Der Gabelschwanz Teufel s/n 44-26981

[Jack Cook]

Jeff Harris sent me some info on the work done on this Lightning and some more photos.. They didn't fly Friday due to weather but will again next week. Jack Croul is deseves a big atta boy for putting this P-38 back where it belongs.
Our goal was to give it the lov'in it deserves without breaking the bank.
We zero'd out the Wheeler engines that only had 10 hours on them ( that is another story )...went thru all fittings/hoses/hydraulics/cables /pullys etc...went after mechanical reliability....zero'd out the cockpit & I personally will take the hit for less than authentic panel etc ( in the spirit of...lets fly it a lot and have what we need in todays atc environment to be safe)....but still try to honor some originality....same as the mustang....we spent a fair amount of time on the ldg gear...replaced the outer wing cells( they were unusable previously)...replaced a fair bit of metal....re-did the horrible nose that was on it..and are continuining to work on a real fighter nose from PNG that we will rebuild and install soon...replaced with new build lower vertcal stabilizers.....went thru all the coolant sys/actuators etc.....we went thru it & picked up were everyone else quite....I think we did quite well based on yesterdays flight's...we still have some metal to replace & exterior cosmetics but weve certainly come a long way since we got her.....she will no longer be the bastard child of a million cheezy foster homes....

Last edited by Jack Cook on Sun Apr 08, 2007 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[daveymac82c]

amazing might be a good word to describe the work you've done on that plane. Thank you for sharing your pictures.

Cheers,

David

[Jack Cook]

amazing might be a good word to describe the work you've done on that plane.

That would be Jack Croul, Jeff Harris and a number of other amazing talents

[mustangdriver]

She is a piece of work. Awsome.

[retroaviation]

Beautiful work indeed. VERY impressive! I wish I could turn out a product like that.

Gary

[Steve Nelson]

As my Alabamian girlfreind would say, "Purtiful!"

SN

[Lightning]

Howdy Jack

Do you know if a new paint scheme is in the works, for Croul's P-38 ?

Thanks

Get Em Flying

Lightning

[Jase]

Um, you have, Gary. See the work done on BOTH 4 engine Queens o' da fleet.

Beautiful work indeed. VERY impressive! I wish I could turn out a product like that.

Gary

[Jack Cook]

The 4th flight was today with no issues

[Jim Beasley]

man that looks awesome. Congrats to all.

[Bill Greenwood]

That cockpit may not be fully original, I see an electric AI and DG, but it sure looks military and first class. I'm not familiar with this plane or the restorers. Does anyone have a brief history? I wonder how an those Allisons could have "only 10 hours on them". It says that is another story. If it is really 10 hours, how does it get to be "zeroed out"? Is that like a Britney Spears marriage that gets annulled the next day so it doesn't count? Is a transatlantic trip planned for this plane?

[Jack Cook]

Bill,
There was some serious issues with the A.C.E. engines and the FAA. There was a thread about it last year here. I wonder if anyone knows the outcome?????

[C170BDan]

I'm not familiar with this plane or the restorers. Does anyone have a brief history?

I believe this is the airframe referenced in this thread...

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p38regis ... 26981.html

[dhenderson]

My father, H. L. "Shorty" Henderson, was the sole pilot of this aircraft 1946 - 1951 when it was owned by Aero Exploration in Tulsa, OK. He had flown F-5's in a photo recon squadron in the Pacific during WW II, during which time he met my mother, who was a Red Cross stenographer in Honolulu. Dad was also based on Oahu, in "Kualoa by the sea, where the beaver is no longer eager." They told me he would buzz the Red Cross building in his F-5 and all the girls would run outside and wave at him. She said the sound of the engines was very distinctive; it almost seemed chain-driven.

He married my mom after the war and settled in her home town of Tulsa, OK, where he went to work at Brown Airport, and met Fred Casler, the owner of Aero Exploration. He flew this aircraft and a Cessna 195 on aerial mapping assignments for Fred. He subsequently hired on as a First Officer with American Airlines, and in 1960, when American closed its Tulsa crew base, moved our family to the Dallas area. He retired from American as a DC-10 captain in 1979 and died peacefully at home in Irving, TX, on October 19, 2006.

My brother and I are delighted to find the links to the photos and history of a plane our father flew, and we especially appreciate the care with which it has been restored and maintained. I hope we get to see it in person someday.

Dan Henderson
Sunnyvale, CA

[Jack Cook]

Dan,
Check out this thread for photos.
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12954
It's based at Chino.
If you want to see it up close I'll hook you up with Jeff Harris who
is it's pilot and caretaker for owner Jack Croul.