Warbird Information Exchange

very impressive!! attractive design graphics too. i will look for them. thanks, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

This is a good site for history and pictures of Kiwi Widgeons and Geese (Gooses?).
http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/goose.html and
http://kiwiaircraftimages.com/widgeon.html

I was lucky enough to be shouted a flight in ZK-DFC for my 16th birthday, including water take-offs and landings. Its a shame shes gone now, but at least we still have a couple of Widgeons.

Once again,
My favorite reference for an albatross was the late Rob Carlson responding to a question:
So, Youre a pilot? "Yup"
What do you fly? "I fly Boats"

I have a great pic of him landing his Albatross on the Charles River in Boston back in the day. What a sight.
Boats are alot of fun and I would love to go for a ride again.

Last January Shannon and I were sitting on the back deck if the Disney boat in Nassau and a Chaulk's airplane landed and taxied by.

A while back I called a customer to update him on his Baron annual and he answered the phone "Strangebird". I told him we were in Orlando a few weeks prior and saw the Albatross at Universal. He replied, "yeah, I know" There are two albatrosses within a half mile of each other at Universal City Walk. The Hemisphere Dancer is now a Tiki Bar in front of the Margaritaville and there is a floating static display airframe in the lagoon behind the Royal Pacific hotel. It has fake engines and 4 blade propellers that are goofy looking and the wheel wells are covered over but it is floating near the back of the hotel. It still looks good there.

A Friend of mine that used to work for Rob C. had some original and reproduction Albatross Manuals for sale if anybody was interested.

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"Hindsight is usually 20% off!"

I flew Chalks FTL to Atlantis and was in ecstacy. The Mallard was in great shape. Landing coming into Nassau harbor over sailboat masts was awesome, and the landing was surprisingly smooth! A dream fulfilled.
The Nassau customs folks did not want any pictures taken, but I got some with a small digital camera sticking out of my shirt pocket.

http://www.conachenaircraft.com/

I came across this site today. They are less than small (like 10 ft) models of aircraft, including Grumman and many other seaplanes.

It blew my mind when I saw them.

They have flying (RC) and non flying models.

I talked to the owner (he no longer uses email) and it is a real ongoing business. He sells to all over the world. One of his Clippers is in Lajes, Azores, in the old Pan Am Clipper terminal.

There is a Goose model, BIG, under New Projects, and other various seaplanes/China Clippers and similar...

There is a Lancaster too... and other vintage WW2 types...

Speaking of Grummans, there is a Bearcat, from the Lone Star museum in Galveston at our local airport getting a new respray. It is all stripped down to anodized aluminum right now. (and the newly restored Spitfire next to it.... ) Got pics.

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China Clipper
Wishing I was on step
Taking off out of Dinner Key
...to Margaritaville

Part of my slide collection includes some original Grumman Mallard shots taken at the factory prior to delivery. Some are in flight and others on the ground. Included are shots of the Texaco Mallard. After having 8 x 12 prints made of them, I shot them with my digital. I can e-mail them to someone for posting if you like. If you want a print I have extras also. Tailwinds, Steve.

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Civis Aerius Sum

I am a citizen of the Air

This first set is something I spotted in Ft. Lauderdale, circa 1996. I believe someone told that they Grummans but not Goose's.


















Duane

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One More Blade and a Little Less Roar, Team Rare Bear Rocked in 2004 !

This next set were taken at the Thunder Over Michigan, 2005. I am sure there are members here that remember this one.












Duane

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One More Blade and a Little Less Roar, Team Rare Bear Rocked in 2004 !

TOM also, 2005

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One More Blade and a Little Less Roar, Team Rare Bear Rocked in 2004 !

Also at TOM 2005


[IMGhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/bearfan1/tom04_093_900.jpg[/IMG]

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One More Blade and a Little Less Roar, Team Rare Bear Rocked in 2004 !

Sorry.

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One More Blade and a Little Less Roar, Team Rare Bear Rocked in 2004 !

Duane,
those photos appear to be a pile of Mallards. Too Bad! Nice Photos anyway!
Don

PS The hulk on the ground in front could be a Widgeon

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I never said the jokes were Good, they're just Free! You gets whatchyas pays for!

oh man!!!! turbines engines are so versatile!!!! they make the age of the bird irrelevant in terms of performance!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Looks like N7306 spent some time with Chalk's

http://162.58.35.241/acdatabase/NNumSQL ... ertxt=7306

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=86586&key=0

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=42888&key=0

Thanks again bdk, I looked at that same pic and searched the "N" number last night before I checked in on the WIX board and found pretty much the same links.... I also got curious about the history also.

Duane

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One More Blade and a Little Less Roar, Team Rare Bear Rocked in 2004 !

bearfan1,
There is at least one Goose fuselage in that pile of parts the you photographed - it's to the right of the second container and under the tails of the two Mallard fuselages and the wing center section that are piled on top of the containers. It has a red and white paint scheme so it may have been an ex-Antilles Air Boats plane. The red and white plane between the containers, though, is (was) a Widgeon.

There are several other Widgeons in there too. I'm assuming that this pile of parts must in some way be related to Dean Franklin's operation. Maybe these parts were too far gone to be of any value when he sold off everything else?

I know that 4 or 5 Goose fuselages and wing panels and a whole lot of other Goose parts went to Dieter Martin in Germany and my boss and his ex-partner bought up all the rest of Franklin's stock almost 10 years ago. And I can tell you that some of that inventory was really too far gone too.

I got to fly the pretty white turbine Goose around Alamance Co. NC for a little while one day last year. N70AL now has red and gray stripes on it, so I'm guessing that your pix were taken soon after Bob Redner bought it from Dan Vollum. I've heard a rumor that Bob's going to bring it back by here again for a week or so after Sun 'n Fun next month.