This is an offshoot from the thread on flying original aircraft.
Hello Ashley,
There were two F4F-3's that came out of Lake Michigan that were sold and went off to two different restorers. I think the one that you all built the wings for, and was restored by Blackhawk, was the other one not the one pictures above.
Here is the story that I was told:
The Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola had a contract with a civilian firm to recover a bunch of aircraft from Lake Michigan. Instead of direct payment for the recovery effort the salvage company was given title to two of the recovered Wildcats. The salvage company sold them through Mark Clark and Courtesy Aircraft. Mark called several of his friends and said that he had two Wildcat projects available and he gave them the price and said first one to arrive got first pick. The race was on and the first party arrived shortly before the second. The mechanic went in to inspect the two aircraft and quickly went past the first one as the wings were real rough. I believe these are the wings Ashley was referring to. There was speculation later that the wings on one wildcat had deteriorated more extensively than the other Wildcats wings because they had been fabricated under subcontract by Spartan. Maybe Spartan used different corrosion control methods. Any comments on the condition of the wings that you all rebuilt Ashley?
The wings on the other Wildcat were immaculate.
The story goes that after the mechanic had finished a long pre purchase inspection he went back to the prospective buyer and said 'I don't understand it, I can't find anything wrong with it'. Needless to say they bought it and the other folks, Dick Hansen as I recall, bought the one with the problem wing.
Hansen's Wildcat was restored showed up at Oshkosh before the one pictured above. They were not able to find an original engine so they used one from a DC-3 and re fabricated a custom induction system to solve the updraft/downdraft differences. They also used a Hamilton Standard prop as they could not find a Curtis Electric to use.
I remember Dick Hansen had the original aircraft battery on display at OSH and they had poured the Lake Michigan water out of it and put in fresh electrolyte and had it wired through an original switch and light bulb that were in the Wildcat on the bottom of the lake. The battery would light the bulb! What a cool display.
When 12260 showed up at OSH the next year she was even more impressive as she still had her original engine, Curtis Electric prop, original paint in many areas and lots more.
I think she has been through a few owners since and she is a real treasure.
The original post can be found here and below the link is a copy:
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18031
One of my favorites in the fighter category is Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat N12260 which is also her Bureau Number 12260.
She was one of the Wildcats that sat on the bottom of Lake Michigan for 50 years or so. After her recovery she had been restored but still retained a lot of originality. I remember hearing someone complain about the dirty looking paint inside the rear fuselage. I guess they didn't realize that what they were looking at was original WWII paint that was still in good enough condition that it was left intact. How rare is that?
She even has her original radios with the black wrinkle finish intact. You can even see her Bureau Number hand painted on one of the tuning coils.
Here is her instrument panel. The crash pad also retains factory WWII paint and is complete with the Bureau Number and call sign scratched into it by some aviator back in WWII.
She also flys with the same engine that she had when she was on the bottom of the lake. For the most part anyway as many parts were replaced at overhaul. I remember that the engine builder, Ray Anderson, said that the connecting rods looked to be factory new with all of the rubber stamped part numbers as fresh as the day they were made.
She has a lot of inaccurate things from the restoration but to me these pale in comparison to the big picture. I think she is very special because of her original condition and configuration. You do not see a lot of chrome, polish or gloss paint. No over restoration on this rare bird.
To the guys who restored her; well done! I apologize that I do not have their names available right now so I could give them credit as they sure did a fantastic job.
_________________
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http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htmWe brought her from:
to this in 3 months:
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Thank you!
Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'
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