Rod Lewis' collection

[Pat Carry]

With seemingly endless acquistions, does anyone have a list of Mr Lewis' collection now? Is is housed in any type of museum or is it strictly private?

[cg51]

I'm sure there is more but this is a start.
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... 1&PageNo=1

[L. Thompson]

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... ertxt=777L

Just another Bearcat. A little faster than the others.

[ZRX61]

I think it's safe to say he's cornered the market in Grummans

[Pat Carry]

His P-47 is the one from Tillamook, right?

[Warbird Kid]

Yep, Been repainted. Any Air 2 Air of it yet?

[hahnej]

Kinda wondered why he hasn't bought the LSFM Bearcat; he seems to have bought every other one lately....?

[Coert Munk]

There's an interesting story on B-25 44-30456 N125PF in het new Russian colours in AC 46-6, just released.
Coert

[warbird1]

I'm really looking forward to seeing Rod's early C model P-40 fly. There's not too many of those around, but that should be the 3rd flyable one after completion.

[Pogo]

Who is this guy, and where's he at? Why do I suspect it's a Texas thing? Why would such a collection be kept Top Secret?

[L. Thompson]

...and is N76CJ the former Matt Jackson/Dave Cornell "American Spirit" racer, an R-3350 tricycle gear Unlimited Racer design with T-2 Buckeye major components? It was stored along the back wall of the Bear Cave last year at the Reno races.

[warbird1]

Who is this guy, and where's he at? Why do I suspect it's a Texas thing? Why would such a collection be kept Top Secret?

Are you being facetious, or do you really not know who he is?

[Pogo]

Really don't know. The Q was asked in good faith. Thanks for asking.

[warbird1]

Really don't know. The Q was asked in good faith. Thanks for asking.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be a smart ass, I just thought he was so well-known that everybody who reads WIX would know already, especially one who lives in Texas.

Well, here's a start, he is the head of this company:

http://www.lewisenergy.com/pages/company.htm


He's an independently wealthy multi-millionaire (billionaire?) who has amassed an amazing collection in quite a short time. He is on par with Paul Allen, except his stuff is not secret. I think people perceive he is being secretive, simply because he doesn't have a central place to store everything. The bulk of his collection is located in South Central Texas, with several scattered throughout the San Antonio area and some at his private ranch/airstrip somewhere down near Cotulla or Laredo - can't remember where. Rumor is that he is looking to buy a bunch of land in South Central Texas to be used as a central base of operations and for developing a new public air museum. Apparently he's had some issues with the city developers/planners/council members of the prospective sites, so nothing is concrete yet.

The cool thing is that I've heard he's a pilot's pilot and loves to talk to anybody who has an interest in warbirds or flying. He is checked out and flies everything or nearly everything he owns. He is most notable for buying the P-38 "Glacier Girl" for supposedly the most amount of money ever paid for a warbird. I've heard of figures in the multi-millions. He also owns many Grummans, including 3 or 4 Bearcats and many other extremely rare airplanes. He is gobbling up warbirds at an alarming pace. He has also bought a major portion of the top Unlimited contender Reno racers and owns Rarebear, among others. Mr. Lewis apparently had a serious cancer scare a few years ago, and decided he wanted to start "living" and chasing his dreams of owning many warbirds. That started the ball rolling and he's been going strong ever since.

I look for Mr. Lewis to become one of the preeminent warbird collectors and will probably surpass Paul Allen shortly.

Any more info you want, just do a search here for Rod Lewis and you will come up with dozens of threads in the archives about him and his collection.

He's definitely one of the most positive things to happen to the warbird world since Dave Tallichet started amassing his collection back in the 70's. I hope he gobbles up everything in sight, because that way we will be sure of seeing his planes flying at an airshow!

[Pogo]

Thanks for that, and please excuse me for bristling. So who's Paul Allen?

Funny thing is, I've been hanging around the warbirds scene since the latter half of the seventies, so you'd think I'd know all this stuff. But fact is, I was only ever interested in the airplanes and not the people behind them. I still don't care much, mostly just trying to keep up with the chatter here on WIX. Your R. Lewis thumbnail really makes a lot of stuff I see here make a lot more sense, so thanks again.

As for 'doing a search', I agree a person ought to be expected to do a bit of homework before asking questions. But I seem to be a bomb at searching in general, and this forum software doesn't seem to support searches worth a hoot to boot. It's the same software as on another forum I check in with on a daily basis, and same thing there - frustration! Sorry, but whaddya expect from an ancient old 50-year-old guy.....?