Warbird Information Exchange

Hey guys:

Thanks to help from several members of this forum, I finished the Mercer Airfield article. It ran in the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Saturday and is set to run in several other papers in Georgia later this week.

Here is a link to the online story: http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/may/14/heyday-mayday-calhoun-airstrip-planes-fading-away/

Unfortunately, the news is not good. The property is tied up in a disputed will. Two planes remain but one will son be moved to Marietta and the other is in bad shape.

Thanks again for all of the help from the forum.

-Andy Johns
Chattanooga Times Free Press
ajohns@timesfreepress.com

Very nice article Andy, thanks for putting it together.

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Visited the place 10 years ago and it was unattended then
Sad to see it end like this
Hope that Convair finds a good home too, even if it ends up at a children's playground somewhere it is better than the fate of th escrapper.
Thanks for this fine update!

www.RuudLeeuw.com/deepsouth.htm

Bumping, because on checking recent satellite images (circa October 23, 2012), it looks like the Convair is gone. Does anyone know what happened to her?

This is what she looked like when we stopped there in 2011:


VT-29B 51-5145 at GA65 by Lunken Spotter, on Flickr

Also, is it known if this aircraft was ever actually converted to a VIP transport, or is that just confusion from it having been operated by VT-29 while on loan to the Navy?

If you had taken the trouble to follow the link posted in the posting previous to yours, you'd found your answers.
But perhaps the extensive info there was too long for you to read?
A contribution sent during 2012 made it clear it was scrapped.
Since it started its career as a trainer and ended its career with the USN with training units it is unlikely it served as a VIP aircraft.
Otherwise maybe it would have been preserved; it probably ended its career gutted from its interior equipment, if it had nice
seats and sofas in it it might have stood a better chance.
Ruuud Leeuw

When scrapping began the trainer interior was perfect with all student stations intact, etc. It looked like they had just gotten up and left. There were even some charts still in the cubbies. This was @ 2005 when I last looked in over there. The doors were open for anyone to walk in.

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All I did was press this red button here...

I had looked, but I didn't notice the 2012 update; shame, at least the cockpit section could have been saved, perhaps.