Looks like another boring day at the FHC

[The Inspector]

Lots of things are in flux. I don't know what's up with the 104's, maybe a money issue with Dorn. Right now they're working on a type 32 A6M new build that came from Colorado that will fly, and a scary, for display only FAUX WULF 190 started by someone out of tubing and fibreglass, and it's rude and crude, lots of first quarter welds. It's for a museum and will be nicely done, but definitely a 10 footer for those in the know.

Welcome aboard the thrill ride we like to call WIX

[Pat Carry]

Pat,
If you read my reply to him, I asked Ploesti how he got on top of SNOPACs roof. SNOPAC is Snohomish County's emergency coordination control center and it's offices front 111th St. which runs past FHC, they are old USAF offices from the days when KPAE was PAINE AFB. (I wouldn't be caught standing on 65 year old U.S. Gummint spec'd construction)

Back in the early 60's/early 70's KPAE had a lot of activity including the home for Miss America, SCRAP IRON IV, Ben Halls F-86A (now back in the U.S.), and lots of WARBUGS too. Then there was a change of command ceremony and the new airport manager ran everyone off, he even resented the annual States Official Air Shows but had to tolerate them. Things were pretty dull until a new, more progressive manager was hired by the County.

You all are more than welcome to come visit, the only conditions are; you MUST swear it poured rain every second you were here and never got above 52f with strong winds, the streets are still unpaved, you saw the Sun for about 15 seconds on your way to the airport and were amazed that all the locals tore off their clothes and headed for the Lake with water skis and coolers (this IS the home ground for 'fish belly white'), everyone dressed like they were heading for 'The Crocodile' for a grunge concert (we ARE partial to plaid shirts an Levis and CARHART jackets). Plan ahead as our annual Rain Fest run from early June through late May. Keep our corner of heaven secret, we are already full of transplanted Californicationers who can't drive in snow or ice.

SPEEDY, that hanger was removed a few years ago by a hay farmer from Eastern Washington who offerd to remove it for free, true to his word he and his sons showed up three weekends in a row and unbolted them and loaded them on a trailer and they are now somewhere in the Paloose as a neato loafing shed. Ben and Chuck Lyford (BARDAHL)are still around and could tell some interesting tales about flying in Cental America in the late 60's in F4U's and P-51's.

Don't mess with me, I'm a native here, you can tell who we are, we walk, not run in the rain and never use a umbrella

Oops, I missed that. Yesterday I was groggy all day from a medical procedure in the AM. I think my head is all clear today. Thanks for all that info. That area could be referred to as "Chino North" or maybe Chino is now "Everett South"!

[Pat Carry]

Allens 262 is on the 'rivet of the month' club in England. The tan alert hanger in the background over the fence (room for two F-102's), with what looks to be Austin and Johns trucks in front, is where the replica 262's are born. The two bays on the extreme left are 'Kahn Air' (don't ask ). the small tin shed is airport maintenance storage. The ugly 3/4 quonset is the new fire house.
HFF (John Sessions' facility) is across the field out the left (West) side of the photo-Boeing is way out the right (North) edge of the picture. Every empty space in between is filled with new 787's awaiting post delivery mods and structural updates in ATS' Hgr 3 behind the photographers position (how did you get on the SNOPAC office roof?) view is mostly WNW.

262 hasn't been in the UK for a couple of years now.

I would assume that, without looking, the photo is from the FHC Facebook page

If not in the UK, where it it now? Inquiring minds want to know.

[The Inspector]

Pat,
Hoping you are feeling better,
There are some interesting projects stashed in hangers on the field, Bud Granley is on the North end across from what used to be RSTOL's headquarters (now the MoF Restoration facility). Don't know if they are still here or not,but there was a million dollar hanger that housed a gorgeous orange with cream stripes show stopper D-17 STAGGERWING and a 7W SPARTAN that the guy flew like it was supposed to be flown, resplendent in patinated bare aluminum. Couple of senior STINSON SR 10's including a beauty in Maroon with Silver striping.
The prototype GANNETT was here for years and years before flying away (G-44 WIDGEON with CONTINENTAL R-670's).
The Cascades Warbirds are in attendance for General Aviation Day in May and Vintage Weekend every September and bring some 'interesting' stuff, like the only flying TEMCO T-35 BUCKAROO, a homebuilt LOCKHEED 'Little Dipper', a formaton team made up of three NAVIONS, etc, etc. Then there's KAWI Arlington just up the freeway-

[ChrisDNT]

God, this is the Ali Baba's caverna of the real warbirds fan : amazing aircrafts painted in matte colors, with acurate schemes or let natural aluminium, better it can't be.
I do hope to get there one day to see that in person !!!

