Warbird Information Exchange

Im Phil, 29yrs, (born wrong decade i found out) im a australian warbird nutter, been interested in warbirds for around 20years.

Have been to a few aussie airshows with warbirds and find them good, but things could be better.

Hope to one day acquire a F-86 Sabre fuselage to static it...

Ive a few mates who are serrious Warbirders... one is rebuilding a rare aussie Boomerang WW2 fighter along with many other rare aircraft he has had in his collection, some he has sold off over the years tho.

I came into WIX and find it the most enjoyable forum online for its NEWS for warbirders and their serious fanatical supporters.

Im good at taking aircraft photos also and can do some artwork of warbird in spare time - havent done much for 2years but i have alot from last few years of various drawings also.

I've been lurking on this excellent site for a little while so it's probably time to introduce myself.

I joined the USAF in 1952 and trained as a pilot Aviation Cadet on Piper the PA-18, T-6G, T-28A and the B-25J. After that it was B-29 and C/KC-97s until I got out in 1957. I first soloed in the Cub with about 3 hours total time after the IP bailed out and left my tender young butt in a spin he was demonstrating but couldn't recover from. He yelled at me to bailout as he was going out the doors! I made my first takeoff, go-around and landing that day. A long story..................

I retired from 35 years and 25000+ hours as an Airline Pilot in 1992 (age 60, you know) after 4 airlines: American, Central, Frontier and Continental flying DC-3s, Convair 240, 580 and 600s, B-737, MD-80 and B-727s........ Furlough, Mergers and Asset buyouts.

I became a Colonel in the CAF in 1976. While there I flew as engineer on the B-24 for a few flights (she was pretty ratty back then, Gary) until I became one of the early Sponsors on the PBJ-1J/B-25 "Devil Dog". I helped "Ozzie" Parrish and "Cowboy" Broyles get it airworthy and try to keep it that way. Flew as PIC mostly while moving it around the country in the summer and as Co-Pilot at the Airsho's when the other Sponsors were sure to show up! I left the CAF in 1993 for personal and physical reasons. All my CAF friends were flying west or dropping out and after the move from HRL to Midland, I just lost interest in the CAF's problems. Still wonder how the old airplanes are doing though and Gary's series on Diamond Lil are facinating. It's like watching an artist at work.

My wife of 53 years and I have 4 daughters and 11 grandkids, nearly all grown up. No big hobbies as such. Playing with the computer keeps me busy enough! We motorhomed around the US and Canada for 9 years until it got to be too much hooknup 'n unhookin' the hoses, cables, etc. We saw alot of country that I couldn't see from FL350 and thoroughly enjoyed most of it.

Hello,

My name is Jim Finlaw. I am 44 years old and I am from Springfield, Ohio. I have been lurking around this website for quite some time and I finally decided to register. I am a FAA licensed aircraft mechanic by trade and I enjoy working on all kinds of aircraft. My all-time favorites are warbirds. A good friend of mine is an aircraft broker and I sometimes help him maintain the warbirds he tries to sell off to his clients. These have included a B-25 Mitchell bomber, a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Vought F4U Corsair, North American P-51 Mustangs, Stearman bi-planes and AT-6 Texans. I also volunteer at the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio where I work in aircraft restoration. While there, I have restored to static display a North American RF-86F “Haymaker” recon fighter, a Bristol Beaufighter night fighter and I am currently working on a Japanese Kawanishi N1K-2 Shiden Kai “George 21” WWII fighter. My interest in warbirds actually started when I was a kid growing up and listening to my late father's wartime stories. My father was 2nd Lt. Donald Finlaw and he was a Bomber Pilot and an Instructor Pilot in the US Army Air Force during WWII. He started out in Fighter Pilot Training at Randolph Field in Texas where he flew the Curtiss P-36 Hawk, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and the plane that did him in as a fighter pilot, the Bell P-39D Airacobra. My father had very broad shoulders, was very muscular and he did not fit the Airacobra’s narrow cockpit too well. After two flights in the P-39, it left him with severely bruised shoulders that put him in the hospital. When he undergone a physical exam while in the hospital, he found out he was too overweight to become a fighter pilot. In fact, he had to get a waiver signed by General Hap Arnold himself just to maintain his flight status because he was so overweight. He was a very strong man back in those days and could easily lift 500 pounds like a sack of potatoes. Once my father obtained his waiver from Hap Arnold, he was sent to the Advanced Multi-Engine Training School at Moody Field near Valdosta, Georgia. My father graduated in Class 44B at Moody Field where he achieved the single highest multi-engine score in his class and the second highest multi-engine score in the entire USAAF during and throughout WWII. Everytime my father turned around, the Army was making him an Instructor Pilot. He flew 5 combat missions as a Co-Pilot in B-24's of the 512th BS, 376th BG. One of the requirements of being a Bomber Instructor Pilot in the US Army Air Force was that the IP must have combat experience to pass on to their students. My father taught B-17 training, B-24 training and Martin B-26 Marauder training at MacDill Field in Tampa, B-17 and B-24 training at Buckingham Field in Ft. Meyers, Florida, B-24 training at Loredo Field in Loredo, Texas and B-24 training at Maxwell Field in Alabama. He eventually became a B-29 pilot stationed at MacDill Field in July 1945 and he and his assigned B-29 crew just missed the war in the Pacific by just two weeks. The war had ended just two weeks to the day before they were to report for combat duty at Northwest Field in Guam. Sadly my father passed away in 1987 after a long illness. He was 64.

