This has been posted....
WWII fighter brought back to life for another flight overseas
By BILL HANNA
billhanna@star-telegram.com
Related Content
24-08-2008
S-T/RODGER MALLISON
The restored P-38L Lightning is towed out of the hangar in Breckenridge,
about 100 miles west of Fort Worth. S-T/RODGER MALLISON
BRECKENRIDGE — For more than three years, the P-38L Lightning has been
sitting in a nondescript hangar, slowly being brought back to life bolt by
bolt.
Just one of six still flying, the World War II-era fighter built by Lockheed
will trade its humble West Texas airfield sometime next week for the sleek,
all-glass Hangar 7 in Salzburg, Austria.
Once there, it will be the centerpiece of the Flying Bulls team funded by
billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, co-founder of the popular Red Bull energy
drink, to promote the beverage.
Mateschitz, 64, who Forbes magazine says is worth $4 billion and ranks as
the world’s 260th richest man, has assembled a fleet of 34 planes and
helicopters, including a Douglas DC-6B airliner and a B25J Mitchell bomber.
Hangar 7 also includes several bars and a high-end restaurant, where a new
celebrity chef takes up residence every month.
"This plane will be the featured attraction along with the B-25," said
Siegfried "Sigi" Angerer, the chief pilot for the Flying Bulls. "It will be
the only P-38 in Europe. It’s going to get a lot of attention when we get it
over there."
The Flying Bulls team started 20 years ago after Angerer took Mateschitz on
a sightseeing flight. Angerer later was asked to paint a red bull on his
plane and he agreed. In time, Mateschitz would return, seeking flying
lessons and eventually help acquiring planes.
"Every one is always going to be the last one," Angerer joked.
To get the plane to Austria will require a 7,500-mile journey across the
North Atlantic to Greenland, Iceland, the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer
Hebrides, Germany and finally to Austria. The four-day journey will require
25 hours and 5 minutes of flight time.
"I can’t have any head wind," said Angerer, who has made two-dozen treks
across the North Atlantic. "I only have 4 1/2 hours of fuel and the leg
[from Iqaluit, formerly Forbisher Bay, Canada] to Greenland takes 3 1/2
hours. You can’t mess around out there."
Nelson Ezell, owner of Ezell Aviation, the Breckenridge company that
rebuilds warbirds, described restoring the P-38 as a monumental task but
refused to detail the cost other than to say it was a "multimillion-dollar"
project.
"It’s one of the most unique challenges we’ve ever done," said Ezell, who
formed his company in 1986 and has done dozens of historical-aircraft
restorations. "This plane has generated more attention than any other we’ve
ever worked on.
"We put an entire new skin on it. We had to build a number of parts here by
studying old manuals and borrowing parts from a P-38 at the War Eagles
Museum in El Paso. It was a very complex job."
The plane has created a buzz among aviation enthusiasts across the country
who have followed its progress on the Internet and stop by the Stephens
County Airport for a look.
Among them was Breckenridge resident G.L. DuBose, a 67-year-old retired
schoolteacher.
"Modern technology left it behind but never surpassed it," DuBose said as
the plane taxied down the runway. "That’s a beautiful piece of technology
right there."
So much so, that Lockheed Martin has given the F-35 joint strike fighter the
added moniker of Lightning II after the fork-tailed devil, which saw action
in the European and Pacific theaters during World War II. The original
Lightning was versatile enough to be used as a fighter, bomber and
reconnaissance plane.
Perhaps the best known P-38 is Glacier Girl, which was buried under a sheet
of ice in Greenland. Along with five other P-38s and two B-17s, it was
forced to make an emergency landing in 1942. Glacier Girl was restored to
flying condition and now makes appearances across the U.S.
DuBose and other onlookers are disappointed to see the Flying Bull P-38
leave the United States.
Before an engine fire forced a 2001 crash landing in a cotton field near
Greenwood, Miss., the plane was known as White Lightnin’ and was a staple at
air shows and air races all over the United States.
But any misgivings should be offset by seeing it fly again, said Larry
Gregory, president of the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston.
"Being a proud American, you can be selfish and want to keep these in the
United States," Gregory said. "But the folks at Red Bull keep these planes
flying and professionally maintained. One of my pilots has even flown it and
says it’s amazing."
Angerer hopes it will be the last one added to the Flying Bulls collection,
and he has advice for anyone trying to duplicate the effort.
"I get asked if a millionaire could do this," Angerer said. "I tell them not
even close. It takes a lot of money — a lot of money — to do this."
BILL HANNA, 817-390-7698
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The pictures of the jet on the website over the lake I'm in the back, man what a kick-ass ride 
He should be coming through your neck of the woods sometime this week