Warbird Information Exchange

Hello, the recent warbird digest had a mini article in the resurrection section about the fm-2 wildcat moving to its new home at stallion 51. It also said that it once was converted to seat four people in the aft fuselage. I looked for more infromation and photos about this but couldnt find anything. Do yall know anything or have photos about this really neat modification? thank you

I saw this aircraft at the Tico show in the early/mid '90's. An access door had been cut in the aft fuselage. It was well executed and wasn't particularly noticable unless you were looking for it. Also, windows were cut into the aft fuselage. The windows were fairly small and tinted medium blue. From a distance, they blended in fairly well with the sea blue paint scheme.

From memory, the seats were benches along the sides of the fuselage. Presumably there was room for two people on each bench.

Sorry, no pic's.

That may have been Dick Foote's former Gruman test pilot. He useed to fly it into Leeward Air Ranch for the lunch during Sun N Fun.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

This is a early 1980s shot of Dick Foote's Wildcat where you can see the windows.




Eric

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The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

If you look at this link to the registry page, you will see a photo of the interior.

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/f4fregis ... -86680.htm

Hope that helps,

Steve

My all time, Favorite Wildcat paint scheme.

Looks pretty comfy in there.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Dick use to live in CT before he retired to New Smyrna, FL, so we use to see his FM-2 at every show in the NE. The FM-2 had seats that we fore and aft, as opposed to down the sides of the aircraft. two facing aft behind the pilot seat and one facing forward, opposite the two aft facing seats. At one time in South America it was said that this Wildcat was actually configured for SEVEN passengers! That would be something to have a photo of, but not one I'd like to ride in with a full load!!!
The late Jeff Ethell even did a Pilot Report on it for the Wide World of Flying Video Series.
I hope it gets out to more air shows.
Blue skies,
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

wow, thanks for all the responses. It does look rather comfy in there. Is the wildcat still configured like that or is it currently back to a normal warbird. What a way to use a wildcat. thanks

Actually surprisingly spacious.

I flew as a singleton in the passenger compartment, way back in 1974, and you could stand up (and perhaps kneel forward on the seat) and chat to the pilot through an aperture at the top of the bulkhead. The latter being part of the conversion I presume.

I got some great shots of Rudy Frasca's Wildcat and Doug Champlin's Hellcat in close formation through those small glazed areas.

Here is a B/W shot, but I think I have posted colour shots of this machine here in the past.

PeterA

The Wildcat is getting the engine rebuilt currently and will eventually have the air-stair door and seats removed. It will return to stck condition and should be flown regularly after that.

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Live to fly, Fly to live.....

Thank you. Glad to hear it is going to get flown regularly. Hope it flys again soon. I just love the wildcat. It is such a neat warbird. What a charter that would be to call the wildcat instead of the jet and fly down to the bahammas. Thanks for all those photos and infromation.

Wow! Thats so nicely done, it should stay that way. IMHO

here it is on delivery a month ago

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Live to fly, Fly to live.....

Been cool to see that going down the highway.