Our museum in Dayton now has two heavy bombers my father actually flew during the war. The Consolidated B-24D named "Strawberry Bitch" my father and one of his students ferried this very plane from Maxwell Field in Alabama to Benghasi, Libya in North Africa after its ball turret was repaired at Maxwell, where in Benghasi, it resumed its combat career with the 376th BG. The girl painted on the side of the fuselage did not have clothes on her back in those days. Our museum added clothes to her so school groups visiting our museum would not complain about the nudity. My father also flew and instructed in the Boeing B-17F "Memphis Belle" when it was assigned to the Training Command at MacDill Field. He flew and instructed in the Belle 5 times in 1944 and today I am helping to restore this very plane back to its former glory here in Dayton. My father always said “I could always get a lot more out of my students if I encouraged them to do the right thing than I ever could by yelling and screaming at them for doing something wrong.” He certainly encouraged me to do the right things in life.

I am still single, never married and have no kids of my own. I always wanted to get my pilots license, but have not done so yet. Maybe one of these years it will happen. I appologize for the long post.

Jim

Well first off hello to all, ive been reading these forums off and on since last year's airshow season.my name is jon and i have a warbird addiction i thought i could come and be with other addicts, hope im right. i volunteer at a local musuem working on a few planes such as the B-17 and B-25. they are chuckie and pacific prowler, i was on tour last year with the prowler. i was given crew chief duties and made sure the plane was checked out and pre-flighted so the owner/pilot could just get right to waht we had to do for the show/riders(media and guest). i aalso have a car(read mustang) addiction as well. i have a 65 coupe that ive had since 1993 and its undergoing the long full resto. ive been privledges enough to have about 8 hrs ride time in the B-17 and about 80-90 ride hours int the B-25(six months straight of airshow flying). i also have the privledge of catchign a ride in an sbd dauntless, have greater respect for the rear gunner after that ride. i have started a gun collection but it isnt even close to what ive seen on here. anythign i can do to help just ask.

Hi I'm Clay and I'm the guy who was in a hole in the ground who was shaking his fist at you pampered pilots as you fly OVER the rain! I spent ten years as an infantryman (Panama, Desert Storm, Somolia, Haiti, and Yugoslavie) before injuries forced me to retire and take up the lifestyle of a gentleman college student. I am majoring in Anthropology and intend to become a teacher some fine day. I have lurked at this site for about a year, and felt I shouldn't stick my nose in where I would obviously be the guy who knows almost nothing. But you folks all have such amazing stories, and pictures and I have such a strong childhood love for things with wings taht I couldn't resist. Please don't beat me TOO hard when I say something dumb. I am, after all, just a grunt

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Not at all man, welcome aboard.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Hello all, thought I'd introduce myself before I post anything else. My name is Greg, I'm 19, from Hamilton Ontario.
I first got interested in warbirds at age 10 when I went to a summer day camp at the Canadian Warplane Heritage in Hamilton. Immediately after the weeklong camp my parents got a membership for me, and I have been a member/volunteer ever since. Over the last 9 years I have learned a great deal, met some wonderful people and had a lot of fun. I have flown in the Harvard, Stearman, Chipmunk 3 times, Beech-18, DC-3, B-25 and PBY, and eventually I hope to fly with the museum.
I am near finishing my private Pilot licence, should have it in the next few weeks, and I intend to have a great summer before starting college this fall. I have worked at the Hamilton airport since I was 14, starting at Tim Hortons. I then moved on to a FBO at 17, while working here I had so much fun, and realized that I wanted a future in aviation. I was enrolled in University, and the weekend before classes started I made the final decision not to go to University for History, instead to go to college for Aircraft Maintainance. The company I worked for, TG Aviation went bankrupt and I currently am working for another FBO at the field. Anyone in the area feel free to come to Jetport!
My future aspirations are to have both my AME license and Commericial Pilot license and to work my way up in a corporate aviation setting, eventually I want to own an original J-3 Cub, and perhaps either have my own company or go to work for a museum or warbird collector. I am doing my best to keep an open mind and not get my heart set on a specific career as I have seen firsthand what the risks are in working in aviation.
Hope I can make some worthwhile contributions on this forum, I look forward to talking to those who are personally involved in the warbird community, and I hope to learn a lot

