Warbird Information Exchange

During the summer of 1980 I had to make a trip down to San Diego. I had read something about a Warbird rebuilding operation in the town of Carlsbad, so I hopped off the freeway to have a look. So who was Dick Martin, and what was his place in the Southern California scene? Was he connected with what is now Yanks Air Museum? Did he own all the stuff I saw there, or did he do work for other people? Somebody please ID these aircraft for me.

Sorry about the photo quality -- midday Southern California sun is not conducive too good photo quality.

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Neal Nurmi

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What is this white pipe sticking out of the P-47 project engine bay?

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Neal Nurmi

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Neal Nurmi

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The P-47 is most likely the P-47D at the Museum of Flight, as Dick Martin of Carlsbad, CA is mentioned by name as the one who handled the restoration:
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt

The blue one with the wings up is obviously a Corsair, but it is not one of the two listed on the Musem's Web site, as both of those were somewhere besides Carlsbad, CA in 1980. There might be a possibility that it is one of the ones used in Black Sheep Squadron, since one of Dick Martin's employees at the time, Bill Yoak, was a Corsair stunt pilot on the show.

BTW, the Museum's Web content manager has a sense of humor:
Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane

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Neal Nurmi

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Found it! F4U-4B, registry N240CA, used during filming of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and owned by Cinema Air, with whom R. W. Martin Inc. (Dick Martin's company) was associated. If you zoom in and possibly do a little image manipulation, you can see the very tiny registry number under the horizontal stabilizer.

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/corsairregistry/f4u-97359.html

Been doing some Googling -- seems Mr. Martin worked for a lot of people and had a lot of connections. Doug Champlin and Tom Friedkin seem to come up a lot. Then there was this A-36. This shop did some nice work.

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Neal Nurmi

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Fiesler Fi 156 Storch?

Neal - I can't help with the ids of the planes in your pictures, but when I visited Carlsbad in I believe 1976, what I remember very well was a P-38 in bare metal being prepped for a paint job, and inside an immaculate hangar was a Bearcat that looked like it had just left the factory. There may have also been a P-63 outside near the P-38.

Apparently, Martin also had a company called Marginal Airmotive operating out of Carsbad - Palomar. Here is a photo I found on Flickr shot on Oct. 11, 1978:



According to an interview in Air Classics many years ago he was an ex- WWII Marine Corps gunner. He and a friend (R.A. Wardell) then bought a dozen surplus P-38s for onwards sale. Kevin Grantham's P-38 book relates that the ones that went to Honduras were part of the Martin/ Wardell cache. One of them, ex- FAH 504 44-26961 N38DH can be seen in the back of this photo being cared for by Martin 30+ years after he sold it.

P-80 is 47-215. Thought to be at Kulis ANGB in Anchorage, AK although a P-80 painted as 47-0215 is preserved at McConnell AFB in KS. This from Goodall's directory.

The A-36A is 42-83731 N251A. It first flew in 1982. I remember photos of it in Air Classics in the same primer as in these photos.

T J

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Make my day, punk!

Thanks, T J -- the man sounds like another one of those Warbird characters that that era produced so many of. Considering who and what he was involved with over the years I'm surprised he's not better known. He certainly seems to have been a remarkable craftsman.

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Neal Nurmi

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While looking for something else I came across this photo. It shows the P-38 Martin kept for John Deahl prior to its journey down to Honduras. Business partner Wardell is in the frame as well.

http://www.pbase.com/donner_blitzen/image/133002014

T J

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Make my day, punk!

Thanks for that link, TJ - some other good stuff on that page, like P-40N NL1008N, TBM-3E 69294/N7026C, a couple open-cockpit BT-13 sprayers, and those shots from Litchfield Park with TBMs as far as the eye can see.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Dick was part of Ball-Ralston Flying Service after the war at Hillsboro airport near Portland. Ed Ball and Swede Ralston were the pioneers of the airport in the 30's and instructed for the military during WW II. When they returned afterwards they started Ball-Ralston and Swede also had an airshow business known as the "Ralston Flying Circus" if I remember correctly. When Dick arrived on the scene I'm not sure about but he also was a member of the airshow team. We have video of Dick making a dead stick pass in the P-38 at Hillsboro and some footage of him doing a routine in the P-40. I believe he was also involved in the TBM spraying program that Ed and Swede started. Once while giving a ride in a P-38 west of Hillsboro one of the engines started smoking and both Dick and his passenger bailed out. The airplane buried itself fairly close to a farmhouse a couple miles west of the airport. I looked into salvaging parts about 30 years ago, even had permission from the farmer, but didn't get far with it and learned later the engines were already retrieved. I'm not sure when Dick left for California but it may have been the early or mid-50's. Dick's at the far left.

Another of Dick, probably in the late 40's.