Warbird Information Exchange

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Great pics. I wanted to go, got stuck at work

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Very little flying, weather SUCKED! POURED a good part of late morning, early afternoon. Just Heritage Flight, Canadian Harvards, and four heavy birds flew (B-25, 2 Corsairs, Chris B in the Mustang), Snort got the Corsair stuck in the mud, then flew later after they pulled it out. Disappointing day, but saw many WIX'erers....

Hoping for good wx tomorrow.

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Is that the SoCal CAF F6F??

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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.

Yes.

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"Keep 'em Flying!"

What poor bugger flew it all that way???

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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 just really like Jerry Yagen's FG-1D has #31 flown by Beads Popp and Ray Beecham. Jerry just gets the paints scheme right

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Don't touch my junk!!

Jason Somes flew the F6F from Camarillo. He is an amazing survivor of the Reno Formula 1 mid-air that was fatal to the other pilot at Reno 2007. He was also very close to the late Erica Simpson, who lost her life at Reno last year, and to the late Paul Lopez who went west this past spring in FL. Unique guy, a lot of fun. He has a hobby shop at Van Nuys airport too, among his "business interests".

He's taking it to Milwaukee where Ray Diekman will fly a Legacy flight there the week before Oshkosh, then it will go to Oshkosh for static.

He did not enjoy the rain...and didn't want to make his third grass landing on wet and soggy grass today, so no flight.

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Oh, had a great honor when chatting with Chris B by his Mustang, we were joined by one Don Taylor, P-51 pilot with the 309th, 31st FG in Italy. He said he flew 60 missions, and when I googled him, found this: <<Crash Lands, Engine failure. Plane coded WZ-I, Today is the fourth war-mission for Lieutenant Donald ‘Don' Taylor, who joined the 309th Fighter Squadron in March, belonging to the 31st Fighter Group, attached to the 15th US Air Force, the one which operates in the Mediterranean Operations Theater. That mission will end in the Bay of Ajaccio. Eight days later Taylor is back in mission. Although he had 50 missions to carry out, he will accomplish 57, to end the war a flight leader. >>

I assume that I have the same person's info here. He lives near Buffalo, I just wish the weather hadn't messed up his airshow enjoyment.

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

I guess I probably know him then

well, at least by sight, I'm hopeless with names.

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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.

Whose that punk with the tan CV shirt looking at the Avenger!

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

This is amazing, in researching Mr Taylor I found the following (they found his crashed P-51B in Dec 2006!!!):

In December 2006, the wreck of a Mustang P-51 B was discovered underwater near the town of Ajaccio, Corsica, by the archaeological diving team of ARASM.
Many hours of research were required to learn the origin and identification of the plane. In our investigations we learned that the pilot not only survived the crash, but is alive and well today in his hometown of Blasdell, N.Y.


A unit of legend
Our WZ-I belonged to one of the most famous US units in the war. Indeed, the 31st FG was the first unit to reach England and to get a victory against the Luftwaffe. They would later move on to become the first American fighter Group to reach Algeria, Tunisia, Malta, and Italy. They were also the first group to be fitted with the P-51 in the MTO (Mediterranean Theatre of Operations) in April of 1944. They would finish the war with the largest number of victories in the MTO with a total of 571 and with 33 of its pilots becoming ‘Aces’. As a bloody counterpart, the group lost 107 of his members. The 31st FG motto was "Return with Honor".


Here's a link to an image of this aircraft:

http://www.screenshotprints.com/forum/v ... ad_id=3035

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

I Tried to talk or introduce myself but you guys were not intereted?