Wally McDonnell
Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:44 pm
Does anyone know this warbird collector?
He lives in Northern California and owns a SeaBee I'm told,
he was also involved in Mustangs and air-racing.
Quite keen to talk to him about his experiences flying the O-47.
He lives in Northern California and owns a SeaBee I'm told,
he was also involved in Mustangs and air-racing.
Quite keen to talk to him about his experiences flying the O-47.
Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:51 pm
I see Wally from time to time at KSTS. His Seabee went down in a vineyard some years ago, but he is rebuilding it. PM me your contact info and next time I see him I will pass it along.
Red
Red
Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:11 pm
Wally is also the guy who finished the flying scenes in the original Flight of the Phoenix, after Paul Mantz got killed in a crash during filming. While working at Ezell Aviation, we built a Sea Fury for him, that he sold to Mike Keenum upon completion. That Fury is now known as Riff Raff.
Gary
Gary
Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:51 pm
retroaviation wrote:Wally is also the guy who finished the flying scenes in the original Flight of the Phoenix, after Paul Mantz got killed in a crash during filming. While working at Ezell Aviation, we built a Sea Fury for him, that he sold to Mike Keenum upon completion. That Fury is now known as Riff Raff.
Gary
I didn't know that he finish the scenes in the FOP. He was always at the show, "Breckenridge"....
Lynn
Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:25 am
Actually that Sea Fury, along with a lot of other stuff, burned up in a big hangar fire at Minter Field, if I recall correctly. I think Keenum's bird is mostly a data plate job...
Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:04 am
Neal Nurmi wrote:Actually that Sea Fury, along with a lot of other stuff, burned up in a big hangar fire at Minter Field, if I recall correctly. I think Keenum's bird is mostly a data plate job...
Two different Sea Furies, Neal. Wally's original one did burn up, but the one I'm talking about is a second one, and is Riff Raff. I was there when the airplane was finished/first flew, along with Wally and Keenum there doing the transaction of swapping ownership.
Gary
Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:05 am
He also did Baa Baa Blacksheep and some air racing too. Neet guy. Very unassuming. You wouldn't guess all his exploits at first brush.
Wally Macdonald
Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:52 pm
He had a B-26K back in the 70's, saw it at several shows. As I remember he had a landing accident at Mojave in it.
Re: Wally Macdonald
Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:33 pm
I think that one crashed at Chino- http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=43492&key=0leo wrote:He had a B-26K back in the 70's, saw it at several shows. As I remember he had a landing accident at Mojave in it.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/a26registry/a26-6417657.html
http://www.airliners.net/photo/On-Mark-A-26K/0694647/L/
Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:55 pm
IIRC he lost an eye in a TBM crash while spraying on a forest contract.
Rich
Rich
Wally MacDonald
Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:58 pm
Well, at least I had the Origin airport right. I did remember that it was a prop reversal that caused it, and the shots in Air Classics at that time showed the gear torn off amongst other damage.
I have several pics of it at a Travis AFB show but no way to download here. It was pretty ratty but nice to see it in it's military markings. Back in the 74-78 era there were several B-26's and B-25's that were in less than perfect condition around Northern Cal. We had a B-25 at Vacaville for awhile (it later was in Hanover Street as Big Bad Bonnie I think, I'll have to look at the N number on my photo's) that was in VERY nasty condition but flew regularly.
Thanks for the correction!
I have several pics of it at a Travis AFB show but no way to download here. It was pretty ratty but nice to see it in it's military markings. Back in the 74-78 era there were several B-26's and B-25's that were in less than perfect condition around Northern Cal. We had a B-25 at Vacaville for awhile (it later was in Hanover Street as Big Bad Bonnie I think, I'll have to look at the N number on my photo's) that was in VERY nasty condition but flew regularly.
Thanks for the correction!
Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:31 pm
I didn't know that Wally had the airplane that became Riff Raff built up! Thanks for that bit of history, Gary.
Where did that aiframe come from?
Where did that aiframe come from?
Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:19 pm
Neal, I just spoke with Nelson about it and I'll make a post tomorrow (just using my cell phone now).
Gary
Gary
Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:38 pm
Wasn't it Baby Gorilla that was burnt in the hangar fire??
Lynn
Lynn
Re: Wally MacDonald
Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:27 am
leo wrote:Well, at least I had the Origin airport right. I did remember that it was a prop reversal that caused it, and the shots in Air Classics at that time showed the gear torn off amongst other damage.
I have several pics of it at a Travis AFB show but no way to download here. It was pretty ratty but nice to see it in it's military markings. Back in the 74-78 era there were several B-26's and B-25's that were in less than perfect condition around Northern Cal. We had a B-25 at Vacaville for awhile (it later was in Hanover Street as Big Bad Bonnie I think, I'll have to look at the N number on my photo's) that was in VERY nasty condition but flew regularly.
Thanks for the correction!
Here is a thread dealing with McDonnell and his B-26Ks. Are you sure the B-25 you mention isn't Lee Schaller/ Ralph Johnson's N86427 that John Hawke "wrestled with" across the atlantic?
Lynn Allen wrote:Wasn't it Baby Gorilla that was burnt in the hangar fire??
Lynn
Baby Gorilla was sold to Paul Morgan in the UK. Now with Dan Borgström in Sweden undergoing restoration. Wally McDonnell's a/c was #106 in dark greyish colors. Raced at Reno if I'm not mistaken.
T J