Warbird Information Exchange

I seen this F-86 a few times in Elmira. A beautiful bird. Sadly she crashed back in 99. Anyone remember this old girl?

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/jetregis ... 61600.html

Nathan--

Yep, Steve Snyder's Sabre. The top pic on the Registry page was taken by me at Elmira in 1997. Steve's was the second of four Sabres I have seen fly and one of two that have since been lost in fatal crashes. IIRC Steve Snyder was one of the leading lights of the Me262 Project in its early days.

S.

For those who didn't know Steve, he was an amazing guy. Sort of like a Jerry Yagen with a lot less money. Always on the go, doing 4 things at once. He sadly died in the Sabre doing a somewhat impromptu display at his home airport for a Beach Bonanza gathering (I think it was Bonanza pilots). The circumstances of his passing do not diminish his achievements.

A skydiving pioneer, he completed the first successful "battan pass" with the late Charlie Hillard (of the Eagles aerobatic team), and was a driving force in the development of the "ram air" parachute that you see above virtually every jumper. He also negotiated with the Navy for the removal and restoration of the ME-262 with the stipulation that reverse engineering would lead to the new build of 4-6 aircraft.

He also developed the para-plane, and built the Classic Fighters Air Museum at South Jersey regional airport. He regularly flew his Aerostar and his white Pinto jet, among other aircraft.

Here's Steve with the Super Pinto at Caldwell in the late '70s. That's my uncle by the nose, and Steve is showing my brother where to push behind the gear. They became good friends, with my brother back-seating DURING the Sussex Airshow with Harry Shepard's acro in the Pinto. Steve and Paul Styger had a falling out a couple of years before it would have been "my turn". Harry took up a number of the Sussex staff during the shows. Oh, the good ol' days!


Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Last I remember seeing the F-86 was at Reading one year.
Here is a shot of Willow Grove's Me262 Steve T. and Rich mentioned after it was copied and restored.

Sussex, ah the good old days. It will be 5 years this year since the last show.
Rich, you should start a thread about that show. Know you have to have the largest collection of photos on it.

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Bill


Website

I remember Steve form the good old days- Saw the Pinto Jet many times, but never got a ride in it... Used to hang out at KVAY when I was a teenager/20 something...

There are still a few pieces of his F-86 at the Air Victory Museum at KVAY. He had founded the museum, and it is still surviving, but just only. I was talking with one of his friends there about the crash, and apparently he'd had a fuel feed problem with one of the tanks, and so had a tank he could not use, with a good bit of fuel in it. But he still flew it. The a/c was trimmed for the other wing low to compensate, and during a low pass down 26/8 it started to roll to that side, and he was unable to recover.

I was sad to hear of his loss.

I do sometimes wonder whatever happened to Larry "No Cash" Tokash who owned "Travler's Aire" and KVAY back in the 1980s... Anybody know? I understand(from a book I was reading) he used to be a barnstormer of note in North Jersey...

Robbie

I remember that Sabre and unfortunately, I do remember the day when he was killed. I was at home that day, and my mom and I think both my sisters and my nieces were out at Johnson's Farm picking strawberries (?). I remember the story being that they saw him flying around, and then heard emergency vehicles shortly after they last saw the jet.

On the week before he passed away, the Air Victory Museum had a small open house that was free to the public. My dad and I went to the museum then, and Steve had his Sabre parked on the ramp near where the E-2 is right now. We had actually met Steve that day, and I remember him being such a nice guy and fielded questions left and right about the jet from everyone that was there. It's a shame he couldn't fly it that day...

I do have a picture of it somewhere (I think). The airport used to have airshows that would benefit the museum and I seem to recall that in the 1997 and 1998 events, Steve flew the Sabre in the show (and there was a MiG-15 or -17 in one of those shows). The 1999 show was dedicated to his memory, and sadly, the last show there would be in 2000. The museum, as a result, has been struggling ever since, and really doesn't get the attention it deserves. I live about eight minutes away, and try to visit as much as I can.