Warbird Information Exchange

Thinking about Connie Edwards stash of aircraft, I am curious as to what is still else is still tuck away not being restored.
What have you seen?
Please keep it to year ,type, condition, state (no owner name or address), privately owned not currently in a restoration shop and something you have actually seen not heard about.
In otherwards , aircraft that are stored away collecting dust.

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...it was a plane adrift beneath the moon moving serenely thru beams like an angel of the night .....fair as a song ........aloof from mortal dreams

2 From the Midwest of USA.

1. Southwest Iowa , I am working with the owner of a 1943 UC-61 (sister ship to our plane) that has been sitting in his garage for over 20 years.
this is a RAF WW2 veteran that flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary

2. Chicago Suburbs, WW2 1942 L-4 that flew in Europe with Patton's 4th (that is what the current owner claims). It's sitting in the rafters of his hangar over his Stearman. He is in his 70's and won't part with it and does not want to invest in restoring it.

Jim Chybicki
Midwest Aeronautique LLC
UC-61K USAAF # 43-14964 / RAF # HB-690

Maybe I'm wrong (and too lazy to look it up at the moment) but I always thought Patton was 3rd Army?

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All I did was press this red button here...

Somehow the images of John Belushi are stuck in my head.
-When the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor-

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Rich Palmer

Remember an Injured Youth
benstear.org
#64- Stay Strong and Keep the Faith

BOOM BOOM, ROUND ROUND, PROPELLER GO

Don't Be A Dilbert!

The army number may be incorrect, but I have seen and touched the plane.
getting him to let it go, that is the tricky part! We even offered to help him get the Stearman going, its been down for 5 years plus.

Would love to go on more scouting adventures in the Midwest IL / IA / WI / IN / MN.

We did find a Stearman Fuselage in a auto repair shop in a small town called Aurora IL. Owners dad own that and same old story---They plane to fix it up and fly it when they retire in a few years. Dad is in his 80's already.
Jim C.
UC-61K

The problem is, most people want to think of these hidden treasures as their own little secrets, even when they don't own said airplanes. And the last think an owner wants is people calling all the time trying to buy their stuff. You only need to read about Walt Solpada (sp?) to know how that goes. Heck, I know of a Corsair sitting still in a lake in Florida but the owner has threatened anyone who blabs about where it is with a lot of suffering.
I know of plenty of planes still sitting out there, but none in a junk yard or in the hands of someone who'd sell cheaply (or for any price, for that matter), Most folks are like that L4 Jim wrote about. They might not have the means to restore it, but it's THEIRS and that's the way it's going to stay, regardless of the condition.
It's not just airplanes, anyone into RR preservation can tell you of a few steam locomotives that are sitting rusting away, owned by people who won't even answer the phone or the door if you come calling with a good offer. For example, this engine was restored to operation in the 70s, then it's sat in one place ever since, and the owner won't talk to anyone about selling it: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locopi ... x?id=59421

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Hahahahah! Loved that movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI

Maybe he meant 4th Armored Division? That was part of Patton's Third Army, IIRC.

I have a friend who is after wreckage on a mountain...but it's not a warbird.
He won't discuss the type or location...

As these posts show, there are probably plenty of antique/vintage GA types or trainers out there (years ago, I saw a Cessna Airmaster hanging from a hangar's rafters), but I'm not as optimistic about finding a long forgotten Mustang or Corsair.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

Ah yes...the lovely Cessna Airmaster in central Kansas I'd like to see in one piece again!

Does anyone remember Eddie Fisher that used to be at Fairfax Field in KC. Ks? He used to have two P-51's inside a hangar addition, that I was permitted to sit in their cockpits before I even knew what a Mustang is. Used to be a P-38 that sat on the east side of the field there, in a small hangar just big enough to squeeze the Lightning in....don't know if that was Fisher's or not...His WWII era also had a bunch of Mustang canopies lining the walls, and half a dozen crates sitting outside with Allison V-12s in them...you could peek in the little glass portholes and see them.

BT-13 dismantled in a barn in Kentucky. Qualifier: I haven't seen it but my dad has, and as you can tell from my signature, he would know what a BT-13 looks like.

Seems like nowadays most of the derelicts are either C-47s, C-45s or Lockheed twins.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

They trained in CG-4 gliders in this area. They were abandoned in the farmers fields and it wasn't until after the war that the Army collected them all up. We keep hoping to find the remains of one in the area. I also found an F-84F in an abandoned rural park about twenty years ago. It had the cockpit filled with concrete and was on a playground. Been meaning to go back to see that one. Was about 20 years ago.

Very common in the collectible car field, too. For every musclecar or classic that's been restored, there are probably six more sitting on blocks in someone's yard, or rotting away behind a barn or garage or shed, and at least three of those will eventually return to nature before somebody restores them. It often takes the death of the owner to un-ass the thing, and then his heirs or estate will finally part with it--sometimes even at a completetly reasonable price.

Still a few parts/pieces out in the sticks that are still sitting. I suppose if someone wanted them bad enough they would have gotten them already. The 2nd pic is fairly close to an accessible road.

Wow... all you need is a chainsaw and a heavy-lift helicopter, and those two PBYs will just lift right outta there!

Since someone brought up not-for-sale cars...
Many years ago, about three miles down the road from my house, there was a small farm. Next to one of the barns, not far off the road and in full view, sat a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429. It appeared to be a complete car, a little rough looking, but all there. Across the windshield, in big, white letters, the owner had written, "DON'T ASK". That Boss '9 sat there for decades (literally), completely unprotected from nasty weather (we get serious hail storms here every spring) and the relentless Texas sun, slowly sinking into the ground (literally). A few years ago, the farm was sold, the car disappeared, and an electrical power substation now resides on that piece of ground. Every time I drive by there, I wonder what became of the Boss '9. I can only hope that it ended up with a restorer somewhere.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Lake Dallas, Republic of Texas