Hello, all I guess it is time for a intro. I'm Jim and I'm a warbirdaholic. I passed 40 last Dec. and still can't stop playing with old airplanes. I started back in the mid 80's as a member of the KC Warbirds. Our b-25J was Fairfax Ghost (oh, now you know where the name came from) We flew her till '92 when she was sold to the group that is now REDBULL .
I became an A&P worked for TWA and NWA. In the times I was doing airshows with the B-25 I had a blast. Now I have started working the airshow here in KC. wish we had b-25 here in kc. I miss the old girl. I make up for it with model airplanes 30 b-25 kits and counting. hope I can post here as well as many of you have with respect for all the different points of view. Now lets have some fun Jim.

I thought I would follow suit and introduce myself. My name is Jeff, I'm 28 and living in Vegas. I've loved warbirds ever since my dad tool me to the San Diego Aviation Museum in 1990 and I saw their F6F-3. Awesome bird! I really love pacific theatre aircraft, heavies and German aircraft.

For a career though I am a helicopter mechanic and 300 hr pilot. SO I have a great love old military helicopters as well. I have worked on the maintenance and upkeep of a couple of old ones myself, namely the Hiller OH-23G, the Kaman HH-43B/F, and the CH-54B. I even have the airframe for a OH-23D that I am trying to restore.

I am really interested in seeing if any one else here loves old rotors like I do. I am hoping to start a company someday specializing in WWII to Vietnam warbirds and Helicopters. See you guys around the board and maybe even an airshow or two!

Hi all;
My name is Joe Gertler. I was dragged into aviation collecting and business by my father, Joe Sr., as soon as I was able to walk to one of his planes. We had one of the oldest & largest aircraft salvage companies in the US for several decades. Being "blue-collar" guys, we could only afford to buy older aircraft salvage. As the years went on, these older projects and parts became 'vintage" and "antique" and we traded with all the world's collectors and museums. The three major collections we had, (aside form thosands of pre-WWII aircraft parts) were our pre-WWII aero engine collection-175 different engines, 48 that were WWI and earlier, and 19 were the only ones know of their type. Then against my Dad's pleas (He said there wqs NO market, or the market was too small to get back our cost) we bought 395,000 pieces of WWI German and Austro-Hungarian aircraft parts. Then I found ten crates of the Origial Company archives of The Wright Company for the entire time it was owned & run by the Wright Brothers 1909-1916. With all the lost historic original documents and contracts (signed by Orville & Wilbur)and 850 company letters that had never been seen by historians, and their entire ledger. etc Also the archives of the early Curtiss Companies from 1910-1923, and the archives of the First Glenn Martin Company 1912-1917, Also the records of The Wright-Martin Company. Later found most of the original records of the Advance/Weaver/Waco Aircraft Companies, and various other personal archives such as Cliff Henderson (who ran the National Air Races for the entire Golden Age of Air racing) and Boris Korvin- Kroukovsky, who worked and designed for Curtiss, Aeromarine and helped form and did most of ther designing for EDO company. Several feet of drawings of flying boats and seaplanes, hand-drawn with all his calculations & notes etc. Have owned a good number of rare & one-of-a-kind vintage aircraft over the years, from 1911 Bleriot, to 1928 Birdwing Imperial, to Luscombe Colt etc.. Have details and photos of some of this on my website (as in my signature, below.) Look forward to discusing a lot of these vintage aircraft on this forum. Have many file cabinets of original photos & documents & massive aero reference library.

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hundreds of images of aero art, memorabilia, photos and artifacts at;
www.memaerobilia.com

Greetings-
My name is David, I'm a born aeropsace nut with no math ability at all. I worked for 2yrs with Skywest Airline as a ramper, funnest job I ever had and also the brokest I ever was. I have a US Parachute Association 'D' license, which is allegedly an expert rating. My favorite planes to jump from are the C-47, Skyvan, any helicopter, hot air balloon, Pilatus Porter and the Beech 18. Most skydives were from C182's . I don't jump anymore because of the cost which is too much and goes with all aviation related stuff it would seem.

I was turned down by all the military branches because of a food allergy, am nuts about naval aviation and especially the F-8 Crusader. I am in lust with Patty Wagstaff.

That may be just a bit too much information for an introduction David!

