Warbird Information Exchange

Dear WRG,

Hi there. I am interested to know if there are any interviews, magazine articles, profiles, etc of Mr. Earl Reinert (Victory Air Museum)

I see his name listed as the owner of several aircraft aircraft in the late 40s 50s. I was interested to learn more about him.

Thanks,
- Justin

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-Bill
B-17E 41-2595 "Desert Rat" Restoration Team

Don't forget the legendary Brewster Buffalo remains!

The following borrowed from Dan Ford's site:

In 1993 I bought some P-40 Tomahawk parts from Earl Rhinert and we of course discussed our mutual interest in aviation. Earl was a surplus dealer who located and sold surplus P-47 parts to the US Air Force during the Korean War. Years later Earl opened an air museum. One of the exhibits was a Brewster Buffalo. After the museum closed, the Buffalo was stored in a hangar near the air field. Some thing caused a fire and the plane was completely destroyed. Earl did however have some Buffalo parts for sale. Minor guages and lights for the cockpit. I have the list he sent to me. I am sure his brother still has some of the parts if you would like to buy them.

Kevin Granthan had this to say about the late Mr. Reinert:

Earl Reinert made a living out of buying and selling vintage aircraft and parts for almost 50 years.... He also had a knack for buying aircraft that he never intended to move. His objective was to save these airplanes from destruction.... Later in his life he opened a museum near his home of Arlington Heights, Illinois. To some people Earl was a crazy old junk man, but the ones who really got to know him found Earl to be a factual spokesman of warbird history.

I met Earl during the late 1980's while I was researching the history of the surviving Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. During one of our many conversations he told me he had a Brewster Buffalo. When I inquired about its location he would say "I'll tell you about that another time," and continue with his P-38 recollections. I tried to get him to tell me about his F2A on other occasions but had no success in learning its location. Sadly, Earl passed into a better world in November 1992 and apparently the knowledge of where he stored his Brewster Buffalo went along for the ride. Or did it? Dick Phillips recently told me that he too had heard of the Reinert Buffalo. Dick also mentioned that Earl told him that the remains of an F2A was located in a field amongst several Brewster Bermudas....

Early last year another clue surfaced in the March 1995 issue of Air Classics magazine when Mr. O'Leary reported that a well known aircraft collector had purchased the remains of a Brewster Buffalo. Unfortunately, the small article contained no additional details and none have come to light since the article first appeared.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

AS a foot note to the location of some of these aircraft,
THe B-25 went to Tom Rielly's (don't know where it went now that he's closed, but probbably Aero Trader)
The F6F, I believe, was Navy Ace Alex Varicu's and is now Flying in the UK.
The P-47 was an "M" model and I believe it's been restored and is at Yanks Museum at Chino.
Can't speak of the others, but I'm sure the HA-1112's are located around the US.
Jerry

A B-25 named "Tokyo Express" - http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b25regis ... 30243.html
An A-26 painted black with the name "Nightmare" - http://www.warbirdregistry.org/a26regis ... 35590.html
An F4F - Never saw that
An F6F - http://www.warbirdregistry.org/f6fregis ... 08831.html
Corsair Drop tanks - ?
A Hudson or Ventura - Think it was a model 12 Electra with a paint job
A P-47 - http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p47regis ... 27385.html
Parts of a P-51 (?) and PBY - Executive PBY that sank in Lake Michigan and was partially recovered, not sure where it is now http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=24050&key=0
*SIX* Me-109s (really HA-1112s) - Belonged to John Lowe and Larry Matt, since sold off
An "OHKA" flying bomb - now with Yanks

Also a Henschel 126 cockpit which is now Downunder.

A Hudson or Ventura - Think it was a model 12 Electra with a paint job

I seem to recall this Lockheed getting hauled off to a museum or group somewhere in Canada.

Then again, the gray matter ain't what it used to be...

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

It was a Lockeed 18 Lodestar. I think it was CF-TCY which is now on display in B.C.

Jim

The F4F was in fact a FM-2, 46867, now registered as N909WJ. Dick Phillips sent me a real nice shot of it a few years back.

I believe the cockpit section you are referring to is actually from a Henschel Hs-129 tank buster... rather than a Hs-126, which was a biplane.

Cheers,
Richard

...but was there ever a photo taken of the F2A?

I could blame the typist, but that wouldn't change the result. I just plain got the number wrong. You are right, 129 it is!

That is what was painted on it. It had a window painted on the back to look more like an F6F-3.

More on Alexander Vraciu:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/goe/eaglebios/9 ... aciu94.htm

The name of the Earl Reinert collection was the Victory Air Museum in Mundelin, IL. Earl and his brother Ray lived in Arlington Heights, IL. At one time, Earl ran the Palwaukie Airport close to his home.
I spent a lot of time with Earl and Ray at the museum and purchased 3 aircraft from Earl as the museum closed. I bought the B-25 which I sold to Tom Reilly, the A-26 which went to Kermit Weeks and the AT-11 went to Lone Star. As earlier mentioned, the PBY wreckage went to Canada as well as the Loadstar. Charles Nichols purchased the P-47M and the Ohka Bomb. The C-45 fuselage went to Spencer Rees in Sugar Grove, IL.
As a foot-note, Earl purchased a P-61 from a Boy Scout Troop just to get the engines. He removed the engines but never removed the aircraft. After numerous requests from the Troop, the aircraft was given to another museum that would actually take it away. This is the P-61 that now resides at the Air Force Museum in Dayton. Now you know the rest of the story.
As for the F2-A, it was never at the museum in Mundelin. The aircraft was destroyed by a fire in a barn in Wisconsin.
Jaybo

Earl and the Museum have also been covered in a couple of articles in Air Classics and Warbirds International in the last 2 years. Including the story behind, and pictures of, Earl starting up Enola Gay. The Buffalo is said to have gone up in a garage fire (the article had pics of a burnt up garage, but no F2A)...I'd imagine back issues of both are still available and can look up the issue numbers if needed.

Earl also owned P-51 44-12840 Montana Miss in the late 1960's. Now with Tom Cruise. The Victory Air Museum was a gold mine of parts and frames. I thought the 109's (HA-1112's)were all used in the film "Battle of Britain" One of the HA-1112-M1L's went to the Old Time Flying Machine CO. flown by Mark HAnna as G-BOML The museum collected and saved quite a few rare aircraft.
Steve