Warbird Information Exchange

The real Buno F4U-5N 122179:

Now that we know that this fuselaje is somewhere in France under serious restoration, do anyone know a POC in that maintenance/restoration shop that may be willing to take a close-up picture for us of the cockpit ID plate (If any) and the one in the R/aft section of the battery compartment??

Center fuselage of the real Buno 122179 somewhere in France. Photo Alu via Flypast forum c. 2008.




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While searching through some old neg and photo files, I found a few more images of our old Corsair project. The first two images of the R-2800-32 must have been taken shortly after the plane itself showed up in St. Louis. I don't recall the story on this engine. I think we had two complete -32s and two spare blower sections. Check out the gas price! The two images of the fuselage would have been taken in 1984 or 1985, after we moved from Arrowhead Airport to Creve Coeur Airport.

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Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

I was at the airport on Sunday and ran into an old family friend, James Bond, who helped my father and John Mullen work on their Corsair project. James was there from the very start of the Corsair project but I have not seen him for twenty years. As it turns out, he had just handed my father a group of photos that he scanned from his files. In fact, he told me that John Mullen had given him most of the photos that he had taken so I suspect more will turn up very soon from Mr. Bond's collection. These are low resolution scans but I'll request some scans at 600 dpi for a few of these shots. Still no cockpit photos but the aft fuselage is nearly ready to give up its true ID.











So the aft fuselage indicates "60?". Just a bit more photo or negative and we would at least know that this aft section was from the same 608 in the boneyard at TGU. Somewhere, I know there is, or at least was a photo of the Navy BU # that showed up during the paint removal process.

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Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

Astixjr:

Good Day!!

Great find my friend!! I'm taking a look at several of these shots. It's poss to get a better resolution of the shot showing the tail number at the L/Aft section?? or that would be too easy to solve our mystery??

p.s Where does the other ctr F4U fuselaje come from?

Zorro7,
I'm working on getting more images plus better scans of the images that I just posted. There are 54 more photos in the collection I got from Mr. Bond. Most are of the fuselage being loaded and transported from Hollywood Wings to St. Louis and some are of us trying to put the center section and aft fuselage together so it could be moved around the hangar. There are at least ten images of the -32W engine that we were trying to overhaul in the hangar (what a crazy idea that was!). We were doing some of this work in the hangar where the airport owner (John B. Gury) had once kept his two F8F Bearcats. There was an old sign laying against the side of the hangar that I had forgotten about until I saw the photos of it in this collection. There was a story behind it but I'll need to ask my father about the details.

I do see three Corsair center sections at the Southern California a/p where the photos were taken so maybe Rob Mears can recall?

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Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

Astixjr:

Good day!

Understood! We'll stick around for the other shots in S. Calif (Hollywood Wings) & St. Louis. One of them is the Ctr fuselage of FAH 607 Buno 124692.

What a great find!! Now you see why it's worth saving, preserving & restoring the only airworthy sample FAH 609??

Tks for the pics!!!!

Ok, this thread has gotten a bit long. Where is the -5 getting the Honduran paint scheme now?


Chappie

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Brrring. Dispersal? TWO SECTIONS SCRAMBLE!!

Chappie/F4U Folks:

Northen territories, near Darwin Australia Buno 123168 for now!!

Great series, and the lst series, I have sent of the birds with Holloywood Wings.
Thanks very much and looking forward to seeing the remaining photos.

Hi Al,
The airport in SoCal is Long Beach, CA.
My buddy Pat had a summer job hauling those airplanes and helping sort the parts into "kits". He said that which SN/BUNU was which never concerned those on hand! Parts were graded by condition, according to him.
Chris...

Cwmc:

Good day!!

..and more good news?? any idea if your friend Pat took any pictures or can give us more details of those F4Us at Long Beach airport c. 1980s??

p.s Is Pat still around???

Hi all,We are progressing well on FAH 603,I will attempt to post pics soon, I was able to locate data plates for the fuse,both read A21-353 which we identified as Bu no123168 however the wings carry the number A4-400 & A4-517. We have the bulk of the airframe painted and have just fitted the prop,still progressing on wiring,cockpit fitout, & the last 90% ,cheers,Pete

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Give me a Centaurus over a Merlin any day

As promised!!!

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Give me a Centaurus over a Merlin any day

Pete:

Good Day!!

Thank you for the beautiful close-up pics of FAH 603!! It looks superb...almost ready to spread those wings one more time!! Those wings may come from F4U-5N FAH 608 based on a close up picture at FAH boneyard c. 1977. I believe the right wing had damaged cannons.

p.s Plz keep those pics coming!! I may have to skip Brazil May 2014 and head for Australia for your first flight! Congratulations to Mr. Hoskings and the rest of the fine crew!!