RIP Ray Stutsman

[gtokid]

Sad to hear Ray Stutsman passed away on Sunday. He is the reason I have a passion for warbirds today. My dad used to take me out to Elkhart airport to see his P-47G "Little Demon". He also used to own P-51 S/N 44-72483 "Double Trouble Two". Ray gave me my first airplane ride in his Cherokee Six. I hadn't seen him in years, but glad to say I knew him & he was my friend.

http://www.elkharttruth.com/obituaries/ ... tsman.html

[Jerry O'Neill]

Sad to hear this. I met Ray back in 1986 at the Hamilton Standard static display when he brought "Little Demon" for display. Great guy.

[Chris Brame]

Sorry to hear that. Hope he's up there hoisting one with Earl and Ray Reinert!

[DH82EH]

Blue skies and tail winds aviator.

Ray definitely influenced my appreciation for vintage aircraft and for subsequently learning about the related history.
He was a fine example of being a custodian of an historical artifact.

Condolences to friends and family

Andy

[M.P.]

I meet him 1982 at Ida Grove and still have well memories about that:
http://www.clipwings.com/index.php?comm ... eo_id=1095

[rsgd]

Ray Stutsman is my grandfather. I would love to know any stories you may know about him or have had with him. I only know bits and pieces of his incredible life.

Thanks!!!
Jaclyn

[Triplane102]

Sorry for your family's lost Jaclyn, I met him at the 1981 CAF Harlingen air show with his P-47, as it was having an oil leak fixed, I remember asking him about the P-47 restoration, and he later turned to (?) his son, and said "Remember, when the T-6 went down ?, that really hurt my back", and as he said that, he placed his hand on his lower back, and gave a lite chuckle. I thought, man, this guy could have died in the T-6 crash, or been paralyze ! And here he is almost joking about it! What an easy going man! To this day, when I get myself into a "hissy" about some Stupid thing, I'll think of him, & tell myself to "get over it, you Big Baby!" He was a great guy & One Cool Cat!! , Tony

[Pat Carry]

Godspeed Ray.

[PeterA]

Hello Jaclyn,

I got to know Ray back in the late 1970's when he acquired Spitfire TD135 and he invited me to call by as a house guest on one of my 'parts trawl' to the US from the UK.



A special day for me was to squeeze in behind him for a short flight in that wonderful P-47 when returning from Oshkosh in 1985.





PeterA (Spitfire Historian)

[marine air]

Ray had that accident in the T-6. The engine quit after takeoff and he had not locked down the shoulder harnesses before takeoff. His head hit the instrument panel very hard. This was one of the first accidents that the EAA and Warbirds of America used as an example of if he had a helmet on, he might have walked away. Anyway, when he brought his mustang to Oshkosh it was a "game changer" It had the most authentic paint scheme to ever show on the Oshkosh flightline which still had many civilian and spurious paint schemes. The bar was raised and I believe the next year Kermit Weeks brought his blue nosed P-51D. A couple years later Ray one upped himself by bringing an even more authentic ultra rare razorback P-47 .(Even though it had a back seat that always seem to have a lucky passenger.) And so P-51's, T-6's and T-28's were now looked at less at hot rods and more as war relics that were exciting to own and fly.
Another venture he tackled was bringing 50 Spanish Air Force T-6's back to the U.S. I don't remember if they were $25K or $50K but were considered a bargain at the time. Lots of folks flew them in their original colors, as is. Seems like he brought a second batch of 50 but got hung up on the third batch which ended up going to South Africa.
Then he accepted an offer from the Spanish to purchase a number of Hispano Saeeta HA-200 jets. Prior to this the only civvy warbird jets were 500 gph gas guzzlers like T-33's, F-86;s, Vampires and the occasional Meteor. SO the HA-200's had a brief popularity as the fad of owning your own jet for $25k found an audience. Then there were some accidents and off field landings due to fuel starvation, etc. The market which was maybe 50 to 100 interested parties worldwide became flooded. Hundreds of HA-200s, Venoms,Vixens, L-29s, L-39s. Iskras, T-37s, A-4s, T-33s, Mig 15, 17, 19, 21s, Saabs, Hawker Hunters,T-38s, F-5s, Fougas, and on and on. the market never really recovered from the endless importing of these exotic jets. A lot are still in boxes.

So Mr Stustman helped change the flashy hot rod schemes on warbirds, raised awareness about the "other" warbirds and their place in history, imported a welcome supply of U.S. WW II trainers for those wanting to attend airshows and have something to fly to build hours for the fighters. ANd he created a jet market for cheap to own, less costly to fuel jets for the slightly rich and famous.

Seems like a pretty good legacy.