Warbird Information Exchange

I hope they have tied all the planes down real well. There is a major hurricane headed there. The planes at the Armament Museum and at Hurtlburt AFB will also need to be tied down.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Yes, especially the last surviving AJ Savage and Martin SP-5 Marlin.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

The Marlin has been inside now for some years, but the Savage has been sadly rotting on the ramp for decades. She would be better off at Pima if Pensacola has no plans for her. Sole survivors do deserve better.

Pensacola, Eglin, and Hulburt are not in the cone for the storm. Tyndall is on the very western edge, but if the path continues as currently predicted, all effects will be to the East of those locations. The fact that the NHC has a very narrow cone at this point, tells you they are in really good agreement on where the storm will ultimately end up.

I don't think they really care too much. If they cared they would bring the last surviving AJ Savage and J5M Marlin out of the weather and put in a hangar. If they cared they would retrieve the last PBM-5 Mariner from Lake Washington and have put into display condition. If they cared they would retrieve the Devastators and O'Hares and Jimmy Thatch's Wildcat from it's deep watery grave. If they cared they would retrieve the rest of the Wildcats and Dauntless's off the bottom of Lake Michigan or sell to the public for restoration.
Not sure they care too much.

I fear this place is gonna get wrecked. All those rare airplanes. I agree this is a bad place to put a museum.

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I too haven't cared enough to recover Glenn Miller's Norseman, or bothered to find Douglas Bader's last Spitfire. And I guess I should have put the Hughes H-4 indoors years ago.

Like many museums, I don't have a bottomless pit of money. So maybe Pensacola cares a great deal, since they cared enough to save the last surviving Savage. And the last surviving Marlin. And the Curtiss NC-4. And the only TDR-1. And the Grumman FF. They've done quite well considering they don't care.

Of course, the NC-4 was preserved and restored by NASM, and thence it should return for display at Udvar Hazy.

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Kevin McCartney

I'm sure the NMNA does indeed care. It's John Q taxpayer who most likely doesn't care.

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

Remember with the Navy, aircraft are just a sideline.

As far as the location...Pensacola is their aviation training base...and the museum has to be somewhere.
The NMUSAF is in tornado area, and the museum in Connecticut was hit by a freak tornado in the 70s.
And don't forget around the same time a nut burned down the San Diego museum, and the NASM is in DC so it is in a bad area in case of war or terror attacks.
Even the dry desert at Pima doesn't do outside aircraft much good.

So, no place is 100% safe.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

Any reports as to how the museum fared?

Here in the UK seen some reports of flooding/fast flood devastation across parts of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. My sister lives up in the Blue Ridge area of North Carolina and there has been something of a beating - fortunately their house seems to have escaped any major damage, just as well as they are away at the moment, but some of the pics she has forwarded are quite astonishing. A whole row of shops/diners a few miles away utterly gone...

Hope all on here are in good shape.

Just a bit of an update for you, the Marlin has been inside at the museum since @2010, but yes the Savage is still on the ramp.

The PBM-5 Mariner in Lake Washington was damaged heavily in several recovery attempts attempting to break suction. Tail and numerous artifacts recovered. It is a mess. Luckily the sole surviving Mariner is inside in Pima.

I'm curious as well how the collection fared. Not to mention I've seen some shots of airports totally flooded due to this storm. Terribly tragic situation with the number of lives lost and towns completely wiped out.

We had a similar (albeit smaller) flash flood situation in Connecticut here over a month ago that cost the lives of two people, destroyed a few homes next to the rivers, as well as knocked out some bridges and roadways.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/19/us/video/connecticut-flooding-rescues-weekend-storm-digvid

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Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

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Pensacola was not hit by the storm. In fact, I'm not sure if they even received any rain from it. Tyndall Air Force Base caught some rain from the very western edge of the storm, and likely experienced some tropical storm force winds and light storm surge, but generally speaking, they were fine too.

Speaking of warbirds though, the center of the storm did go through Moody AFB and also Douglas, GA where Tom Reilly and the Liberty Foundation are based. I have not seen any reports from either location.