[Ploesti]

How about this shot? What's the story from this angle on buildings in the background? Interesting insight inspector. Thx.
Amazing B-25



And then there was this lineup a while back. (none of these photos are mine, all off the FHC facebook page)



Still amazes me that this ...



... turned into this ...



Amazing work that many, many of the world's top restorers do with what I would asume most would think could not be restored. always impressed.

[The Inspector]

Ploesti,
That view ('behind 'BUSTER')is sort of WSW Seattle is off in the haze....er...distance (we are under a big High right now and have a small inversion layer, it's warmer in the Passes and ski areas which explains the sunshine). The structure is the very, very old airport firehouse and hose drying tower, it dates back to WW2, is wood and asbestos and sits right on the edge of Alpha, the N/S taxiway. The County declared it a health hazard and for a couple years the airport firemen bunked in 12X40 trailers outside the old firehouse while the new (and VERY VERY UGLY, maybe it's the BLAH color) one was built, visible in the first photos posted. The old firehouse is scheduled to be torn down, but being infested with 65 year old asbestos, it'll be tricky.

ATS' (formerly BADWRENCH/TRAMCO's) Hgr. 3 is out the left side (South) across 111th and down 30 feet (topographic issues)which is now leased by Boeing to do post assembly/change incorp mods on early 787's, it's big enough to hold 4 747's and a flock of 737's inside plus the paint bay on the West end. I expect Boeing will buy it from ATS which is owned by a Australian bank/aircraft leasing outfit, and will become the completion center for KC-46's built up @ the North end.

If you GOOGLE EARTH Paine Field, Hgr 3 is fronted by a 14 million gallon water tank that provides fire supression for the two ATS hangers, water for Mukilteo and South Everett. FHC is the Quonset roofed hanger between the two ATS hangers.

I suggested when the water tower went up since it's over 120 feet tall, that the airport should paint a big eyeball on the top so the Russians and Chinese knew that while they could watch us, we were watching them too!

The current GOOGLE EARTH (Paine Field Everett,WA.) picture was taken on a Saturday around Noon, if you bore in on FHC you can see the crowd and parking lot for "Fly Day' and by pulling back, you can see what KPAE looks like covered in non flying plastic airplanes.

Last edited by The Inspector on Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Mark Allen M]

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Last edited by Mark Allen M on Sat Sep 08, 2012 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[The Inspector]

I'm assuming Paul Allen and his FHC is going to have to expand it's facilities in the future to accommodate it's increasing collection.

I'm guessing but feel that VULCAN will make an offer on ATS' Hgr 1 and move around the ramp to there it's the smaller (125,000 sq ft.) of the two newer hangers @ the South end surrounded by UPS 767's and SWA blue wieners

[Pat Carry]

Ploesti,
That view ('behind 'BUSTER')is sort of WSW Seattle is off in the haze....er...distance (we are under a big High right now and have a small inversion layer, it's warmer in the Passes and ski areas which explains the sunshine). The structure is the very, very old airport firehouse and hose drying tower, it dates back to WW2, is wood and asbestos and sits right on the edge of Alpha, the N/S taxiway. The County declared it a health hazard and for a couple years the airport firemen bunked in 12X40 trailers outside the old firehouse while the new (and VERY VERY UGLY, maybe it's the BLAH color) one was built, visible in the first photos posted. The old firehouse is scheduled to be torn down, but being infested with 65 year old asbestos, it'll be tricky.

ATS' (formerly BADWRENCH/TRAMCO's) Hgr. 3 is out the left side (South) across 111th and down 30 feet (topographic issues)which is now leased by Boeing to do post assembly/change incorp mods on early 787's, it's big enough to hold 4 747's and a flock of 737's inside plus the paint bay on the West end. I expect Boeing will buy it from ATS which is owned by a Australian bank/aircraft leasing outfit, and will become the completion center for KC-46's built up @ the North end.

If you GOOGLE EARTH Paine Field, Hgr 3 is fronted by a 14 million gallon water tank that provides fire supression for the two ATS hangers, water for Mukilteo and South Everett. FHC is the Quonset roofed hanger between the two ATS hangers.

