San Marcos Texas, CAF visit

[O.P.]

I got to go to Austin a few weeks ago. Awesome BBQ! I went to the Salt Lick and Rudy's again. I stayed pleasantly drunk and pleasantly bloatated the whole time. I'd like to thank my Host's Jose and Laura for the whole time. They took me too the CAF hangar in San Marcos. Very cool. I got to check out the the P-39, Kate, P-63 and T-33. I had a great time and the CAF dudes were very cool. Here's some of the pictures....

[Tulio]

If that is the same T-33 that I saw a couple of years ago, it has lost a lot of its shine! The T-33 had a beautiful polished skin.

Glad you enjoyed San Marcos, CAF and Austin.

Saludos,


Tulio

[TimAPNY]

Any word on repair progress on the P-39?

[Alan Brooks]

OP, Texas BBQ still ranks among the best... no restrictions on exhaust vents ...yet... Glad to see ya enjoyed yourself.....Thanks for the pics and glad to see the P-39 back in San Marcos.... better yet to see it in the air again.... maybe next year.... Have they had any luck finding new blades....
as the Aeroproducts blades are very hard to find..... Up till several months ago, Gerry Yagen (Mr Yagen to me) was still looking for a set for his P-39 down in Australia.......... Anyway, one of the few hangers where you can find two 'Cobras of any kind.... Alan Brooks

[Mike]

Nice pics, thanks for posting.

Am I right in thinking that there are no airworthy P-39s in the US at the moment? Kalamazoo's is now grounded, and the CAF's broken, so the only airworthy one nowadays is TFC's at Duxford (when it comes out of the hangar for its annual flight at 'Flying Legends' each July)

[TimAPNY]

No Flying P-39s in the US. Yanks in Chino has a "Airworthy" one.

Sad really there are none in the air here.

[Mike]

No Flying P-39s in the US. Yanks in Chino has a "Airworthy" one.

Sad really there are none in the air here.

Indeed,

But I believe that at least 2 are presently being rebuilt to fly in Australia for owners in the USA.

[O.P.]

Hi Tulio!
It does have a beatifully polished skin. My pictures are krappy, and photobucket did a massive resize on them. I can't wait to get back.

Hi Tim!

The repairs seemed to be coming along nicely. They had just got the bird back from Fredricksburg a few days before I visited. It looked like they were getting on it.

Hi Alan!

If I lived there I'd have to put some kind of restrictor plate in my neck, or I'd be one of those 400 pounders pretty quick. The guy there at the hangar said they have aquired a new blade. He told me the price, all I can remember is that is was a lot.

Thanks Mike!
I do know that that P-63 flys though! Good enough for gubmint work, I guess.

[Tom Crawford]

Just glad you made it to Texas. Really warbird country. Come back when you can....if you've never been, try Galveston, Scholes Field next time......Tom

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

Hi,

Nice photo's you posted. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Quick question. While I have seen the Silver Tall Tail P-63 in person, the photo's of the green "Bell" are, at least to me, abit ambiguous. Is that another P-63 or is it a P-39 nearing completion of a maintenance cycle or restoration ?

Paul

[O.P.]

Hi Paul!

Thats the CAF's P-39 that "Ran out of runway" at Fredricksberg a little while ago. I was told it hit a chain link fence which messed up the prop, and some other stuff. I don't remember the whole thing, but the news was broke on WIX when it happened

The plane looks good. It took at hit on the wing, there was some tail damage, and a prop blade bit it. The plane had just been brought back from Fredricksberg a few days before and they had begun work already.

I don't know the whole story, and being a serious newb, I can't assess the damage, but it looks like the bird will fly again, sooner than later.

The guys at the hangar were very cool, even when I was asking potentially embarassing questions about the plane and that last flight. Bob was honest, "He ran out of runway". That's cool. S**t happens. I haven't flown a P-39, so I, or anyone doesn't know whats up.

Whats cool is the sponsors of the plane, including the pilot, are on it, and it should fly soon.

A funny, or not so funny thing about that conversation was, I mentioned that I'd heard about the incident on the "Internet". That brought instant derision. The main comment was "I was there! That talk was BS". Those old codger dudes seem to loath to do internet stuff. I don't blame them, if I had a P-39 to play with, my internet time would be seriously curtailed. I don't have a great solution to get these cats to post, but it makes me gratefull that the bigshots that post here, post here.

Sorry about the long winded post Paul. I seem to be good at that.

Orvis

[mjanovec]

FYI - for those who want to read the NTSB factual statement on the accident, it can be viewed here:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_i ... 0644&key=1

Click on the link on the page for a longer narrative of the accident. The pilot reported he had brake problems.

[RyanShort1]

Well, I also went to the CAF Hanger in San Marcos last Saturday flying in on a leg of a cross country flight. Here are a few pictures from the trip. To add to what was previously mentioned in the thread, the folks said that in addition to the damage done in the landing accident, while it was hangered in Fredericksburg, a gust of wind blew it into some steel and messed up the ailerons. They apparently do have the prop blade replacement, but said that the major hold up was the left oleo strut on the main landing gear.
Had a blast while we were there. The folks were friendly and let us go up into the B-25 for a while. One anomaly I noticed is that there was not a single book in the gift shop. They said that they just don't seem to sell, and didn't want to have the money tied up in the books. I think that's sad and reflective of our culture. They do have a really nice museum there with some Doolittle Raid artifacts and a nice library.

Tulio, don't know how shiny the T-33 was when you saw it, but I would say it didn't look too bad, could be the lighting on the picture. Colors depend a lot on what's reflecting off the metal surface and we had some decent cloud color.
Sorry about the dark pictures, but even with the flash, it's pretty hard to get a decent picture.

Here are the pictures:







Enjoy!
Ryan

[Tulio]

Hi, Ryan!

This is the T-33:



Even without a flash, the shine is evident.

Saludos,


Tulio

[Lynn Allen]

Ryan, the gust of wind you mentioned was a Tornado, Texas style.


Cheers,

Lynn