Warbird Information Exchange

Oi!! I don't want to get started about the ol City of Fort Worth, I grew up under her wings when she was at Carswell. The Volunteer group really did fantastic work, too bad noone locally could cooperate and pony up a place to put her on display. Anyway...

As for Walters B-36, Whats exactly left? I know she was cut up into a 'few' pieces but what sections remain? Is there enough that someone ((yes with a lotta money)) could restore say.. the forward section for display? Maybe more?

The latest word is that Walter cannot sell anything this year due to tax reasons and he will probably hang up on people that call him. The "good stuff" is gone anyway it sounds like.

Yes, there's enough left to do a forward fuselage... but a lot of work/money would be required. It would be worth every penny though. You could make a fascinating walk-through exhibit of the wing too. Not much else of the B-36 is there though.

Cheers,
Richard

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

The good stuff is gone???? I guess you are forgetting the B-25, A-26, P-47D fuselage, XF-82 fuselage, P-63 fuselage, prototype Skyraider, F7U Cutlass. The FG-1D just sold will almost certainly need almost as much work to return to the air as some of these aircraft. It's been sitting outside for decades, and will be sure to need a complete rebuild from the ground up. There are other significant types there too, and loads of important parts, such as a complete Dauntless QEC, and a nearly complete SB2C QEC.

Richard

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

the b-36 wings are toast, the magnesium has withered away thanks to f'd up ohio weather patterns. they are all hacked up too. i stood at the highest point of the wing & i'm 5 foot 9 inches tall, it was about equal to me. i never looked inside of the b-36 , but i've been told that their is a p-47 fuselage stuffed inside. a cool note though... the b-36 still has the atomic bomb shackles, proudly shown to me by walt.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Having spent the last 5 hours at Walter's place, I feel I am pretty qualified to clear up a few misconceptions, rumors, and myths.... First off, there is no A-26, the B-25 is a J that is complete but rough, the P-47 is an N and there are no wings and the interior is gutted. The prototype Skyraider has the wrong wings and would need a TON of work to make it fly. The SBD QEC is off of a -3 and doesn't work on a -5. As for the XP-82, lots of parts were sent packing with the Minnesota project. Just about everything is really rough and full of corrosion, not to mention everything is grown over with brush. Like Tom says in the previous post, the B-36 is most likley scrap. It was cut up into several smaller parts and with big bucks and even more time, might make an OK static exhibit. The Cutlass is in rough shape and is stuck in the mud having no wheels. The bottom line is that nothing is currently for sale due to tax reasons. Hope the helps. www.goldenageairracers.com

i thought the cutlass looked fine, other than the dings in the exhaust area. as to the wheels, they are their, only sunk in the ground.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Welcome to WIX, WACODRVR!! And thanks for the first hand report from Walter's place.

Dennis

Do you know if Soplata did have this A-26 at one stage? He supposedly got it out of Lake Michigan after it ran off the runway at Meigs Field in 68. Would be nice to get confirmation that the a/c was salvaged out of the lake!

T J

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Make my day, punk!

I know for a fact that the A-26 was on Walter's property in March of 1985 because I was there and have photos. At the time, it was on it's belly with the bombadiers noose section missing. I don't know what has happened to it since then.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Is this the invader that is located with the Desert Rat group, sitting outside the barn?

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

I think that is Tallichet's

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

TJ et al--

That's news about the Invader leaving Walt's. I wonder. Back at the start of the thread JimH posted an aerial view of the collection; how recent is that shot? The Invader is visible in that view, at upper right near the nose of the B-36, partially screened by trees and with what looks like a box trailer or seatainer or some such sitting in front (which would block most of the 26 from view at eye level)...the nose and tail were off the airframe (the tailcone was nearby when I saw the 26 in '82) and Walt had got the Invader sans engines.

Few years back in one of the Challenge mags was a neat photo of N919P being craned up out of Lake Michigan, looking like some huge aluminum trophy fish! IIRC Walt got the airframe from the insurers.

S.

I thought he didnt have a cockpit section just the radar nose part?

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Cheers,
Peter

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Peter--

Actually Walt doesn't have the radar/FCS nose section; what he does have is the cockpit and part of the centre fuselage of ex-EWU CF-100 Mk.5C 18775, salvaged from a scrapyard near Barrie, Ontario in 1983. I have photos of it (and two other Clunk wrecks) in the yard before Walt acquired 775 for his collection; found out about them by chance and told Walt they were there.

S.