entered pilot training school at 19 years old and got assigned to a p-38 squadron when he was 20. Boy, was he in hog heaven! He LOVED that plane, even though he had two of them shot out from under him in the South Pacific. On one his downings he spent about 10 days in the jungle getting back to his base. Pretty heady stuff for a 20 year old, and those 'kids' grew up quick!
When he was in his mid 80's, one of his sons arranged a flight in a restored P-38 for him, and he even managed to fit into his WW II flight jacket, which my sister still has. RIP, Wayne, I've got your training picture on my office wall.

 

28phonebooth is right on. I took that pic quite a few years ago on a cruise with some guys from the Inliners club.
Hopefully they're still operating and still have the P-38.

 

That photograph was taken at the Tillamook Air Museum, in Tillamook Oregon. If you look that up, you will see that the building is one of the last huge giant blimp hangars.

 

Just found this thread. I’d like to share some photos of a few of the air shows/displays and fly ins I’ve attended.

 

A few from a car show/ fly in at the Joliet regional airport a few years ago. The planes are the stars, many “hot rods” of the sky.

 

@Belle53
I found this video purely by chance, its very informative about how this WACO was originally registered as CF-BB-Q in Canada. So I stand fully corrected and better educated about the facts on this plane. Gary had never mentioned about the Canadian registration, he only mentioned the element of the hog pen.
Thanks
Dennis.

 

Guess you've never been to Tustin, Ca.

 

There should of been a 8 inch wide walk way (like a plank made out of alum) going down the center of the bomb bay. This was attached to the bulkheads just below the hatch. This was use to get back and forth of the A/C. Often times when all the bombs did not release over target, someone had to go into the bomb bay standing on the center plank, bomb bay doors open and kick the bombs until they loosen up and drop from the aircraft. Now I know all you all are thinking that we have here a B-17 aircrew member, no just saw it on 12:00 High.

 

My roadster and the B17 Sentimental Journey at Laporte airport last summer

 

Great pic!

 

THANKS! Great photo. That was a great sight for my Dad and thousands of fellow ground crew members to see, crew of 10 home safe.

Bob

 

I have a flown skin panel from a B-17. As far as I can tell, it came from just behind the navigator's window on the port side of the aircraft. This matches the bolt pattern and interior structure/paint (the diagonal rivet pattern corresponds to the pilot's footwell, which is right behind the navigator's head).

On the bottom, stamped on top of the yellow primer layer, Reynolds Aluminum can be made out - the very same Reynolds that makes our aluminum foil today!

I'm not really sure what to do with it. It just kind of collects dust. It's a difficult item to display since one of the more interesting details (the Reynolds stamp) is on the 'wrong' side, but you don't want it to get handled too much since the primer is flaky...

 

That's really cool. Frame it and display it? Too cool to keep hidden away!

 

I just wish I could somehow show both sides. I like that the paint on the inside face shows where the pilot's footwell was, and the Reynold's stamp is so cool. Maybe I could get a frame made that has glass on both sides. I dunno what this little piece of aluminum is worth but I'd hate for it to deteriorate so for now it stays safely put away.

 

If it was mine, the $$ value would be my last thought. It's value is historical, so I would find a military air museum and donate it. To me, things like this represent a dark era (WW II) of world history, and should be preserved and displayed in a manner that honors those that participated in that monumental event to protect the world from tyranny.

 

I agree. I phrased that poorly. I have a pretty big antiques collection and honestly couldn't care less what anyone thinks the stuff is worth because I don't intend to sell it. The $$$ value of the article is meaningless to me, conservation and safe display is all I'm concerned with.

Unfortunately a lot of articles donated to museums are either left in permanent archival storage or auctioned. I would loan it in a heartbeat if I was sure it would be part of an exhibit, but I don't think such a small, relatively mundane piece would see any time on the floor compared to other articles.

 

You own a piece history treasure it. 77 year’s ago today my uncle was shot down in a b 17 and became a pow for 11 months. Thank you for the post may there sacrifice never be forgotten

 

2 frames, one the side you like most, the other a picture of the other side.

 

I'd be willing to bet there's a cabinetmaker in your area that could make you a double sided frame that would display your panel if your woodworking skills aren't up to the task. Just looked for craft stores in Weatherford and you've got a Michaels right there. They've got what you need or can make it.

 

All the B-17's from my Dad's base wound up in Kingman, Az. with all the others. I often wonder if someone had the foresight to save some of the nose art. Bob

 

I was thinking a double glassed frame, yup. Hang it from a string over the bar or something so it can turn around? I don't know, but I think that's really cool. WWII bombers have always been my favorite planes...

 

I had a copy of some b17 nose art made into a waterslide decal and put it on one of my upright basses. Love nose art....