Warbird Information Exchange

Greetings All -

A few years ago, I had the chance to scan some slides my friend Bill Asbell had. These are from the mid-60s though where they were taken is lost in time... If you have any info on any of these aircraft (Ol' Tiger and Rivets I am aware of), I'd appreciate hearing it!

Enjoy the Day! Mark

Wonderful pictures. I'm no good at identifying locations but whereabouts was he roaming during those years? The midwest possibly? A couple of those look like Rockford and one might be Blakesburg.

Any shots of that Nieuport parked behind the Bucker?

August

Cool old pictures, thanks for posting.

N74J is a 1949 Miller Special model JM-101

N86570 is a 1935 Monocoupe D-145

N15696 is a 1937 Bucker Bu.133C Jungmeister

NC13576 is a 1933 Davis D-1-W

These are all according to the FAA registry

N74J Miller Special as in Jim Miller and Pushy Cat fame?

Thanks for the info Roger!

Enjoy the Day! Mark

Obergrafeter wrote:N74J Miller Special as in Jim Miller and Pushy Cat fame?

Yes.

Obergrafeter wrote:N74J Miller Special as in Jim Miller and Pushy Cat fame?

I think that airplane was 'Ole Tiger that was destroyed in a demonstration race in New Braunfels, TX on 7/7/90.

If that is the one, then I crewed for the poor guy at New Braunfels that day. What a tragedy. Jim had worked on the plane for months for the guy and he flew in, just to race it. After all those months of work, I asked Jim what he did and he said he removed 31 pounds. Wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper for the pilot to go on a diet? Jim was a magician with glass and composites.

Obergrafeter wrote:If that is the one, then I crewed for the poor guy at New Braunfels that day. What a tragedy. Jim had worked on the plane for months for the guy and he flew in, just to race it. After all those months of work, I asked Jim what he did and he said he removed 31 pounds. Wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper for the pilot to go on a diet? Jim was a magician with glass and composites.

I was Jim's Crew Chief for "Pushy Cat", and "Ole Tiger" really got an extreme make over that winter. The 31 lbs. removed were mostly from making all new carbon fiber skins on the fuselage. That airplane was a beauty when done.

Sad part is Rocky (the owner of "Ole Tiger") was not prepared for how fast his airplane had become. He over took Hoot (this is where Hoot Gibson was reprimanded/grounded by NASA for racing) faster than he had ever before and that is why they collided.

The aircraft destroyed in the mid-air at New Braunfels was N97RJ (previous N97RM) "Ol' Blue", not N74J "Ol' Tiger".

The Jim Miller Special JM-1 "Ol' Tiger" was donated to the Whittier, CA Historical Society in the early 1980's by Phil Fogg, in memory of longtime race pilot Bob Downey. Bob raced N74J for many years, and was a lifelong Whittier resident. After Bob's death at Reno 1981, the WHS inquired about acquiring #14 for an exhibit on aviation in the Whittier area. This exhibit was to prominently feature Bob and Tony LeVier, who grew up in the area and was Bob's primary flight instructor. The aircraft had been substantially altered over the years from its appearance as shown in the picture above. No attempt to restore it was done to my knowledge, other than a re-paint to Bob's signature red white and blue scheme.

#97 Ol' Blue was built around 1969/70 by Richard Minges and associates in North Carolina. The aircraft incorporated parts from the post war Goodyear racer #97 "DeNight Special", which had been dismantled to build the new racer. The recently deceased John Bennett was the original crew chief for Ol'Blue. After Minges was killed in the T-6 race disaster at Cape May, NJ in 1971, the racer kicked around for several years before being acquired by Rocky Jones. Rocky raced the aircraft for several years with modest results. The aircraft was involved in several forced landings with Rocky, mostly due to prop failures. The subsequent rebuilds kept the racer flying, but it really needed to be sorted out. As stated above, Rocky had Jim Miller completely go through the plane after the 1989 race season had ended. The aircraft was subsequently destroyed and Rocky killed in the midair with Hoot Gibson during an exhibition race at New Braunfels, which was the first outing for both since the rebuild by Jim.

King or Obergrafeter, do either of you have any photos (pre-accident of course) of Ol' Blue from the New Braunfels event that you can post? I never saw the aircraft after it was rebuilt by Jim, would be interested to see how it looked.

Ah, Ol'Blue is correct! I got my "Ol'" mixed up.

I don't have any pictures of it after the rebuild. It was a very fast/good looking plane after Jim got done. Wish I would have taken a few pictures during the rebuild considering the circumstances.