I suggested when the water tower went up since it's over 120 feet tall, that the airport should paint a big eyeball on the top so the Russians and Chinese knew that while they could watch us, we were watching them too!

The current GOOGLE EARTH (Paine Field Everett,WA.) picture was taken on a Saturday around Noon, if you bore in on FHC you can see the crowd and parking lot for "Fly Day' and by pulling back, you can see what KPAE looks like covered in non flying plastic airplanes.

Wow, you are a walking encyclopedia for that area!

[The Inspector]

Well, when you spend nearly 20 years working on the same field (and had hung out on for years before that), you tend to pick up info which I store away and can later plug into another piece of info I just heard and TA DA! You have another story to tell. I've also got a buddy who's retired in San Antone (and hates it but it's his wifes idea, and you never cross swords with Madge!! ) who was based on the field when he was in ADC F-86D's to F-102's and can give me the back story on buildings since the local historians don't seem to have any interest in the military days of the field, and the structure parts are being destroyed every week to make room for a new building or shop. For example the building FHC is in was a maintenance hanger for F-89's and F-102's and I was saddened to see that they had painted over the lunch times and meal time limits for Officers and Enlisteds meals posted in large painted letters on the East wall, enlisteds had 15 minutes to poke that S.O.S. down the hatch and get back on the jet, Officers got a casual 30 minutes.

I've been chasing a rumored/factual story of 2 P-61's sent to Paine AAFB to try to intercept Japanese balloon bombs, (be careful out there in the woods in the Upper Mid West, they figure several dozens or more of them are now laying in the woods and are getting very creaky after nearly 70 years and they are armed) including the story that one of the P-61's crashed somewhere in the vicinity of the field, but no one knows 'nuttin'.

The big block (5X5X6 ft.) of cement that kept Me-262 White 1 (now with COLLINGS) from sliding down the West side blackberrys onto the Mukilteo Speedway when the gear collapsed on flight #2 was dumped by the Air Force back the 60's and abandoned, the wheel does come back aound doesen't it?

Last edited by The Inspector on Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

[kalamazookid]

Gee, I wish my day was that boring!

[AirJimL2]

Don"t forget the F-104s that i haven't heard alot about. just out of the picture on the north end of the alert hangers are 2 f-104 wings on a pallet

Are the -104s still there? I had heard they moved on to Texas last year. Guess I'll have to go out and check next time I'm in WA.

Jim

[Fight2FlyPhoto]

Don"t forget the F-104s that i haven't heard alot about. just out of the picture on the north end of the alert hangers are 2 f-104 wings on a pallet

Are the -104s still there? I had heard they moved on to Texas last year. Guess I'll have to go out and check next time I'm in WA.

Jim

No, the 104's haven't been here since early Summer. Only the wings you see on the pallet. The deal with Dorn fell through and they are now working on the Zero. The Fake-Wulf is in its home in Oregon now.

As for that very first picture shown, it was taken by Cory from a lift. No standing on roofs took place.

Oh, and as a fellow Paine Field photographer, it's a huge pet peeve of mine when people post pictures without any credit. That shot of the 190A-5 in front of the hangar doors belongs to Marshall Autry. I keep telling folks to watermark their images. lol

[carlisle1926]

How about this shot? What's the story from this angle on buildings in the background? Interesting insight inspector. Thx.
Amazing B-25



And then there was this lineup a while back. (none of these photos are mine, all off the FHC facebook page)



Still amazes me that this ...



... turned into this ...



Amazing work that many, many of the world's top restorers do with what I would asume most would think could not be restored. always impressed.

Was this plane at a private airport about 15 miles out of Eagle Pass, TX about 4 years ago or so? I had to deliver a piece of my artwork down there once, and there were the remains of a Nazi plane that was pulled out of the woods somewhere in one of the hangers. An employee with broken English asked me if I wanted to see the "Nazi". My stomach dropped just a bit because I thought maybe they had a stuffed human or something. I wonder if this 190 here on WIX is the same one that I glanced at that day. As sad as this may be I can't remember if it was a 190 or 109. I was to busy looking at " Glacier Girl" that was in the hanger right near it. My jaw dropped when I walked into the hanger and saw the P38 here in Texas. There was a hanger with several P51's in it directly across from this hanger. This place was owned by one guy(anonymous to me). It was down a fairly long dirt road and looked like a South Texas version of area 51. I have to say that was once of the most surreal moments in my life.

Last edited by carlisle1926 on Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.