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Classic Wings Magazine WWII Naval Aviation Research Pacific Luftwaffe Resource Center
When Hollywood Ruled The Skies - Volumes 1 through 4 by Bruce Oriss


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:27 pm 
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I'm sorry I had to take the photos and information down but for the pilot's family and widows sake I had do.
This wasn't a wix issue has it's been up for a while and I'm careful in what info I put out. Everyone
has been respectful and I haven't seen this stuff plastered everywhere so for that I say thank you.
I was PMed here and asked for permission to do a story with my material. I said flat out NO and
explained that nothing was going out until after the funeral out of respect for the family and especially
the widow who wants to see nothing or talk to no one about this. I was told this wish would be respected.
The very next morning it's up anyway on warbirdsnews.com online and links are freaking everywhere! Worst
still it starts with "Jack Cook reports"!! Needless to say I vented my displeased loudly and immediately
and spent the entire day dealing with this mess. Sadly dealing with it meant nuking everything I posted.
sign me Jack "No fan of http://www.warbirdsnew.com and still pissed off! " Cook
PS: don't bother asking again and I better not see one thing about this posted on that site! :evil:

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:47 pm 
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good job jack! i dont even know you but i like your style! next time im up in oregon dinner is on me! keep up the good work! cam


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:32 pm 
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Thanks for the explanation Jack. Once again, nice job on your research in assisting the recovery effort.

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:42 pm 
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An excellent effort Jack. It was a privilege to see these pictures even for a while. Thank You for that.

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 8:03 pm 
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This Warbirds news site has been asked previously to not recycle stuff that has been posted by others. :roll:
This level of disrespect seems like a valid reason for being banned IMHO. :evil:

Thanks for the explanation Jack.

Andy


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 4:56 am 
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DH82EH wrote:
This Warbirds news site has been asked previously to not recycle stuff that has been posted by others. :roll:

He also posted a report on the rebuild of TFC's CR.42, complete with a quote from the rebuilder saying that the owner had requested no publicity for the project. He just doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the word "no"! :(


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:55 am 
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The recovery made the news:
Quote:
The journey to return Army Air Force Maj. Peyton Mathis Jr.'s remains to his hometown, 70 years after he was killed on Guadalcanal, began with another pilot's hunch.

Anders Markwarth, 44, a Guadalcanal resident, has always been interested in airplanes, especially Warbirds. A former airline pilot, he now works with a fuel company on the island.

"It was back in 2008 or '09 that I was reading about Warbirds on the net, just to pass some time, when I came across somebody talking about a missing U.S. pilot ... in '44 crashed in a swamp with his aircraft" Markwarth said in a series of e-mails. "As far as I know nobody here knew about this plane or that it had ever been found so I contacted Peyton Mathis in Alabama, and he confirmed that his uncle still lay in this P-38."

Peyton Mathis III of Montgomery is the elder Mathis' nephew and namesake. Born in 1949, he never knew his uncle. Mathis' father was Maj. Mathis' half-brother. Maj. Mathis' remains were returned to Alabama on Jan. 1, and he was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Montgomery on Jan. 3, beside his brother and father.

"I guess my family and Anders will always have a connection now; without his efforts, Uncle Peyton would have never made it home," Mathis said. "We communicated for a long time. When I got the call that remains were found, I got goosebumps. My heart jumped into my throat. I almost started crying.

"There was never any doubt what happened to him. We knew he had crashed, and we knew his body hadn't been recovered. But Anders' efforts confirmed everything we thought we knew. It was an ending to the story. It was a relief."

Movie material

The story of Markwarth's recovery of the fighter Maj. Mathis was flying is worthy of a Hollywood screenplay. It all started when a brave young commanding officer led his fighter squadron and a bombing mission on June 5, 1944. Mathis, 28, of Montgomery and commanding officer of the 44th Fighter Squadron, died that day when the P-38J Lightning he was piloting crashed in the jungle on Guadalcanal, said Army Sgt. 1st Class Shelia L. Cooper, assigned to public affairs of the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office in Arlington, Virginia.

Crews found the crash site that day but were unable to recover his remains because the airplane was in a dense swampy area, she said. In 2013, the plane was found, along with the remains, said Lt. Col. Melinda F. Morgan, USAF, of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) at Pearl Harbor.

On that day so long ago, Maj. Mathis was leading a bombing mission against Japanese gun positions in the Shortland/Poporang area of the northern Solomon Islands chain, Cooper said. The P-38 is a twin-engine fighter. Mathis developed problems with his right engine during the mission, which was later scrubbed because of weather conditions over the target, Cooper said.

While returning to Kukum Airfield on Guadalcanal, Maj. Mathis, who was low on fuel, circled the airfield while the other pilots in his squadron landed. He crashed in the jungle. The military attempted to recover his remains for several years before declaring on Feb. 13, 1949, that his body was unrecoverable.

In 2013, Markwarth had Eddie Aku, a local Solomon Islander, take him to to the swamp, where they found a small portion of the tail section sticking out of the ooze. The two men wanted to keep the discovery secret.