Patty Wagstaff...GREATGOOGLYMOOGLY Whoops...better not go there as this is a family site

My name is Darrell and as is the case with so many others on this site, I lurked around for quite a while until I figured out that I might just fit in here with the other airplaneaholics. My Dad likes to tell the story of how he sat in the waiting room at the hospital that I was born at and spent his time chatting with a gentleman who was waiting for his firstborn son also. The gentleman happened to be a Thunderbird pilot. My Dad kids around with me about how there might have been a switcheroo when I was born as my Dad knows of my deep-rooted love of anything that flies. I am one of those strange people that you do not want to follow too closely down a sidewalk as I am prone to stop at any moment to look up and try to figure out what is flying over at that time. The gentleman in charge of aircraft maintenance at Grissom Air Museum recently asked me if I would try to put into words my love for aviation so that we could possibly use that to motivate young people and try to bring them into the world of aviation at some capacity. I am still pondering that. Within the last ten years, I became specifically interested in World War 2 aviation. I am by far not even close to being an expert nor do I think I will ever be fortunate to devote enough time to become one. For now, I enjoy hearing the stories from the veterans who are my heroes who include the late General Robin Olds, General Guenther Rall, Colonel Bud Anderson and so many other wonderful gentlemen who are so kind to take the time and talk to a novice such as myself. I could never be so lucky to live such a rich and wonderful life as so many of my heroes have, so I live vicariously through them.

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Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

Hi all,

I apologize for the long post in advance, but I have been reading for two days straight. I'm grateful that this forum exists and I hope to meet and participate in some events with you folks in the future.

My name is Ed, I first became an aviation nut when we lived in Puerto Rico in the early 70s. My dad was a SEAL there, and at the time they had a facility there for creating target drones out of older fighters (sad). I remember getting to play around in a boneyard there, and getting to flip all the switches in a F4 cockpit, and I was HOOKED. We later moved to Fla, where we regularly attended the airshows on the Navy base at NAS Jax. I also got to do a few dependant cruises on the USS Forrestal and watching the takeoffs/ landings was incredible. Before graduating high school, I had the distinct pleasure of joining the Boy Scouts and meeting many fine aviation enthusiasts through our Scoutmaster Mike Marco, who owned several executive aircraft, a Bonanza, and a Pitts Special, which he flew in airshows regularly. Sadly, he and an FAA instructor died while he was practicing for his multiengine certification off the coast of Jax. His brother David owned a P-51 the last time I spoke to him, maybe he is a member here or someone knows him.

I joined the AF out of high school, and became a Radar Tech, which kept me near the runways. We had the great fortune of getting assigned to RAF Alconbury in England, about 15 minutes North of Duxford. We've been there many times for the airshows, and to see the ongoing restorations taking place. The Sally B and various others would fly over our house all the time, we were that close.

My father-in-law, now 86, was a crew chief on the P47, and was assigned to the flight test group at Wright Field during WWII. He was there for all the development changes to the aircraft, and just recently (after a long hospitalization) has taken down his incredible collection of photos, newspaper articles, engine manuals, etc. from his days in the AF. Hopefully I'll be able to share some of them here.

In the meantime, I'd love to know if any P47s will be coming through NC, I'd love to pack my Father in law up and take him to see one in action.

Ed

What else is there to say... aviation is a devouring passion.

When I was young in Villeray neighbourhood of Montréal, I was lucky enough to live just near the path of approaching aircrafts for the 24L runway at Dorval.

My father worked for Aviation Electric (which later became Bendix, Bendix Avelec and Allied Signal Aerospace). He encouraged my aviation interests bringing back old (but not so to my mind) aviation magazines.

As a teenager, I spent numerous Sunday afternoons with a pair of binoculars sitting on the rear balcony of our house. Blocked on one side by the house wall and on the other by a shed on top of the garage, I was left with a very small piece of sky to see the planes come in with less than 10 seconds worth of observation time. It was a bountiful period where piston driven planes past by between a turboprop and those very new jets!

In order to prepare myself for that very short period of observation, I trained myself to sound recognition of incoming planes. Those engines had different and very caracteristic sound signatures. After a while, no need to see them to differentiate aViscount from a Vanguard or a DC-9 from a Boeing 727 or even a Vickers VC-10.


Those who share this passion know how it feels to see a rare bird fly by.
My observation point permitted just that once in a while, like this Tupolev-114 en route to Dorval in September 1967.


I guess, there was a few planes I saw flying by that could now be tagged "warbirds" or certainly "vintage" like these observations I made in 1966 from my house ... RCAF T2V1 Seastar, Nordair Curtis Commando, DC-3s, RCAF CF-104 Starfighter, Nordair Super Constellation, a G44 Widgeon, not to mention the airliners of the time...

Now I'm more into fly-ins as these "social" gatherings permit me to come in close contact with the aviation world.

I'm not that familiar with war birds but I must admit hearing that C-47 engines brought back immediate memories. Piston engine... ah the sound of it!

J-P

http://membres.lycos.fr/djipibi
http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=3983
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.s ... re%20Bonin
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djipibi/sets/