Warbirds

The story behind the move is almost as big and interesting as the aircraft itself. In 1980 the aircraft was owned by the Aero Club of Southern California. The Aero Club then leased it to the Wrather Corporation. The Walt Disney Corporation then acquired Wrather. The Disney Corporation also leases the adjacent tourist attraction and floating hotel, the Queen Mary. Here the story gets a little fuzzy as to exactly why Disney opted not to renew its lease on the Goose. It would appear that the exhibit was a loss maker but at the same time Disney had plans to turn the area into a new maritime theme amusement park. In the washout the Coastal Commission said no to the Disney proposal.

On July 10th the aircraft was sold to Evergreen Air Venture Museum, a non profit institution sponsored by Evergreen International Aviation. Five other proposals for the sale of the Spruce Goose were considered and rejected. No sale price was given.

The plan is now to dismantle the Goose and barge it to Oregon. It will either be stored for two years or reassembled and displayed at an as yet undisclosed location while the Evergreen Museum is designed and constructed at McMinnville, Oregon. Located some 80 kilometres southwest of Portland, McMinnville is the head office of Evergreen International Aviation. (The firm is not the Asian airline of a like name). Evergreen has a collection of more than two dozen antique and warbird aircraft.

Now comes the punchline.

The Spruce Goose has always been one part of a tourist attraction duo, the other half of which is the floating hotel, the Queen Mary. The Walt Disney Corporation has also leased the QM for a number of years but has elected not to operate the attraction past the end of this year.

The QM is also a loss maker and requires some $6 million to be spent on repairs immediately with a further $21m over the next five years. Unless a new operator and a large injection of funds for maintenance of the vessel can be found it would appear likely that the days of the QM are over. For those who have visited and enjoyed the QM and SG, savour your memories and enjoy your photos, for by the end of 1992 the amazing duo will be no more.

The Continuing Tale of the Piper Enforcer

Onto the subject of Turbo Mustangs.

Readers of AA will no doubt recall the Warbirds paragraph entitled “Whatever happened to the Enforcer’ in the July 1992 issue of AA. During a recent tour to the USA, a visit was paid to the United States Air Force Museum at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at Dayton, Ohio. On display in the annex storage hangar is Piper PA48 Enforcer, N481PE. This aircraft was last seen at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona. Here the aircraft, considered by some to be the ultimate Mustang, was sealed up in white protective Spraylac material. Now the Enforcer is resplendent in an all over olive drab colour scheme and available for all to see.

The two Enforcers were apparently never allocated military serial numbers. For most visitors the Wright-Patt Enforcer is just an odd modified Mustang. For those in the know, the machine represents the final development of the North American Mustang.

New NZ Warbirds

From NZ we learn that Tim Wallis’s Alpine Fighter Collection has been expanded by two with the addition of aircraft from Ray and Mark Hanna’s UK firm, the Old Flying Machine Company.

The new aircraft are Harvard IV, N15798, converted to represent a Japanese Zeke, and a Grumman TBM-3 Avenger, N6827C. The Avenger is at present in USN ‘George Bush’ colours but will no doubt be repainted in a colour scheme representative of the 48 Avengers operated by the RNZAF between 1943 and 1959. Both aircraft are due in NZ during September. The arrival and operation of these two machines will without a doubt enhance the Wanaka based collection.

The 1994 Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow is starting to look like it will be a sell out event even though it is still two years away. AA and Torii Tours will be taking a tour to Wanaka in 1994. Plan to be on it.

Oshkosh 1992

Big, Brash and Beautiful, as always. This year the numbers of display aircraft had increased and while official visitor numbers are not released by the EAA it certainly looked like the head count was up compared to last year.

Of those visitor numbers there were 485 Australians registered by the Sunday and, if the truth be known, a good number more that did not bother to be counted. The next nearest from one country was Canada with 387.

If one goes to Oshkosh often enough you notice certain trends whether shown up in the official figures or not. This year there was an increase in the number of high performance fibreglass kit type aircraft and equally so were the numbers of low to medium performance homebuilts built of wood or tube and covered in fabric.

