Warbird Information Exchange

I'd love to see some of his pictures - they are a real
portal into yesterday's warbird scene - brilliant pictures!!

Does anyone know which Kates and Vals were used in
"Pearl Harbor" (2001) and which went to Texas for
the Yorktown take-offs???

Simon B.

I have pictures of the original Tora planes being built as well as pictures of Gene's Val right after the wreck on Ford Island. I also have pics of it on the set after we hauled it off the runway(I watched it happen). I'll tell you right now that one of the reasons that the plane did not burn (among the countless miracles) is that Phil Wallick got to the wreckage and kicked the arching battery off of the firewall..There was fuel everywhere and alot of people standing in it, lifting the wing off the ground (it was inverted) high enough to get Gene out. None of us could believe he was alive.
I'll send the Tora airplane construction photos as well as one or two of Gene's airplane to Jack and he can post them.

I had this shot of the Ford Island Val saved on my 'puter:

http://www.geocities.com/sc21cool/crash.jpg

A close up:

http://starbulletin.com/2000/04/18/news/story5.html


Steve G

Hmmm, ive seen worse wrecks return to the air!

Good show gang! This is a list topper for content and quality per posting. Sure was informative for me. I have a few pix of Tora planes from a 1988 CAF airshow in College Station, Tx. with one of Gene's 231 Val. Last year I was able to i.d. the photo with help from some CAF er's but only got the basic fact that it was crashed and trashed and the Gene was okay.
I'm in the process of getting old film on disc and will get that done with these and attempt to bumble my way through Photobucket again and post my old Tora pix.

The Tora PBY's.......whimper, weep, gnash teeth, urge to harm movie people...grrrrrr.
One thing about the Tora PBY blow-up scene...where the VP sailors are frantically trying to manhandle the P-boat out of harms way....I know one of the guys who was in the original version of it in '41. It messed with my mind the next time I saw 'Tora". I was jumping up and down in the living room, yelling at the tv, frantically urging Larry and his crew on.
I felt a little tiny bit more connected with the Pearl vets after that. Gotta go a clear my brain. Back later.

Doug Ratchford-'Canso42'

Has anyone got photos of the old Tora PBY's at Steward-Davis????
or any photos of Steward-Davis facilities generally???

Simon

No complete PBY's here, but some shots of the Tora birds being constructed have PBY wings stacked for transport to Ford Island.

KATE:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Dugo ... akate.html

ZERO:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Dugo ... azero.html

VAL:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Dugo ... raval.html

Jerry

Hi Jerry,
In the Fall 1973, I visited the CAF-DFW Wing Hangar twice a week...and met the Gulf Coast Wing flight when they arrived enroute north to an air show. Fred Haise was flying a "Tora" Zero that day. Later, I was told he crash landed his plane on a beach and was horribly burnt. I presume it was the same Zero replica he was flying the day we went to lunch.

Oh, glad you recalled my participation on those PEARL HARBOR movie "fan" sites. It was a unique moment to guide folk away from the REEL to the REAL Pearl Harbor.
Cheers,
David

This has been a very useful thread for IDing some of my older pics of the Tora birds.

I have a number of slides of the Tora replicas on display and performing a routine at the 1969 Reno races. I assume this is one of the first, if not the very first, Tora airshow displays. The aircraft all appear to be still in their movie paint with their individual tail numbers removed. I can scan and post if folks are interested.

August

At three pages long now, I'd say we were interested, and would like to see them.

So here are some pics of Tora replicas at the 1969 Reno races. It appears the studio sent just one of each type to the event. This was a year before the film was released, so the public had not really seen these machines, even on the screen. They must have caused quite the sensation.

















August

Thanks, August, for some wonderful photos!

During the re-making of the aircraft INTO the Tora Fleet, Jack Canary was killed. He was in charge of the aircraft and the markings applied for the movie. Richard Buschell was helping Jack Canary with the markings and colors, along with Don Thorpe [and my help to Don]. All that data was taken by Canary's secretary to England, Canary's home. Thus, 20th Century turned to Japan and the Japanese veterans for such data.

The unique gray-green paint scheme shown in the above photos had been scoffed by many US modelers...myself included...from 1970 until the recent confirmation of that color by Japanese researchers and the release by Tamiya Model Company of XF-76 light gray-green in their paint line.

Cheers,
David Aiken