Me-262 arrives

[DaveM2]

Although Willow Grove the base may be leaving. The Wings of Freedom Museum part of the Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Assoc. will be staying there and staying open.

Very good news, after all the hard work put into it ( with much more to come I am sure) that is a great result.
BTW I used to correspond with a Gary Campbell there who had a bit to do with the 262-he still about??

[DaveM2]

quote]

If Willow Grove is to be closed, perhaps the Navy will be kind enough to let somebody in there to dig up the Arado 234 that they buried there (or what little is left of it), along with any other hidden goodies that surface.[/quote]


Didn't happen at WG, that is Patuxent River where the 262 was initially tested. I think the base museum salvaged one of the Arado's engines some years back-but otherwise little left IIRC

[hang the expense]

This is an honest question, not asked with agenda or perspective- it is from genuine puzzlement- how does the 262 help Pensacola perpetuate its core mission, which as I understand it is to tell the story of U.S. Naval Aviation? I am not a 262 scholar and so don't have much to go on, but I was a bit surprised that the Navy was interested in bringing the 262 to Pensacola. Why go to the trouble to spend money on that aircraft, when there are quite a few other U.S. Navy types that sorely need the attention? If someone has thoughts, I would be interested to hear them. Does anyone think that at some point, that 262 would be insanely valuable trade bait if an outside party had a missing piece of the Navy's history?

kevin

Agreed. They also have a P-40B/C on display which sort of makes sense since its in the markings of a naval aviator but I think thats another example of an aircraft that Pensacola could loose to gain something that they may be missing.

Since most of the AVG were Navy and Marine Corps pilots it is a fitting tribute to that little known fact.Besides the bird really stands out in that sea of blue at the museum.

[jcmranger]

Very good news, after all the hard work put into it ( with much more to come I am sure) that is a great result.
BTW I used to correspond with a Gary Campbell there who had a bit to do with the 262-he still about??

No Gary is no longer with the group but had a lot to do with the start and early look of the museum. He put his heart and soul into the museum and he left his mark here.

[Owen Miller]

I put up some more stills from the Fri assembly on the Webshots page.

http://community.webshots.com/album/578 ... =community

[jcmranger]

Boy it sure looks a lot easier to put together there than when they took it apart inside our little hanger. And the overhead hoist has got to be more stable than the forklift. We spent the morning putting our museum back together. And although we miss the 262 it seems like a whole new museum and a lot larger without two aircraft jammed together.
Hope everyone comes out to see the new scheme inside. By the way on the u-tube video they say that this is the last nightfighter, this aircraft was never a nightfighter. See the earlier post for it's complete history. This is the only trainer left in existance. The only nightfighter is in South Africa

[Owen Miller]

The '262 is hardly my area of expertise. I've read about the family,
but the bulk of my knowledge is concentrated in the PTO. I would
only say the CAPT Cook Cleland who flew some of the eval flights
in the airframe, a guy with air-to-air kills in a Dauntless vs various
IJN aircraft, and the guy with two Cleveland National Air Race vic-
tories in an F2G told me it was the sole remaining example two seat
nighfighter. I've been wrong before....

[jcmranger]

Apparently

[DaveM2]

The '262 is hardly my area of expertise. I've read about the family,
but the bulk of my knowledge is concentrated in the PTO. I would
only say the CAPT Cook Cleland who flew some of the eval flights
in the airframe, a guy with air-to-air kills in a Dauntless vs various
IJN aircraft, and the guy with two Cleveland National Air Race vic-
tories in an F2G told me it was the sole remaining example two seat
nighfighter. I've been wrong before....

Owen

There is only one surviving two seat nightfighter, in the Saxonwold Musuem, Sth Africa. Easy enough for people to confuse them.
Both two seaters are unique and the only known survivors.

http://newsite.ipmssa.za.org/content/view/284/69/

Dave