In the Antiques department there was an above average number of Waco biplanes of all models. Also interesting to see were the numbers of homebuilt helicopters. Stinson 108s and Navion Rangemasters appeared to be everywhere. Airline buffs would have been pleased to see the Convair in Eastern Airline colours and not one but two Super Connies in the air at the same time. Fantastic! Warbird numbers were up to 312 aircraft although Mustang numbers seemed down. On site were some 30+ T-28s, 50+ T-6s and rows of T-34 Mentors. Jets were well represented with types such as the F-104, MiG-15, MiG-21, F-86, DH-115, L-29 and GA-200 present. One can only comment that a civil jet warbird fly past is something to stop and absorb. One jet that was present but did not fly was the latest Jim Bede creation, the two seat BD-10 supersonic kitplane. Needless to say it drew a lot of interest.

In the heavy metal area, cameras were overheating at the sight of several Skyraiders and types such as the P-47, P-40, Spitfire, Corsair, Sea Fury, Wildcat, Avenger, two B-17s and a Catalina plus other types. As this was the year that the EAA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the WWII Doolittle raid of Tokyo, eight North American B-25s took to the air to strut their stuff. Fantastic. If you missed going to Oshkosh this year start planning early to go on the 1993 AA and Torii Tours Oshkosh and USA tour. Life is too short not to have seen the magic of Oshkosh at least once.

Register News

From Tony Arbon’s Civil Aircraft Register update we learn that VH-ADY is the registration marking of the MiG-15UTI in green and grey camouflage, complete with Polish Air Force markings, now at Essendon Airport. The owner is Greg Lovett (refer pie p64 Sept 92 AA).

As reported earlier, T-28D Trojan VH-LAO was damaged in a forced landing near Wangaratta, on May 30. The machine was struck off the register on June 13th. An internal failure of the engine caused the power loss and forced landing. The aircraft is now under repair at Albury airport and can be expected to return to the register in the near future.

Antique Fairchild 24W VH-AZL has been bought by Tony Edwards of Gerogery, near Albury, NSW. Tony has been heavily involved in the parachuting scene for many years so the question naturally arises as to what he intends to do with the machine. Time will tell.

Kiityhawk Damaged in Accident

Col Pay’s Curtiss Kittyhawk, VH-KTH, has been badly damaged in an accident. On Saturday September 5 the aircraft was one of the stars at an airshow at Wee Waa north central NSW.

After the airshow the machine made a local flight with Ross Pay as pilot plus a passenger in the rear seat. It is reported that when about to land the aircraft did a go around due to an obstruction on the runway. On downwind, with the gear still down, the engine lost power and the aircraft made an off airport forced landing brushing the top of a tree as it descended.

The machine suffered substantial damage but fortunately the pilot and passenger were not injured.

Since it took to the air in December 1989 Kittyhawk VH-KTH has been a very popular warbird on the Australian airshow circuit. Built in 1941 it was flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force as sin 1028 up until the end of the war. Sold as surplus it was actually used as landfill for a farmers dam site.

In the mid 1970s, warbird rebuilder John Paul literally dug the machine out and proceeded to have it rebuilt to airworthy condition. Col Pay stepped into the picture in 1984. He purchased the aircraft and had the restoration work completed at Scone, NSW. The 15th of December 1989 saw the Kittyhawk, now VH-KTH, take to the air again. It is to be hoped that the aircraft is not beyond being rebuilt once again.

Weeks Air Museum Destroyed by Hurricane

Although details are sketchy at this stage it is understood that the Kermit Weeks Air Museum was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in late August.

Situated at Tamiami Airport on the outskirts of Miami, Florida, the museum was right in the path of the Hurricane as it swept over the Florida Panhandle. The Weeks Museum held at least four former Australian aircraft in its collection.

P-38 Recovered From Greenland

There were many things to see at Oshkosh this year and none was more amazing than that of the WWII Lockheed P-38 just recovered from Greenland – from under 60m of ice!

