Pima Photos 1989

[Second Air Force]

While searching for some B-36 photos I can't find, Ellen found these pictures we took at Pima Air Museum in February of 1989.

This is the Hellcat brought up from the deep. I apologize in advance for the poor photo quality, I could barely figure out how to put the film in.



Would anyone like to see some more?
Scott

[GIJOE290]

Would anyone like to see some more?
Scott

Yes, Please!!

[bilwor]

This Hellcat is now at the Naval Air Museum, Pensacola. See below





bill word

[Herkeng]

Would anyone like to see some more?
Scott

Yes!
Herkeng

[Robbie Roberts]

YES!

These are the aircraft I want to work with! The basket cases I can spend years bringing back to new...

Beautiful!

Robbie

[Second Air Force]

Thanks for posting the "after" photos, Bill. Here are a few more photos we took that day. Current photos of these would be appreciated too!

B-24J, I can't remember the U.S. markings it carried on the left side in '89:


P-63 with B-29 in background:


Two shots of one of my favorites, the PBM-5A:



In the first shot of the Mariner you can see a portion of the Budd Conestoga under the aft hull of the PBM. I sure wish I'd taken more pictures when we were there!

Scott

[jamesintucson]

In 1989 our B-24 had "Shoot You're Covered" on the right side. I don't have current photos handy right now but they are all on the museum's website. http://www.pimaair.org/aircraft.php

James

[Second Air Force]

Thanks, James.

Here are four more shots of the great stuff at Pima. Can you tell that I tended to gravitate to the big stuff even twenty years ago?

KB-50J:


KC-97G:


EC-121T:


C-124C:


I have a question about the KB-50---is this the airplane that someone on WIX powered up a few years ago? I seem to remember reading a post about running the electrical system on one of the big birds after years of storage.

Thanks,
Scott

[Matt_in_NC]

I forget where I read it, but apparently at the time that Hellcat was brought to the surface, they (powers-that-be) said that it was uneconomical to restore, and it sat in that condition for some time. The most amazing thing to me though was that shortly after it was salvaged, someone tried pulling the trigger, and one of the .50's fired off a salvo. Can anyone confirm this story?

[Matt_in_NC]

Sorry...duplicate post

Last edited by Matt_in_NC on Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

[jamesintucson]

I have a question about the KB-50---is this the airplane that someone on WIX powered up a few years ago? I seem to remember reading a post about running the electrical system on one of the big birds after years of storage.

Thanks,
Scott

Not as far as I know.

James

[tulsaboy]

Wasn't that the one at Castle that someone powered up? And by powered up, I think they just meant that they got power to the instruments and lights, not ran an engine.

kevin

[Second Air Force]

Kevin,

I'll bet you're right about the Castle power-up scenario. I do remember that only the electrical system was energized and that the folks involved were impressed that the equipment still worked.

Here are a couple of shots of the Stratoliner during her time at Pima:



Scott

[kennsmithf2g]

" forget where I read it, but apparently at the time that Hellcat was brought to the surface, they (powers-that-be) said that it was uneconomical to restore, and it sat in that condition for some time. The most amazing thing to me though was that shortly after it was salvaged, someone tried pulling the trigger, and one of the .50's fired off a salvo. Can anyone confirm this story?"

I don't know if it was the same plane, but i remember reading in a magazine, "Weekly Reader" I believe, that we had in elementary school in the 60's of a WWII plane that was shot down with bullet thru either an oil line or a gas line that was well preserved as the water it had landed in was ice-cold. It was recovered in the early to mid 60's and just about everything worked in it once it was dried out.

Kenn

[Matt Gunsch]

I forget where I read it, but apparently at the time that Hellcat was brought to the surface, they (powers-that-be) said that it was uneconomical to restore, and it sat in that condition for some time. The most amazing thing to me though was that shortly after it was salvaged, someone tried pulling the trigger, and one of the .50's fired off a salvo. Can anyone confirm this story?

False, you need electricity to fire the guns. They did remove and clean at least one of the guns and were able to fire it.