Hurricane Ike and Warbirds

[Tim Savage]

MSNBC just showed footage of Scholes Field from the Coast Guard Falcon that surveyed the island this morning. Lots and lots of water. Looked like a lot of hangar doors were gone... They are showing Ellington now...but I don't know the layout there so I can't comment...

[Ztex]

Just saw LSFM on MSNBC...the roof looked to be intact. Most of the buildings ans the tower are still surrounded by water.

Couldn't tell if the F-100 made it or not.

We'll keep watching and praying for the folks down there.

[Canso42]

Zane,
Lone Star's buildings are designed to stand a cat 3 storm. Good to hear the slightly lower surger report. Maybe.....
My power went off at 7 am. mainly because a neighbor down the line didn't keep their elect. right of way cleaered. Just got back on about 4:30 p. m. CDT.
Anyone heard from Rick H or any other WIXers, Lone Star, CF, or CAF people? There are lot of warbird folks in the affected areas. I'm still catching up on damage reports.
Official word is "Galveston Island is closed until further notice."
IH- 45 is blocked by boats on one side. The damage in Galveston is catastrophic. You can see all that stuff on tv. Anybody gets word on WIXers, pass it on.

Doug

[Jeff Funk]

Fox News just showed a picture of a red and white AN-2 upside down on it's upper wing. I'm not sure, but the fuselage might be severed behind the wings. The news anchor said it was at La Port Airport (could she possibly mean Ellington?)

[Second Air Force]

We just saw another aerial shot of Lone Star, and the roof does look intact. The footage didn't show the hangar door side of the building, and there was water all around. The footage was shot early this morning according to the data on the images.

[Canso42]

Sounds like I saw the same footage Tim did. An unbroken expanse of water from one end to the other. I didn't get a good look at the hangar but it's an island. The roof better be intact. It was built to stand up to a cat 3. I didn't get a good look so I'm not going to speculate and start disaster rumors, but it didn't look good.
The Antonov An-2 was at LaPorte Aiport, often parked right next to the road. If you're unfamiliar, La Porte is a refinery town SE of Houston at NW part of the bay, the area that caught it so hard from surge.


Doug.

[Bill Greenwood]

A friend of a friend has houses on Bolivar Island. He flew over it today and there was nothing left of the houses there.

[peter]

Just saw a clip on msnbc showing a 727 sittiing half submerged with what looked to be a nose gear collapse. Hope our wix family are ok!!

I hope everyone gets through this all ok. Must be like being visited by hell itself.

Bill - where's your Spitfire at?

Dan

[skymstr02]

Please check out this link to a Coast Guard HU-25 Falcon jet videoing Galveston on saturday afternoon. The Galveston Airport footage begins about 2:20 into this 6:07 clip. The Museum buildings appear to have faired better than I feared from seeing news along the Seawall south of 25th Street.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/lin ... 1785350224

[Canso42]

Bill, I hope your friend's okay. The Bolivar Peninsula is now a string of islands from what the Houston news channels say.
Doug

[peter]

Anyone see the footage on CNN last night of the Jersey cow standing at the back door of the house to get out of the water? Sad really..

[needle]

The following message was added to the Lone Star Flight Museum website home page www.lsfm.org this morning:

September 14, 2008 10:00 a.m. - Galveston, Texas

All museum staff are safe following passage of Hurricane IKE.

Damage to the museum is substantial. The extent of the damage has yet to be assessed by LSFM officials and staff. As soon as the preliminary assessment has been made we will post information here. As soon as possible we will let you know about reorganization and reopening.

Prior to IKE’s arrival, pilots were able to fly the following aircraft out of harm’s way: B-17, B-25, DC-3,P-47, F6F, F4U, SBD, AT-11, P-6 and the F8F.

We want to thank all of our friends and supporters for their thoughts and prayers.

Larry Gregory, President
September 14, 2008 10:00 a.m. - Galveston, Texas

Whilst concerned with the damage to this excellent museum, it is good to hear that all the staff are OK.

Julian

[mustangdriver]

I hope all of you guys are safe.

[Second Air Force]

Here is a link to the Gulf Coast Wing press release from Sandy Thompson, the Wing PIO: http://www.gulfcoastwing.org/GCW/News-P ... mation.htm

If you can't get the link to work, here is a quick synopsis: The hangar that Texas Raiders is housed in escaped with fairly minor damage, and as far as can be determined, there is little or no damage to the airplane, parts, or equipment inside. Sandy also wants to convey thanks to everyone for their prayers and thoughts for those folks in the hurricane affected areas.

Keep up the positive thoughts for everyone down there!
Scott