The saga of how the Lightning got under the ice goes back to July 15, 1942 when six P-38s were being ferried to the UK Accompanied by two B-l7s, the aircraft all became lost and when low on fuel put down on the Greenland ice cap. The crews all survived and were rescued. The aircraft then disappeared under a growing layer of snow and ice.

In 1988 members of a recovery organisation, the Greenland Expedition Society, pinpointed the location of the lost aircraft. The short arctic summer retarded recovery work, but in 1990 a hole cut with a steam probe found that the B-17 revealed was largely collapsed and crushed by the shifting ice.

The 1992 expedition managed to cut through some 80m of ice and a cave was formed around a P-38F identified as ‘Delta’, serial number 41-7663. The Oshkosh recovery display also showed a most amazing photo of a crushed but basically intact P-38 in its ice cave. A hot water cannon was used to form the cave. Here the machine was dismantled and most of it hoisted to the surface. Corrosion was minimal. Due to the size of the centre section it will have to wait until next year’s recovery expedition before it could be brought out.

Seeing the P-38 sections at Oshkosh was like seeing something brought back from the dead. The paintwork was still fresh, and the engines were not yet run in with only 50 hours total time.

Long term plans are to rebuild and fly the machine again.

Perhaps a fitting name like ‘The Ice Phoenix’ could be emblazoned across the nose.

NZ Venom Crash – A Postscript

Aircraft accidents are a serious event for not only is there damage to an aircraft but there is always the possibility of injury to the occupants. Having said this let us note that sometimes there is a touch of humour brought out in the wake of an accident. Such was the case in NZ recently.

On November 17 last year NZ jet warbird ZK-VNM, a DH Venom FB. 50, suffered a power loss, failed to get airborne and overran the strip at Ardmore. The event was caught on video as the Venom commenced to plough its way through a clump of trees at the end of the field.

The locals claim that the Venom turned strawberries growing on the ground into jam as they were ingested by the engine.

The Venom was badly damaged but may fly again. The pilot, John Denton, was injured but as he related later, while he was getting over the fact that he hadjust survived the accident a car driver arrived and proceeded to launch into a claim that his car had been damaged by the passing Venom!

The claim was duly passed to the Insurance company to sort out.

In Brief

• For some time now there has been a rumour doing the rounds of the aviation museum movement that the Australian War Memorial at Canberra is about to commence construction of a new Exhibition Hall. The hall would display, amongst other things, a good number of the AWM aircraft now in storage. In reply to a recent letter, the AWM has advised that due to the present economic situation this important project has been deferred, at least for the foreseeable future. Yet despite this unfortunate setback the AWM will continue to work closely with Government in an effort to lift the projects funding priority.

• Further to the Warbirds Register presented in the July issue of AA we have updated material on two of the aircraft noted. North American T-6 VH-LJQ is now reported as owned by Douglas and Gillian Lennon of Brisbane, Qld. Mustang enthusiasts will be most interested in the second update. In the register it was noted that North American P-51D, A68-674, had the registration VH-CVA reserved for it. It has now been advised that the reservation apparently lapsed and that the marking has now been reserved by the owner of a Rand homebuilt presently under construction. In the absence of any statement to the contrary it would appear that Mustang A68-674, now registered N9200N, is in America to stay.

• For those returning to Australia from the USA and stopping at Hawaii; Dillingham Field is the place to visit. Situated on the North side of the Island of Oahu (the main island), Dillingham is the home of local sport aviation. A small number of privately owned aircraft are operated from the field and there are also parachuting and gliding activities. All the sailplanes are aerotowed aloft and there are some seven Cessna Bird Dogs used for this purpose. For the Warbird enthusiast, rides and flight instruction is available in North American T-6, N7413C. A newcomer in the joyride stakes is a WW2 Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3 open cockpit biplane, N45091. Also based at the airport is a like new all yellow Boeing Stearman biplane, N55324.