Anders filed the necessary paperwork with the island government to lay claim to the airplane. Before the recovery effort began in earnest, Markwarth safeguarded Maj. Mathis' remains until JPAC could take possession of them.

Thus began a four-month process to wrest the plane from the mud — a process that relied on ropes, tackle, elbow grease and back-breaking, muscle-crunching grunt work.

"The P-38 is remarkably well preserved, but recovering this large plane was not easy," Markwarth said. "No crane or machine could possibly reach the site, so it had to be done manually. The P-38 was down in seven feet of swamp mud, so we had to drive tree logs down into the mud next to it at certain points, then it was a matter of using large belt straps around hard points of the plane and erecting a scaffold over it. Once that was done, five chain blocks were used to slowly hoist the aircraft up.

"While suspended, a platform was built under the plane for it to rest on; we didn't really know if the entire structure would collapse under the weight at this point. Thankfully, it didn't."

The P-38 was one of the premier American fighters of World War II. Designed by Lockheed, the twin-engine, twin-tail airplane was large for a fighter. It had a wingspan of 52 feet, according to the U.S. Army Air Force Resource Center's website. The plane was 37 feet 10 inches long, 9 feet 10 inches high and weighed 12,780 pounds empty, without fuel and ordnance.

Back on Guadalcanal, a greased ramp was built to pull the Lightning over the surface of the swamp to dry ground, where it was carefully taken apart.

Markwarth wants to see the plane restored and serve as a memorial to Maj. Mathis.

"I asked Peyton in Alabama if I could save his uncle's plane," Markwarth said. "To which he thought that was a good idea as its fate would have certainly been to the wreckers for scrap value as this is not a place that real value, historical or otherwise, is placed on old planes like this.

Restoration eyed

"I invested a considerable amount and sought all legal permission to do it before we went ahead. It took many months ... but in the end, we got her out and are now carefully reconstructing the P-38 to a decent standard. I estimate it will take five years."

The plane's parts now sit in a warehouse on Guadalcanal. After four months of washing out and cleaning, the right engine, the one that gave Maj. Mathis trouble that day, turns freely. Markwarth said.

"We will do only minimal cleaning and restoration work on the P-38," Markwarth said. "My knowledge of aircraft reconstruction is limited; I'm sure, over time, it would be wiser to have a professional come to have a look at the P-38 to assess things."

Mathis would like to see the old Warbird take to the air again. There were 10,038 Lightnings produced during the war effort, according to the U.S. Army Air Force Resource Center. Depending on the sources used, there are about 10 Lightnings remaining in the country that are airworthy.

"I would love to see it returned to flyable condition," Mathis said. "I don't even know it that's even a possibility, but it would make a great ending to this story."

Maybe that's a discussion the two men can have face to face. Mathis wants to travel to Guadalcanal, hopefully within the year, to meet Markwarth and thank him. And to see the swamp where his uncle sat, strapped in the cockpit of his airplane, for almost 70 years.

"One thing is for sure, Anders and I will have a lot to talk about," Mathis said.

Found it here:
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/sto ... /21620243/


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:30 am 
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Thanks for that Bryan,
Quite interesting that Major Mathis's namesake nephew thinks that restoration to fly would be a fitting memorial. :wink:

Andy


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:49 am 
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I was planning on going to the funeral but was stuck at my father in laws place in Florida and could not get back, literally. My wife had my car and she was home in Alabama until after the funeral. I am certainly going to go over and pay my respects and leave some flowers.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:58 am 
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oh how cool is that!..........great job to all those who lent a hand!.......anymore pics anywhere we can see of the plane?


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:07 am 
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Jack Cook had posted some photos for us on this thread.
Someone asked him if they could post these shots elsewhere and Jack requested that they not.
The photos got lifted and posted anyway. Jack then removed all the photos.

From what was shown here, this P-38 is quite complete and in remarkable condition.

I miss Jack and his input of excellent photos and information.

Andy


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 9:46 pm 
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Warbirdnerd wrote:
davidwomacks wrote:


Jeeeez!!! :shock: And I thought nonsense like this would only happen in India/Asia like the two Oscars that were just scrapped.

Hopefully a museum or collector with the means will get something going through channels immediately before this P-38 ends up as soda cans.

Who Scrapped Oscars? Are these people that uninformed! I mean I know these places are 3rd world but even they have the internet and can look up what a warbird sells for even as a wreck!


My apologies, but this is all "BS" by ill informed reporters. no Oscars or wellingtons were scrapped. infact no wreckage has even been located. There is a very active on ground relic hunting historian group in Manipur who made an effort to lcoate some wreck sites. They were told stories of aircraft that crashed in a lake. The comment about locals taking away scrap was from "Wartime" and not recent years as the report makes it sound like..

Just take my word for it that when an aircraft wreckage is found in india nowadays, no one dares to take it home, the first thing they do is call the police..

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PostPosted: Sun May 23, 2021 7:27 am 
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Are there any recent updates on this aircraft?


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