Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:31 pm
retroaviation wrote:All I can say guys is the airplane is saved and won't be scrapped
It will be up to "mpilk" to explain further if he wishes.
Gary
Very glad to hear and thanks again Gary for trying and for the updates.
John
Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:34 pm
folks,
I can confirm I am the purchaser of the PBY "Sea Witch", and while I am the Secretary of the Australian National Aviation Museum this is a private purchase by me, at this time.
Its been a very late night staring at a computer screen so I am off at 5am in the morning to get some sleep before getting up "tomorrow" for work.
While I have been actively pursuing PBY parts for the museum's PBY there is little on "Sea Witch" that we do not already have, and my purchase is not with the intent of using it for parts into our museum PBY.
When I wake up in the morning and pinch myself to make sure I really did win the auction, I will start thinking how I might transport it back to Australia, however the priority at this stage is to pay for it within 3 days ,and move it off the airfield in 30 days.
Regardless of the outcome or viability of return to Australia I will be seeking a long term museum outcome for the aircraft, there is just way too much of a Cat there not to preserve it regardless of its corrosion.
like Gary I just couldnt sit back and see it lost to scrappers, and they had me worried once they stopped fighting over the two DC-3's and started bidding on the Cat, I was even more worried when the bidding system re-set the end time from 12:04 to 12:09 and gave me another anxious 5 minutes to bite my nails and wait for a bidding onslaught.
Thanks to Gary over the last few weeks as I prepared for the purchase, his current and ongoing assistance has made this viable for me to pursue.
regards & goodnite
Mark Pilkington
I can confirm I am the purchaser of the PBY "Sea Witch", and while I am the Secretary of the Australian National Aviation Museum this is a private purchase by me, at this time.
Its been a very late night staring at a computer screen so I am off at 5am in the morning to get some sleep before getting up "tomorrow" for work.
While I have been actively pursuing PBY parts for the museum's PBY there is little on "Sea Witch" that we do not already have, and my purchase is not with the intent of using it for parts into our museum PBY.
When I wake up in the morning and pinch myself to make sure I really did win the auction, I will start thinking how I might transport it back to Australia, however the priority at this stage is to pay for it within 3 days ,and move it off the airfield in 30 days.
Regardless of the outcome or viability of return to Australia I will be seeking a long term museum outcome for the aircraft, there is just way too much of a Cat there not to preserve it regardless of its corrosion.
like Gary I just couldnt sit back and see it lost to scrappers, and they had me worried once they stopped fighting over the two DC-3's and started bidding on the Cat, I was even more worried when the bidding system re-set the end time from 12:04 to 12:09 and gave me another anxious 5 minutes to bite my nails and wait for a bidding onslaught.
Thanks to Gary over the last few weeks as I prepared for the purchase, his current and ongoing assistance has made this viable for me to pursue.
regards & goodnite
Mark Pilkington
Mon Nov 27, 2006 2:02 pm
I actually feel better than ever now. Bravo Zulu Mark.
I'll admit that at first i thought she would still be broken up to be incorporated into A24-88's restoration. But after reading Mark's post I'm glad to hear that she will be saved intact.
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
I'll admit that at first i thought she would still be broken up to be incorporated into A24-88's restoration. But after reading Mark's post I'm glad to hear that she will be saved intact.
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:07 pm
Shay wrote:I actually feel better than ever now. Bravo Zulu Mark.
I'll admit that at first i thought she would still be broken up to be incorporated into A24-88's restoration. But after reading Mark's post I'm glad to hear that she will be saved intact.
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
Me too, today is a great day. It seems fitting that someone in Australia has gotten the airplane, considering the airplane's history.
JH
Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:48 pm
I agree with the good feeling about the way this whole thing turned out. I have been having the worst week with personal, un-airplane-related issues, and felt as if I was letting the PBY down by having to back out of the auction. I'm very thankful to Mark for going in the trenches and making dang sure that the scrappers didn't end up with that airplane.
Now, after a short 12 hour day, I'm off to the house with the tractor in tow so that I can bush-hog a place for Mark's new PBY to sit in my back yard until he figures out what he's going to do with it. That ought to make the neighbors happy.
