Pearl Harbor Vet for Sale...

[Warbirdnerd]

World War II veteran sells his Pearl Harbor plane
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July 22, 2008 - 12:32PM
TOM RISEN Staff Writer
ADELANTO— After a lifetime of flying, a World War II veteran is selling his last and favorite plane — one that saw America’s first civilian casualties at Pearl Harbor.


Built about the same time that Phil Brown, 87, decided to be a pilot after meeting his hero, aviation pioneer Wiley Post, the 1933 Waco UCI is a big part of history.


Flying the Waco, Brown won awards at the Hesperia Air Show and Merced Air Show. Now with his eyesight fading and his back weak after surgery last year, Brown isn’t the pilot he used to be.


“I’m getting old and my flying days are about over,” said Brown. “That plane is a part of history and I want to pass it on to someone else.”


That history is stained with the blood of its first owner, Robert Tyce, who died from Japanese gunfire on Dec. 7, 1941. At the start of that day of infamy, Tyce flew the Waco, escorting two trainee pilots, according to Leean Swanson, Brown’s sales agent.


“A wave of Japanese ‘Zero’ fighters showed up and shot down Tyce’s wingmen,” said Swanson. “Tyce escaped to land the Waco safely at his hangar, but Japanese fighter planes strafed the air strip and killed him.”


Meanwhile, Brown enlisted in the Army Air Corp. in Texas that same day. He spent the next three years in South Pacific combat zones from Guadalcanal to the Philippines, landing on beaches to build air strips or flying observation missions.


“One time we built an air strip in the Philippines so Gen. Douglas MacArthur could land,” said Brown.


Leaving the service hooked on flying, Brown got his commercial pilot’s license. Though he worked as a general contractor, he did some kind of flying work for the rest of his life. After years of success in construction and his private company, Phil Brown Aviation, Brown began collecting airplanes. He has owned a total of 11.


The Waco had gone through a strange journey as well, changing hands after Tyce’s death before winding up dismantled and forgotten in a crate in California. Brown wanted the rare plane and didn’t know its history when he bought it in the 1970’s.


“After I spent two years rebuilding it, I started going through the plane’s logbooks and realized it had come from Pearl Harbor,” said Brown. “After I joined the Waco Classic Aircraft Corporation, it got attention and was used in a few films like ‘The Rocketeer’ and shows like ‘The All-American Hero.’”


Now one of the oldest licensed pilots in California, the adventurous aviator is depressed that he needs to sell his last plane.


“I think there are only three of that model left, so there are several museums interested in it,” said Brown. “It’s depressing to have to sell it, but I’ve loved flying my whole life and I always will.”

Tom Risen may be reached at 951-6232 or at trisen@vvdailypress.com.

Found it here:
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/adelan ... arbor.html

[David_Aiken]

Aloha All,
This WACO serial 3767, NC13408, was owned by K-T Flying Service. It was in Hawaii at John Rogers Field. It flew nine hours and 35 minutes in December 1941. That is all which the aircraft log states.

If it was flying on 7 Dec ... not known.

Cheers,
David Aiken

[Wheels up]

For those interested in the correct hue of blue....it's a model UIC. Originally produced 6-9-33, delivered to Willis D George of Great Neck, L.I. Colors were Cadillac Blue w/ 3 line striping in Gold.

A bit too much information, eh?

[astixjr]

Is this the actual biplane that was represented by a Stearman in the movie Tora Tora Tora? I heard or read somewhere that the scene in the movie was loosely based on an actual event that took place on December 7th 1941. Anyone know?

[Nathan]

I think around 7 civil planes were flying that morning...a few got shot down too!

[Richard W.]

If the story's true, I wish that Tora Tora Tora! hadn't made the incident with the female civilian pilot into a comic scene.

[Nathan]

Was that Ethel from "I love Lucy" flying the Stearman in the movie?

[Chris Brame]

Was that Ethel from "I love Lucy" flying the Stearman in the movie?

No, that was Jean Marie "Jeff" Donnell as Cornelia Fort, one of the other pilots up that day with a student. Here's her IMDB listing:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0232655/

She did look and sound a bit like Vivian Vance, and with the helmet and goggles, it was easy to mistake Jeff for Vivian.

Here's Cornelia's wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelia_Fort

And here's a description by Cornelia herself about the events of December 7th:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsh ... sp?id=1546

[David_Aiken]

Aloha All,
The Tora! movie was trying to tell a few of the civilian aviation stories in one scene. Cornelia Clark Fort was not the ONLY female airborne with a student that "Day of Infamy". The owner of Gambo Flying Service, Margarite Gambo was in an Aeronca, yet did NOT fly near any Japanese plane. She was the older lady "replicated" in the movie, yet called "Cornelia Fort" (who was age 22 at the time) The movie's senario of flying into a B5N unit's airspace was the story of yet another civilian plane, piloted by Roy Vitousek.
HTH,
David Aiken