Warbird Information Exchange

Has anyone seen this commercial yet. I believe it's an advertisement for a mobile broadband or wireless internet card of some sort from AT&T. It shows this broadcaster on a beach with a very tattered Lockheed behind him on some remote Pacific island. The plane is so unauthentic and cheesy. It is all grey, and has the word "Amelia" in big lettering on the nose. My question is, does anyone know anything about the making of this commercial, and is that a real Lockheed Model 10 or 12. I'm guessing that due to the rarity of those Lockheed's, that it's a mock-up,

Anyone know anything?

Saw it today ! pretty good mock up !

_________________
Always Keep Em Flying !

Glen

Lookie Capt Jim! Wham! Wham! ...............................Termights

Does it look like a beach in England

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!

might look cheesy with Amelia written on it but otherwise most people wouldn't get the significance of it. I think it's a pretty funny commercial. I think it would have been even funnier if there was a sign that said "TIGHAR" next to the plane.

_________________
The more I learn about aircraft, the more I realize I still have to learn.

The commercial is for the AT&T "laptop connect card." It features journalist Bill Kurtis standing on a beach in front of the wrecked "Amelia" plane as he says, "We've come to this island and you'll never believe what we've found... the internet."

The plane appears (to me) to be a theatrically distressed Beech 18 with a mock loop antenna mounted above the cockpit, similar to the arrangement on Earhart's lost Electra. The big "Amelia" nose art was no doubt added to sell the gag to the great majority of the public who don't spend their days reading about old airplanes and posting on the WIX board.

When I see this ad at home on my big screen HDTV, the background looks a lot like the distinctive profile of Diamondhead and the hotels along Waikiki in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was probably done for ease of production and to assure AT&Ts lawyers that the spot doesn't actually claim their service will work in truly remote areas.

ITYM Wales...

_________________
Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.

I saw it last weekend..tried to find a YouTube link to post here but no joy. I'm sure TIGHAR will be use the spot as the basis for a fundraising effort to mount another expedition.

SN

On Thursday afternoon right before the Memorial Day weekend I was doing some wiring on the Collings B-24J Withcraft at Moffett Field and I received a call from a production company who needed an Amelia Earhart look alike aircraft for an upcoming AT&T commercial. The guy needed it on a Beech in Hawaii real soon. I told him we could supply a Beech 18 which could be dummied up to look like her Lockheed. I gave him a quote and he took the information back to his “people”.

The Beech I had available was a C-45G we picked up as a wing spar donor for a customer’s Beech AT-11 bombardier trainer. We had dissected this Beech and removed the entire 17 foot wide steel spar truss and the remains of the aircraft were scattered all around our back yard. Did I mention that the previous owners, an EAA chapter, used this Beech for a Cinco de Mayo party and they had painted it hot pink!



I didn’t think this AT&T project was going to go through, which was fine with me, as I was on the road with the good folks of the Collings foundation and I was in the middle of preparing for the recreation of a WWII mission with the B-24J. Well, I got a call that the guy “pulled the trigger” the next day (Friday before Memorial Day weekend) and that he needed the aircraft delivered to LAX by Tuesday afternoon.



Here I am committed to flying for the Collings Foundation at Moffett and in between flights I am getting the B-24 ready for a special project. I am 90 miles away from my shop and I now have to get this Beech ready, crated and delivered to LAX by Tuesday. This is normally where panic would set in but thankfully I have very capable, awesome and wonderful people working for me. Julie, Steve, Ricky, Gary and Julian stepped up in my absence and kicked…you know what…



The customer wanted a plane that looked like it had been sitting out on the Beech for 70 years. He wanted it weathered and worn. He also didn’t want it to be pink so we sand blasted it to remove the paint and give the metal the weathered look he was after. Before you cry foul let me tell you a little about this Beechcraft C-45G.

The EAA chapter had cut the fuselage into three pieces to move it to their airport. They had cut the nose in front of the windscreen and had cut the fuselage just aft of the trailing edge so it would fit on their trailer. It had been tacked back together with pop rivets. We had drilled it apart at the cockpit to remove the spar truss and had also removed all other internal components for use on other aircraft. She was truly gutted out. Anything and everything useable had been removed. Two people could lift each component and four people could lift the entire aircraft she was that stripped out.

Jim Harley was kind enough to cover my afternoon flights so I headed up Saturday to see how the guys, and Julie, were doing. To my delight they had the whole project dialed in beautifully. What a crew!

They had the Beech blasted, assembled and disassembled for shipping, skids made, engine parts and bent prop blades pulled and loaded, custom work all done, loaded the skids on the trailer and it was ready to drive to LAX by Monday afternoon, ahead of schedule. I couldn’t have been more proud of the guys…and gal.



The Beech was delivered early Tuesday and I understand that they loaded it on a cargo aircraft and flew it to Hawaii that night. The figure I heard for the airfreight was astounding.

I think it was about 10 days later that the commercial was first seen by Ricky on the Discovery channel. Things do happen fast in that industry so when they call you can expect that they need it done the day before yesterday.

Did I mention how proud I am of my crew?

_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

Very cool Taigh! Who "built" the mockup on the beach? Looks pretty convincing, and a far cry from the pink hulk! What did they do with it afterwards?

"Very cool" is right -- thanks for the inside scoop, Taigh!

Nice job Taigh!
Great team you got there.

It's eye opening when you suddenly discover that you are "not needed" at home!
Did you include assembly instructions and decals with the 1:1 model kit?
Blue skies,
Jerry

Any idea of where it might be now?

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

It is not such a scary eye opener as you might think. I appreciate that they can get things done without me so I can concentrate on other aspects of the business. I am also able to take the time to go play with my family and the Collings gang.

We did mark all of the parts as to where they went and gave them a lot of photos of how it was supposed to look. It truly was “some assembly required”. I think the directions we sent over worked as the Beech on the Beach looked pretty good.

If you look closely you can see the panels we put over the side windows. The loop antenna was all their doing. We sent them two bent prop blades which were “professionally bent” from a C-45 wreck that we bought from an insurance company. The other blades were dummies going into the sand as were the prop hubs. We sent them 14 bad 985 cylinders but they were not very visible in the cowlings.

_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

I felt very sorry for that aircraft when I saw the commercial... Now I know the whole story, I don't feel so bad... Still upset, but not terribly so- I think every bird should fly, but understand she was at "that" point... Are they returning her, or will she become just another several thousand soda cans?

Robbie

Yeah, I don't suppose they donated it to the Ford Island museum just to dispose of it did they? I can't imagine them paying to ship it back.

Awesome, Taigh! Thanks for the information. You seem to always have your hand on the warbird pulse for whatever is going on in the world. You must be very busy.

A few questions:

1) You made a reference that you were flying with the Collings birds. Are you now checked out to fly the B-24? That's huge news, if true! Are you and Jim H. now flying partners?

2) Do you have any pictures of the Beech in Hawaii, after it was made up to look like Amelia's plane?

3) Where is the plane now and is it going to be scrapped or junked?

Thanks for answering this!