Gary
Now, after a short 12 hour day, I'm off to the house with the tractor in tow so that I can bush-hog a place for Mark's new PBY to sit in my back yard until he figures out what he's going to do with it. That ought to make the neighbors happy.
Gary
Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:20 pm
Good work Mark, hope you have friends in the shipping industry. You are a do'er not a talker like myself Jason
Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:30 pm
With all the focus on the Cat, what happened to the Gooneybirds ?
Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:35 pm
This is great news!
When I first came upon the news that it was or was to be scrapped, I was upset that this could happen in this day and age. I was also powerless to do anything to stop it.
I am very glad that Mark and Gary were able do something...anything to save her.
Thanks!
Z
When I first came upon the news that it was or was to be scrapped, I was upset that this could happen in this day and age. I was also powerless to do anything to stop it.
I am very glad that Mark and Gary were able do something...anything to save her.
Thanks!
Z
Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:41 pm
Great news!
Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:47 pm
As I stated before I happy to see the Cat saved. But I too am curious to know what the fate of the 2 C-47s that were also up for auction will be. I see that they drew more money than the PBY. So hopefully they 2 will be saved. I can't imagine a scrapper is going to going to to bid beyond a certian point because then you start to cut into your return.
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
Shay
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Semper Fortis
Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:13 pm
What caused the price to go up?
When I posted that the Time Was Up the "sold for" price was $3400.00 now it's up to $4025.00. What gives?
http://www.lonestaronline.com/listings/details/index.cfm?itemnum=847057766#TOP
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
When I posted that the Time Was Up the "sold for" price was $3400.00 now it's up to $4025.00. What gives?
http://www.lonestaronline.com/listings/details/index.cfm?itemnum=847057766#TOP
Shay
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Semper Fortis
Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:50 pm
Shay,
I didnt comment at the time as I was busy watching the bidding but you called time @30mins too early, and there was ongoing bidding against me, thats why the price rose
regards
Mark P
I didnt comment at the time as I was busy watching the bidding but you called time @30mins too early, and there was ongoing bidding against me, thats why the price rose
regards
Mark P
Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:00 pm
Mark_Pilkington wrote:like Gary I just couldnt sit back and see it lost to scrappers, and they had me worried once they stopped fighting over the two DC-3's and started bidding on the Cat
So are you saying that the guys bidding on the Gooneys are scrappers?
That is a shame if that is true
But a major "Thank You" goes out to you, all the same.
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
Mon Dec 11, 2006 1:59 pm
Well now that the PBY fuselage is now resting in the 'pond' at my house, and after assuring that it was okay with Mark Pilkington (the new owner), I thought I'd let y'all see what was involved in getting it here.
First of all, the airport operations people and the folks at the Southmost Aviation FBO in Brownsville were wonderful to deal with. They were quite helpful when I would get myself in a bind. I wish all of the folks I had to deal with while I was there were as friendly.
When I got there, I found that the former owners of the aircraft had towed the fuselage waaaaay out into the weeds. The airport operations folks weren't very happy about that, and were less happy when the folks that put it there wouldn't tow it out of that spot for me. However, with some begging, I managed to talk the operations folks into mowing the overgrowth down enough for (after more begging) the FBO to tow the airplane over to a concrete pad in front of a hangar. It took the tug and the airport operations car chained together to get the airplane out of the hole that it had sunk itself into...particularly due to the slick, freshly cut grass. It was kind of funny to watch.......
After that, I took a good look over the airplane and got it ready for the truck the next morning. I have certainly seen airplanes in better condition, but with some long hours and hard work, Mark and his bunch will surely be able to make this a wonderful static display for people to see. I felt especially proud to be helping Mark save this airplane, as I had a front row view in watching the scrappers dismantle one of the two C-47's that were on the other side of the field. It was a bittersweet moment for me. Here I was helping to save an old airplane, yet I was watching another one getting ready to turn into beer cans.
