tornado of 1979

[whistlingdeath77]

the nose is gone i believe,( i haven't seen it last time i was there.) It had a tree growing thru it! The last pic is of " Liberty Belle" Jerry, did the corsair receive that dent in it's left wing from the storm or just from moving it around?

[old iron]

Jerry O'Neill, in his list of aircraft destroyed in the tornado included

The replica Chanute Hang Glider was a total loss.

This was actually an original 1909 glider built from "Mechanix Illustrated" (if I remember right) plans. It may have had some similarities to one of the Chanute designs but was not built as a reproduction, same as so many of the Curtiss-type aircraft of the period built by independent constructors are not listed as "Curtiss-replicas".

The glider was in complete original condition on loan from NASM. A real loss, as there is nothing else like it surviving, original and of that period.

[viking73]

Wasn't there also an F-94C Starfire that was destroyed?

-Derek

[Jerry O'Neill]

F-94 is still in the collection and received almost no damage. The Dent in the Corsair is from the Tornado.
You're right about the Chanute, I was just remembering it as not being one of Chanute's Chanute's but still being a period "Chanute". Thanks for the correction. Thunderbolt, F-100, etc. all received dings tears and wind "sand blast" damage to some degree.
Lucky the Burnelli CBY-3 was in the storage area and not near where the tornado hit. It's soon to be moved and restoration started.
Jerry

[JohnB]

Anyone still have momento of the C-124 they'd perhaps care to part with?

[Cherrybomber13]

F-94 Starfire (I would love to get this indoors and repaint it)




Skycrane




Grumman E1B Tracer


Martin Canberra

[Jerry O'Neill]

Drew;
Believe it or not, that F-94 was painted and cosmetically restored in 1985-86 by Denis Savage and his son's.
The New England weather has proved once again that you really can't display these fragile aircraft outdoors.
Jerry

[Cherrybomber13]

Jerry,
Here Here to that! Just imagine what she would have looked like if someone had mounted her on a pole near the LI Sound... Oh yea thats right...

[agent86]

Tornadoes really suck,people think that california is bad because of earthquakes.I've lived here my whole life(50) and have never even lost a plate or anything to an earthquake.after you realize its not the big one,they are actually kinda fun .The whole world is shaking and its similar to a Disneyland E ticket ride.Now when the big one hits,I might change my opinion but I have lived through every big one since 71 and no damage so far.Tornadoes look like no fun to me.Hurricanes suck too

[whistlingdeath77]

at least they pulled the mig inside. Thanks for the info Jerry on that Corsair. Can you believe that A-26 invader sat outside for that long? AND it's a ww2 combat Veteran! Thank god she's inside being restored, but now the f4-phantom is outside again and THATS a combat veteran also! Credited with 2 kills right?

[whistlingdeath77]

[viking73]

Thanks for the F-94 pics Drew. She's looking pretty rough these days, maybe she'll get some TLC soon.

-Derek

[Jerry O'Neill]

Frank;
The only thing the museum knew about the A-26 was that it went to Europe in early 1945. After some searching of photos with close serial numbers, I found out which squadron it was most likely in and Dave Isner confirmed it with the Groups organization.
Nobody until the mid 1990's knew it's combat record.
Jerry

[cwmc]

I like that really pretty French airliner there.
What's that you say? Scrapped while being completely intact?
Oh, No!
Chris...

[whistlingdeath77]

Frank;
The only thing the museum knew about the A-26 was that it went to Europe in early 1945. After some searching of photos with close serial numbers, I found out which squadron it was most likely in and Dave Isner confirmed it with the Groups organization.
Nobody until the mid 1990's knew it's combat record.
Jerry

i didn't know that. thanks for the update Jerry. What about the F4-Phantom thats outside? Do we know the combat record of that aircraft?