Blue Skys Robert Byrne

[bearfan1]

Very saddened to learn of the passing of Robert Byrnes this morning. Back in the late 80's, his hanger at Detroit City Airport was a very regular stop for me. Only spoke with him a few times, but even if the hanger doors were closed, I would always walk up and peer thru the windows into the hanger to see his Rascal P51. If memory serves me correctly he eventually had other Mustangs appropriatly named Rascal 2, and Rascal 3. I also remember seeing the 2 P40's shortly after their arrival in his hanger. I think he named one of them " Burma Rascal ". I remember seeing the bare aluminum fuselages still in the wood creates they were shipped in. There was a lot of warbird activity there back then and will always be some of the fondest memorys I have of City Airport. I still think Glenn Lamont keeps his remaining B25 hangered there but haven't actuallty seen it in a long time other then at misc airshows



"Bob was a resident of Bloomfield Hills for 30 years.

He was an Army Air Force pilot during WWII.

Flying was the greatest joy of his life. He purchased and restored many WWII aircraft, including P-51 Mustangs which he flew in air shows. He also restored Stearman Biplanes and P-40’s. He performed in air shows across the United States in his favorite P-51 “Rascal”.

Bob owned the Anheuser-Busch distributorship in Detroit from 1962 - 1977, along with beer distributorships in Kalamazoo, Hillsdale and Washington, D.C.
Bob also owned RFB Properties, a real estate investment firm.

Bob was a member of The Warbirds, The Experimental Aircraft Association and the Detroit Athletic Club"


Blue Skys Mr. Byrne. I will always have very special memorys of you and your fine aircraft.

Duane Hover
bf1

[John Kerr]

I first met Bob at Harlingen in the early 80's. He was one of the real good guys on the circuit and later when I saw him at Breckenridge, TX he gave a ride in his Mustang Rascal II. He will be missed. Blue Skies my friend.

[Steve T]

Most sorry to hear this news...I never managed to meet Mr Byrne but certainly well remember his regular appearances at the old Mt.Hope airshows back in the 80s in his colourful Mustang "Rascal". It saddens me to reflect on just how many of those Mt.Hope "regulars" have gone...

S.

[michael luther]

Glenn's B-25 went to Gen. Bill Lyons in CA. about 3 years ago.

Over the years how many mustangs were with Bob?

[MKD1966]

I believe Mr Byrnes had about 7 mustangs if memory serves me correctly

1. N6341T "Rascal" - now "Old Crow"
2. N11T "Rascal Too" - now "darn Yankee"
3. N851D "Rascal III" - now "Crazyhorse"
4. N6329T "Rascal IV" - now "Crusader"
5. N6327T "Tobasco" - became "Donna-mite"
6. N268BD "Checkered Mustang" - now "HUntress III"
7. N117E became "Hurry Home Honey" destroyed in crash by new owner

The company my stepdad flew for in Detroit leased the other half to Mr. Brynes in the early 80's and I still remember the day when he bought what became "Rascal" and it came in wearing a sharp looking red, white and gold civilian paint scheme... He looked like a kid with a new toy and for those who knew him he was a big kid with a heart of gold... Thanks Mr. "B" for giving me my first ride in a Stearman, AT-6, T-28A and P-51...
Blue Skies Always, Mike

[slinky]

Like John Kerr, I too met Bob At Breckenridge, TX airshow. I was hanging out with Dick Phillips, who was going on a shoot with a total of seven Mustangs and one Sea Fury. An empty seat came up with Bob and I said "You Bet!". We took off and formated for awhile taking pics and waiting for Michael O'Leary and Bruce in Howard's T-6 to find us and catch up for an Air Classics shoot. "Rascal ll", "Jumpin Jaques", "Petie 3rd", "Double Trouble ll", "Vergeldinswaffe", and Gary McCann's C-FUZZ, were some of the ships.... I need to dig some slides out to figure out the 7th.... Maybe "Old Boy", I can't remember!
One thing led to another and O'leary never could find us so we took a load of pics and then played follow the leader tailchasing each other up and over the clouds. I about lost it! Eventually the fun had to come to an end and we headed back to Breckenridge.
Unfortunatly about the time we arrived all hell had broken loose with the weather, high winds and all, so we diverted to Eastland about 30 miles South. Imagine this little duster strip with all these hot warbirds dropping in! After landing they relayed to us that the storm was headed strait for us with high winds, rain, and hail. It was like a Le Mans start!!!! Everyone running to the planes, firing them up and racing off West to Amarillo. Bob elected to sit it out with Rascal in an empty hangar with the prop sticking out.
The slides I took at this time have the dark clouds looming in the background and all. Very scary! Dick was in the backseat of Don Davidsons 51, who elected to take off to the South about mid-field where the taxiway entered to save time. Don did his runup and released his brakes. About that time the gust front hit and the wind changed to the South making it a downwind takeoff. Not only was it downwind, but it pushed him off the runway to the west side in the grass. Scared the hell out of everyone. Don got her off in ground effect, sucked the gear up and was gone. We started breathing again.
We pushed Bob's Rascal into the hangar and hitched a car ride back to Breckenridge into some of the worse rain and hail I've ever experienced. It blew away tents at the airshow and caused a lot of havoc but no great damage to the aircraft. Thankfully the storm was coming from the NE traveling SW and hit the airshow with a glancing blow. Unusual! It was a day etched in my memory forever. I spent almost 1.5 hours with Bob and loved every minute of it.
I raise my glass to the West and wish Bob clear skies in his next mission. He will be missed....