A Long Ago Air Show

[Neal Nurmi]

A little quiz: This is the first Air Show I ever went to! I happened to run across an Air Comics magazine in a bookstore and realized for the first time that there were actually still flying Mustangs and such. I decided to splurge and go, and here I am a few years later still following these things around...

So who can guess the year and location, and maybe name some of the Warbirds there? The first couple of airplanes will be easy...

[Bill Greenwood]

Corsair, David Price and Marshall ?. Fury, Ellsworth Getchell , lot's of 51s, perhaps at Santa Monica or Shafter or Minter Field?

[T6pilot]

OK Neal, I'll bite. Thought I have never been there and only heard about it through Air Comix, I'll guess it was the "Gathering" at Madera. Can't give you the year, obvioulsy pre-1977, but lot's of old, great airplanes, sadly many of which are no longer with us, such as Guilford's -7 Corsair, Frank Sanders original FB.11 Sea Fury 232 and Dave Zeuchel's "Maytag Mustang" N332. I think that sure looks like Compton's old F6F-3 from OR off in the back. Shame about the accident so many years ago. My buddy Randy Difani spoke very highly of Mr. Compton. Good to see you and Birgitta earlier this year in Reno. Take care and keep in touch . . . .

Carl Best
Plano, Texas

[51fixer]

A little quiz: This is the first Air Show I ever went to! I happened to run across an Air Comics magazine in a bookstore and realized for the first time that there were actually still flying Mustangs and such. I decided to splurge and go, and here I am a few years later still following these things around...

So who can guess the year and location, and maybe name some of the Warbirds there? The first couple of airplanes will be easy...

Sander's Sea Fury still has the original wheels and brakes, before the F-102 conversion. Looks like POF Hellcat down at the end. As I recall hearing stories of Jim and Steve canvassing the country in the early 70s with that and I believe Penhall's Mustang. I would guess 74.
Is that the Mustang Club Mustang with Black and Yellow nose next to it.
Guessing Madera.
Rich

The Sea Fury is now September Fury, and the Hellcat sure looks like the Compton airframe, while the 3rd Mustang is definately the Coutches' H model. The rest I can't recall at this particular moment, besides Bob Guilford's -7 right there.

[Neal Nurmi]

Well. Rich came in remarkably close, as I kind of expected. It was indeed 1974 (now that is scary!). It was actually a couple of years before Madera started -- this was at Chandler Field, in the middle of Fresno California. That was a great place for spectating -- the crowd was no more than a few hundred feet from the runway (4000 foot) and everything was remarkably close. They eventually had to move the show to Madera due to the small size and urban location of Chandler.

I don't know all the airplanes, but the Mustangs do include Zeuschel's N332 "Maytag" Mustang, the Mustang Club airplane, and Coutch's -H, with the POF Hellcat at the end of the line...

Carl -- it was a real pleasure to see you too. How about posting some photos of your Harvard? How many hours do you have on it now, and how long has it been a member of your family??

[Neal Nurmi]

There was actually some pretty good stuff in that old binder of slides I dug up the other day. This was at my first Reno -- the very slowest Warbird aerobatic routine I have ever seen!



and a shot of Sentimental Journey in 1986:

[retroaviation]

I'm pretty sure the Duck routine was during the 1976 Reno Air Races, by Frank Tallman. It was also my first trip to Reno as well. I was six years old.

Gary

[51fixer]

Well. Rich came in remarkably close, as I kind of expected. It was indeed 1974 (now that is scary!). It was actually a couple of years before Madera started -- this was at Chandler Field, in the middle of Fresno California. That was a great place for spectating -- the crowd was no more than a few hundred feet from the runway (4000 foot) and everything was remarkably close. They eventually had to move the show to Madera due to the small size and urban location of Chandler.

I don't know all the airplanes, but the Mustangs do include Zeuschel's N332 "Maytag" Mustang, the Mustang Club airplane, and Coutch's -H, with the POF Hellcat at the end of the line...

Carl -- it was a real pleasure to see you too. How about posting some photos of your Harvard? How many hours do you have on it now, and how long has it been a member of your family??

I too started reading Air Classics in 73. I would ride my 10 speed about 7 miles to visit Tallman's collection at what is todays John Wayne Airport. In AC I found out about Chino where I started hanging out in 76 when I started driving.
Steve and others had photo albums and 8mm home movies which were a blast to watch.
I never saw Sanders Sea Fury without the Smokewinders on the wing tips.
A big Duh on the Chandler Field, I shoulda remembered that.
Rich

[CAPFlyer]

Carl -- it was a real pleasure to see you too. How about posting some photos of your Harvard? How many hours do you have on it now, and how long has it been a member of your family??

With Carl's permission, I can post some photos too. I was going to take some anyway tomorrow at the hangar to show the way it looks now before we put the R4D in to bed for the winter tomorrow after the DFW show.

[T6pilot]

Neal, Our airplane is a North American T-6G, not a Harvard. I have a complete Harvard Mk.2 airframe in pieces (sistership to Tom Martin's B66 racer) in my hangar that I bought in 1985. I guess that will have to be a retirement project. My parents purchased the T-6G in April of 1966 and it has been in the family ever since. As you know I spent 15 years rebuilding the airplane and got it flying again in 1998. Since then I have flown it about 850 hours. I don't know how to post photos as I am computer challenged, but PM me your e-mail address and I'll e-mail you some photos (I can do that . . ). Whenever you get the photos, please remember, it's all "new" on the inside, just never got around to doing the outside.

CAP Fyer, go ahead and post away photos of our T-6G. Thanks for letting me store it in the CAF hangar at LNC while I have Jason's T-6G up at my place. Glad to hear the R4D will be going inside the hangar. I hope I will be able to get my plane out without having to move the R4D as I have to fly a "mission" this weekend. Thanks for your help!

Carl

[CAPFlyer]

Whenever you get the photos, please remember, it's all "new" on the inside, just never got around to doing the outside.

I think that's part of the fun of your airplane Carl. Especially since the red star throws a lot of people off.

CAP Fyer, go ahead and post away photos of our T-6G. Thanks for letting me store it in the CAF hangar at LNC while I have Jason's T-6G up at my place. Glad to hear the R4D will be going inside the hangar. I hope I will be able to get my plane out without having to move the R4D as I have to fly a "mission" this weekend. Thanks for your help!

Thanks for permission. As for your plane, it will be pulled out first and then put the R4D where the BT is right now. The BT will be moved behind the L-5 and the L-5 will be moved into the middle (I think that was the plan). That will leave room for your T-6 where it is now, Marty's SNJ in it's place, and the Corsair in the middle. So you shouldn't have any issues getting out for this weekend.

BTW, I'm glad to have you down here. It's always neat to see different people and planes in the hangar now and again.

[Sasquatch]

Can anyone please tell me a bit more about the "Blue Max" Corsair? What model, who owned it, where it is today, etc? I believe I may have seen it at Van Nuys back in about '84 or '85, if that was possible.

Thanks!

--Tom

[Warbirdnerd]

Can anyone please tell me a bit more about the "Blue Max" Corsair? What model, who owned it, where it is today, etc? I believe I may have seen it at Van Nuys back in about '84 or '85, if that was possible.

Thanks!

--Tom

You may have. More info here:
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/corsairr ... 33693.html

[Sasquatch]

Ahhh...thank you Bryan! Some time I'll have to get into the bottomless shoebox-o-photographs and see what I've got, as I believe I took a few photos of her back then sitting on the ramp in front of a hangar at VNY.

I appreciate the link you provided...

--Tom