Warbird Information Exchange

Back in the mid 1980's, some old friends of mine, WWII vets, told me of a Corsair that was supposed to be partially dissassembled , somewhere in the Joplin , Mo. area.. I was told that this aircraft had been originally purchased from the war assets dept (by the town?) and flown in to Overland Park, Ks. and put on public display....Later on, became an eye-sore for the city, and sold to a doctor from around Joplin...not clear on the year, but believe in 60's.
The doctor had it trucked to his farm, and placed in a barn where it was to be restored, but the doctor passed away before it was finished...Like a lot of stories and myths, I had ran across a few people that thought they had remembered something about this aircraft. In the late 80's , I went to Joplin, and tried to track down the plane with a few sparse leads...but no luck...so now I am opening up my own cold-case files....I know that there used to be a Corsair on public display in Kansas City, Ks area, But what community.? What happened to it is a mistery ..Anybody able to shed some light on this matter? Gary

They say in the old days that Frank Tallman used to drive around the country and just stop in at people's farms, knock on the door and politely ask for directions to the guy's place that has the old airplane in the barn. Apparently he scored a few airplanes that way. I tried it once and the guy led me to the remains of an Anson out in a field.

I would guess that the story could be related to Bob Hood's stuff at Carthage, MO. The Corsair's are gone (late 70s or early 80s?) but he still had some really cool stuff as of last year. He's been selling some items on Barnstormers this year in an effort to clean out some of his stash. Very few people have ever been allowed in his buildings to see what was in there but whatever was or is still there, had he not taken the time to save the stuff, it would all be third generation beer cans by now.

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Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

There was an FG-1D that was placed on display at Anticoch Park in Olathe, Kansas back in 1959. It's condition began to go downhill almost immediately, though it remained on display for well over a decade. I've got a low quality b&w photo of it somewhere taken in 1961 that shows it had already been substantially vandalized even at that early date.

The CAF had looked at recovering it at one point, but passed due to its condition. I was able to track down a city park official from that era that confirmed that the plane had ultimately been scrapped at some time during the mid-1970's(!). I suppose there's always the remote chance that it was sold for scrap, and was carted away to some obscure location. I do know that Bob Hood didn't get this one. How great would it be to discover it was still around!?

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Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

This might be related to the story about the Corsair found in a barn near Olathe. Supposedly it eventually turned into the "Star of New Zealand."

Thanks for the info...I used to go dune buggy riding at the old chat piles around Carthage, but never heard of Mr Hood...Don't know about Star of New Zealand..Gary

I am not familiar with Hood either. Is Star of NZ the FG-1 project that was offered for sale a while ago?

In the old "Vintage and Veteran Aircraft" book, there is a reference to a Corsair in Overland, KS. I can only assume they meant Overland Park. The book was published in the UK in the early 70's and I have noted some errors in the book. I always assumed it was a mistake as well. What a shame if it was scrapped in the 70's.

I have also heard of an FG-1 being pulled out of a barn in Gardner, KS....just west of Olathe, KS. Anybody heard of this one? I can't recall if it was mentioned on WIX previously.

My dad told me about a guy named Ray Gentile that had a Corsair on his property back in the late 70's, but didn't recall it flying. Gentile lived somewhere around Olathe, KS. Rob Mears confirmed it as F4U-4 BuNo. 97143, Tobul's Corsair. I believe it was at one time stationed at Olathe NAS when a reserve aircraft and was ex-FAH ???

The stories of Corsairs hiding in barns in Kansas and Missouri has always intrigued me, but I just figured that they were all just different peoples' take on one aircraft, probably BuNo. 97143.

Dante

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-Dante Cosentino

Has anybody else heard of a P-43 in a barn (or whatever) around San Antonio? I heard it 25 years ago but nothing more substansial has ever turned up.

We had a visitor come in to the museum (Canadian Warplane Heritage in Hamilton, where I volunteer) and he was talking about how a relative of his used to have an old plane in his field in a farm out in Western Canada. He showed pictures, the plane was a Westland Lysander. Apparently after some conversation and looking over the pictures someone came to the realization that it was the same Lizzie being restored in the museum!

Gary:

Good day!

I'll be going over some of my old A/C & Misc aviation magazines looking for that F4U. I remember a B/w pic/article of an F4U being towed or poss under its own power somewhere in a country road in the US.

It was in an old issue of Air Classics. They flew an F4U-4 from Toledo Metcalf Airport to a field just outside of Napoleon, Ohio, then taxied and later towed it to a school or something in town. I think the cover of that issue had a pic of an F4U-5N in natural metal finish.

I kinda want to hear more about this "Star of New Zealand"!

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Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22

C95XJ:

Hi! Tks for the info & data. I think we 'are getting somewhere. The article was called the "Napoleon Corsair"... (or something similar)Ohio?? Any clues about its final destination?? Tks

Not 'in a barn' but behind a barn? ... remember this one?


F4U-1A 17995 Provo UT c 1967


F4U-1A 17995 Provo UT c 1967


Which is now this one ... at the Museu Asas de um Sonho (Wings of a Dream Museum) at São Carlos, Brazil.
http://www.ratomodeling.com/references/f4u_bu17995/

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

Mark/Napoleon HS Corsair, OH:

..more interesting info here. Click on min 46:40!

http://www.wgte.org/wgte/watch/item.asp?item_id=3506