A real rarity

[Chad Veich]

Imagine this bird, along with the long dormant CAF Guardian and maybe an Avenger or two, at an airshow near you. This is another picture from Gerald Martin and here is what he says about it:

"This is a rare one. The airplane is the Martin AM-1 Mauler and this was its' first flight in 30yrs+. The people involved dragged it first to Lubbock, Tx and finally to Brownfield Tx and that's where I flew it twice. Once to see if it was OK and second for the GADO people to secure a license.
I then flew it to Lubbock for an airshow and flew it again in that operation making a total of four flights.
It then was torn up on the first takeoff by another guy after that with no injury to him, but the machine was badly bent.
So, due to the rareity of the type, I can claim to be the last Mauler pilot in the World. Let me know if you want to see more pix and I'll dig some up. Regards PS the name bestowed was Mable......"

[Robbie Stuart]

Great stuff Chad Thanks for sharing.
Robbie

[Tom Crawford]

Do you know what happened to the Mauler after in crashed, I presume in Lubbock? Sometime ago I was paging through a magazine and there was a damaged Mauler airframe just West of Interstate 35 at a small airport along with some other misc. frames. I think it was not to far South of Ft. Worth. The only other I know of is in Tillamook, Oregon and it's fairly complete....Tom

[RickH]

Pensacola, has a Mauler. It's right next to the Skyraider.

Tom, is it possible that you are talking about the Pate Transportation Museum ? They also had an F-4, C-119, C47, Canadian F101, T-28, etc...
Big surprise was a large wooden hulled minesweeper!

The Pate Museum was closed a few years back and the aircraft were dispersed to other locations.

[mike furline]

Here's some info.

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... highlight=

[retroaviation]

That Mauler in the picture is sitting here in Midland (in pieces) next to another Mauler (in pieces).

[Warbirdnerd]

That Mauler in the picture is sitting here in Midland (in pieces) next to another Mauler (in pieces).

From October '05
Anyone want to sponsor the rebuild???

[John Beyl]

Nerd,

'member when yer ma scolded you for puttin' too much chow on your plate at dinner and said, "Boy...your eyes are bigger than your stomach!" Get my drift? I guess it's nothing a million dollars and a small army of talented craftsman couldn't fix. Unfortunately the CAF has none of the first to hire any of the second. I take it you haven't won the lottery yet? How about that rare B-23 in the background of one of your photo's......

John

[Chad Veich]

Bent or not, outside storage does not seem a fitting place for the old girl.

[marine air]

This reminds me of a post I had a while back; why doesn't the CAF sell some more of their non airworthy assets and focus on getting and keeping the airworthy aiplanes going and producing revenue?
The Mauler might find a sponsor if they washed it, gave it a fresh coat of blue, and had it sitting in the hangar, with a propellor on it . This would give it the appearance it could be made flyable again. IIRC, the reason why it crashed was because the pilot had the turbosupercharger in high blow insted of low blow or something and he screwed up on takeoff. It wasn't the airplane's fault. Another needless accident caused back lack of familiarity with the aircraft's systems. (Dash-1)

[Andy in West Oz]

Very cool a/c. Now, back to working on the winning lottery numbers!

[Ztex]

The Pate Museum was closed a few years back and the aircraft were dispersed to other locations.

The Pate Museum is still "open" sort of...they still have several aircraft on "display". I think the only planes left are the C-119, UH-16 Albatros, the F-101 and the H-21? Flying Banana. I will be out that way later in the week...maybe I can get some pics.

Z

[retroaviation]

This reminds me of a post I had a while back; why doesn't the CAF sell some more of their non airworthy assets and focus on getting and keeping the airworthy aiplanes going and producing revenue?

Well, we're working on that...slowly. Would you like to purchase a non-airworthy, but mostly complete, JRB (Beech 18 ) from us? I've also got a whole pile of parts from various types of airplanes on the "hill" that are now available (just holler at me if you have a particular request). The latest word I've got is that we're going to try to get the B-23 in better static condition and put it on display in the hangar...unless you'd like to make us an offer we can't refuse on it too.

That's the first time I've heard that version of the "mishap" that doomed the Mauler. Do you have any other details on that?

Gary Austin
Crew Chief, B-29/B-24 Squadron
CAF

[marine air]

THat is just what I remember hearing what happened to it. An NTSB report would be most accurate. It seems like that is what got the last Columbine "Superduck" too. There have been so many aircraft lost over the last 30 years, I can't remember exactly.
Yes I would be interested in a project or possibly CAF sponsorship. I have been selling off junk this summer and hope to build a hangar this Fall. What kinds of projects do you guys have?
A good friend of mine, an A& P just finished his hangar and we are looking for projects. Do you have any BT-13 's ?

[retroaviation]

Marine Air,

I'll send you a personal message so I don't "clog up" the message board with our other stuff.

Gary