Anyway, the preparation continued on the PBY. One thing I found interesting was that as "unseaworthy" as the fuselage currently is in, it held a good bit of water in it's hull. I had to drill holes in the belly to drain it all so that it would weigh less and not slosh around when we lifted it. An interesting note is that someone from the former ownership told me that they had "covered all of the holes in the airplane so that it wouldn't get wet inside." Yeah, right. As you look through the rest of the photos here, does it look like all of the holes were covered up to you?
The actual lifting of the airplane turned out to be a non-event. Everything went smoothly, with no surprises.......
Once the airplane was on the truck, we simply folded the main landing gear up into it's wells.......
And here it is ready for it's trip to "Austin Acres."
Due to some issues with the State of Texas and the hauling permits, it took a couple of days for the airplane to arrive. But all went well with this part of it too, and the airplane got to my place on Saturday afternoon......
Our first order of business was to extend the landing gear. This was another humorous act, as it took nothing more than a couple of fat boys with two by fours, and a little prying .........
After insuring the gear was indeed locked in the down position, we just hooked up the crane, lifted the airplane up, and drove the truck out from under it. The only tricky part was that we had to rotate the airplane 90 degrees and boom the crane out in order to let the airplane come to rest in my pond. Of course the chances of my pond actually filling up with water are the same as this airplane actually floating in it! ...........
And here it is in it's new home for a while.......
The next thing for me to do is to go get the wings. I will update y'all with that when I get it done.
Gary
First of all, the airport operations people and the folks at the Southmost Aviation FBO in Brownsville were wonderful to deal with. They were quite helpful when I would get myself in a bind. I wish all of the folks I had to deal with while I was there were as friendly.
When I got there, I found that the former owners of the aircraft had towed the fuselage waaaaay out into the weeds. The airport operations folks weren't very happy about that, and were less happy when the folks that put it there wouldn't tow it out of that spot for me. However, with some begging, I managed to talk the operations folks into mowing the overgrowth down enough for (after more begging) the FBO to tow the airplane over to a concrete pad in front of a hangar. It took the tug and the airport operations car chained together to get the airplane out of the hole that it had sunk itself into...particularly due to the slick, freshly cut grass. It was kind of funny to watch.......
After that, I took a good look over the airplane and got it ready for the truck the next morning. I have certainly seen airplanes in better condition, but with some long hours and hard work, Mark and his bunch will surely be able to make this a wonderful static display for people to see. I felt especially proud to be helping Mark save this airplane, as I had a front row view in watching the scrappers dismantle one of the two C-47's that were on the other side of the field. It was a bittersweet moment for me. Here I was helping to save an old airplane, yet I was watching another one getting ready to turn into beer cans.
Anyway, the preparation continued on the PBY. One thing I found interesting was that as "unseaworthy" as the fuselage currently is in, it held a good bit of water in it's hull. I had to drill holes in the belly to drain it all so that it would weigh less and not slosh around when we lifted it. An interesting note is that someone from the former ownership told me that they had "covered all of the holes in the airplane so that it wouldn't get wet inside." Yeah, right. As you look through the rest of the photos here, does it look like all of the holes were covered up to you?
The actual lifting of the airplane turned out to be a non-event. Everything went smoothly, with no surprises.......
Once the airplane was on the truck, we simply folded the main landing gear up into it's wells.......
And here it is ready for it's trip to "Austin Acres."
Due to some issues with the State of Texas and the hauling permits, it took a couple of days for the airplane to arrive. But all went well with this part of it too, and the airplane got to my place on Saturday afternoon......
Our first order of business was to extend the landing gear. This was another humorous act, as it took nothing more than a couple of fat boys with two by fours, and a little prying
.........
After insuring the gear was indeed locked in the down position, we just hooked up the crane, lifted the airplane up, and drove the truck out from under it. The only tricky part was that we had to rotate the airplane 90 degrees and boom the crane out in order to let the airplane come to rest in my pond. Of course the chances of my pond actually filling up with water are the same as this airplane actually floating in it!
...........
And here it is in it's new home for a while.......
The next thing for me to do is to go get the wings. I will update y'all with that when I get it done.
Gary
Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:46 pm
Super cool. Really happy for these things to be saved.