Warbird Information Exchange

I found this shot in box of stuff recovered from my loft (lumber room) last week. I must have had it since the late 1950's.

What is the story?

PeterA

and Google says:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#?# text editor's note - file amr5909.txt 2nd draft 2006.04.11
#?# original spelling errors not corrected.
#?# please report any translation errors or comments to pwd_abix at yahoo.co.uk
#?# known errors/problems 26178, CU-P-671, KT314, EC-AJU, N2037C,
#?# XK987, OO-GEU, F-PERY, OE-SDA, D-EMYK
#?# OE-SDA and D-EMYK confirmed problems.

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS : 31 First Avenue, Acton, London, W.3.
Hon. General Secretary:
F.V. POUND.
EDITORIAL OFFICES : 100 Bulstrode Road, Hounslow, Middlesex
11, Coggeshall Road, Feering, near Colchester, Essex

AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS REVIEW

Edited by
D.T. HAYNES & G. PENNICK.

(For Private Circulation Only)

PUBLISHED BY AIR-BRITAIN The National Association of Aviation Enthusiasts
FOUNDED 1948

VOL. 1 NUMBER 6 SEPTEMBER 1959


BARRAJAS, MADRID
4/8. EC-WNU Lockheed Lightning.

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Not sure what that all means, but there you go.

It also shows up on these two negatives lists:

http://www.ajjcollection.co.uk/L1.HTM

and

http://www.ajjcollection.co.uk/SPAIN.HTM


It also turned up on this forum:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/394728/t ... ........(I).

but my Spanish is not so good...but here is the pic:




and the weird BabelFish translation, which is rough but you get the idea:

"Year 1957 runs, the Aerotecnica company is made already bring of Swiss a P-38 transformed into F-5 that has obtained a contract in Portugal to make fotograficos works in Angola. The nose has been reconverted to also lodge an observer. It arrives at Barajas and it is registered provisionally like EC-WNU. In one of the flights of accomodation of his pilot, it undergoes reventon in the nose wheel and as a result of it it also breaks the leg. When having but damages never it was repaired and one rotted in Barajas. When losing the Aerotecnica contract. Source: Velarde. I was in an error, creia that this airplane comprised of the "blocks" of Rodolfo Bay. Abrazotes."


gv

I was in touch with a member of the FiO in Madrid some years back, and he said the aircraft had its accident not too long after arriving in Spain. If I'm not mistaken the ferry pilot was Max Conrad. It then languished for some time in Barajas before being scrapped.

T J

_________________
Make my day, punk!

From this link:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/394728/t ... les........


El diablo de las dos colas [the twin tailed devil]


A posting by Daniel L Pinilla "el Pini" states:

" I remember that by the years 66 or 67, there were still at the dump in front of hangar 2, the remains of a P-38, some Stinson and some Consul, besides the Consul from Spantax (an airline) that used to be next to the circular runway (aeromodelism) at the Aeroclub Cuatro Vientos (Madrid).


The posting by Juan Millan:

"Marching . . . ."

It is 1957, and the Aerotecnica company brings a P-38 from Switzerland, converted to F5, since they already had a contract in Portugal, for photo work in Angola.

The fuselage has also been modified, to accommodate an observer.

It [the P-38 ] arrived in Barajas (Madrid) and it is temporarily registered as EC-WNU.

In one of the familiarization flights, the nosewheel tire burst, and as a consequence, the landing gear leg was broken, too.

Having had so much damage, it was never repaired and it rotted in Barajas after Aerotecnica lost the [photo] contract.

Source: Velarde

I was mistaken, because I believed that this airplane formed part of the "Rodolfo Bay" stables.

Hugs,

Juan

*************


Saludos,


Tulio

_________________
Why take the best part of life out of your life, when you can have life with the best part of your life in your life?

I am one of them 'futbol' people.

Will the previous owner has pics of this double cabin sample

GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Press "1" for English.
Press "2" to disconnect until you have learned to speak English.

Sooooo, how am I going to know to press 1 or 2, if I do not speak English????

Interesting never knew Spain had P-38's, even if just one.

_________________
FLORIDA DIECAST AVIATION FORUMS
www.forumsvibe.com/cfldiecastmodel

Fascinating stuff. Many thanks for the responses.

PeterA

whoa..... now here's a bait I can't ignore.... will see what I can come up with....

sincerely
Martin

_________________
Flying is easy: just learn how to throw yourself at the ground and miss

I have a question for the more knowledgeable members on this forum:

From the nose configuration on the P-38 above, I would hazard a guess that it was a "Droop Snoot" Lightning (one of those equipped with a Norden Bomb sight) used as a pathfinder or bomb-guide for a formation of P-38s, so that all of them would drop their bombs on a target when the observer / bombardier on this specific model would give the order.

Now, I do not have any photos of a photo-Lightning (or F4, F5 or any of the field mods) for comparison.

Was the lightning on the photo, originally a "bomber" and cameras were later adapted, taking advantage of the additional space on the nose or, was this nose style, typical for the photo recon versions of the Lightning?

Saludos,


Tulio

_________________
Why take the best part of life out of your life, when you can have life with the best part of your life in your life?

I am one of them 'futbol' people.

Will the previous owner has pics of this double cabin sample

GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Press "1" for English.
Press "2" to disconnect until you have learned to speak English.

Sooooo, how am I going to know to press 1 or 2, if I do not speak English????

This is an F5 recon bird and different from the Droop snoot with the Plexiglass nose and Norden sight.

All F5 Lightnings where originally equipped with fighter noses and had them replaced either in the field or in Texas.

The F5 nose was actually more aerodynamic than the fighter nose!

Hope that helps!

Jesse

The nose on this spanish aircraft is a custom job, very similar to those used by Spartan Airways in Canada for photo mapping our 'outback'. If I was at home (I'm 250 miles away, waiting out a massive thunderstorm) I could provide you with a photo of the Canuck bird for comparison.

Doug

P-38L-5-LO 44-27025 converted to F-5G-6-LO. Was N5597V, N64506 then to Canada as CF-GSQ in Nov 1950. The a/c was operated by Hycon Aerial Serveys in 1956. Ferried to Spain in 1957 by Max Conrad as EC-WNU. Changed to EC-ANU. Registration cancelled Oct. 17, 1969 after being damaged.

From the pictures posted with EC-WNU registration I would guess that was not the accident that led to the end of the aircrafts life.

Also that was a custom nose on the a/c.

Mike

Well, from whatever little I have read about the photo version(s) of the P-38, there were several variants, with a few having been field mods to photo recon configuration.

My question -not clearly posted, for a good reason- comes from having seen a picture of an overall blue or light blue P-38, clearly identified as a photo recon, but still with the "typical" P-38 nose, and armed with two machine guns.

I was aiming at getting more comments, data and if possible, pictures for comparison.

Thank you for y'alls input.


Saludos,


Tulio, in Texas (yeeeehaaaaawww)

_________________
Why take the best part of life out of your life, when you can have life with the best part of your life in your life?

I am one of them 'futbol' people.

Will the previous owner has pics of this double cabin sample

GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Press "1" for English.
Press "2" to disconnect until you have learned to speak English.

Sooooo, how am I going to know to press 1 or 2, if I do not speak English????