Warbird Information Exchange

Very well said. My family has owned an SNJ since 1980, and every time I fly it I feel it is a tribute to those who flew it during a much more difficult time. However, I’ve also come to realize not many share that passion to keep something like a oil-dripping noisy piece of aluminum and steel alive. So, sadly, I’m not surprised your plea for funding didn’t get you much of a response.

Keep doing what you are doing, and be thankful for the guys around you who share the passion.

On this Memorial Day, we couldn’t let it go by without saying thanks to all of our veterans. It is remarkable that men and women have chosen to answer the call of service to our country all thru history and continue to do so even today. I never knew my Uncle Grady as he was killed in action in WWI on his birthday, Nov 5, 1918. To me he was just one of the family stories I heard mentioned as I was growing up. But my mother never forgot. She was a nine year old little girl at the time, but she knew that he didn’t come home and how concerned my grandparents were since he was listed as MIA. I have inherited the letters of correspondence between my grandfather, the Army, Congressman Sam Rayburn and finally a fellow soldier from their county who knew what happened to Grady during the Argonne offensive that ended the war. This last letter was dated 1923. My mother always mentioned to me over the years she would like to find where he might be buried. It was a thought that was never very far away from her mind....like so many other families who have lost loved ones in the service. Every day is a Memorial Day. As I began to understand how important this was to her, I started to research records and eventually found his name listed in the Meuse-Argonne American Battlefield Cemetery in Northeastern France. It made her very happy. But the story didn’t end there. His body was not identifiable so was buried in a section of the cemetery for those 954 without names out of 14,236 interred there. This was one of the places where seven bodies were exhumed and efforts were made again to identify them. This time though it was for a special honor. Thru a process of elimination, one soldier was selected to become the symbol for all those who were lost and placed in the Tomb of the Unknown. Could it be Uncle Grady is in that hallowed place? I don’t really want to know. If it is, let him carry on with the mission. That’s what we will do with Kay.

Just viewed the public facebook page, WOW, beautiful paint and first post paint flight. Gotta see it in person, gotta follow where it will be and be there. Retiring next year and will have more time to get it done. So much has changed since I first saw KAY, Chuckie was there and KAY was a diamond in the rough.

I will be posting some of my behind the scenes photos of Kay on Instagram. Specialkayjr

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The real JR

Our first appearance will be at the AOPA Reginal Fly In at Missoula, MT. Kay is returning to her roots since previous owner, Lynch Air Tankers was a Montana Company. Denny Lynch was involved in the making of the movie “Always” which featured A-26’s and the AOPA folks are going to have a visit up to Libby where part of it was filmed. Then we will continue to Seattle for an overflight of the Museum of Flight’s new Vietnam Memorial. Should be back home for a couple of weeks before leaving for EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh. This is her first visit to the land of Wisconsin. Returning home July 25 so if you want a chance to see her all dressed up for the dance, better be there early in the week. We are planning to have two AF vets who flew the airplane during the war in SEA take her up for the Tuesday Airshow.

Looking forward to the Warbirds in Review session with Special Kay, and ESPECIALLY looking forward to seeing her FLY in the Tuesday afternoon show on July 24, before she departs for Texas early Wednesday, July 25!

Between the weather and a mechanical problem, we didn’t make it to Missoula unfornately. We were really looking forward to seeing a lot of old Montana friends. We did make it to Seattle for that great event at the Museum of Flight. Kay will be doing a training flight Saturday morning, getting loaded with her new pylon ordnance and then participating in the evening Cedar Creek Lake Airshow. Should be an exciting day for our crew. As soon as this is done, prep for the expedition to Oshkosh will begin. EAA has just released a trailer for the Warbirds in Review featuring Kay. Can find it on YouTube. We are excited to finally get the chance to show what we have been working on for the last eight years. She is truly one of a kind with a great story to tell.

What's up with the facebook page?

C2j

I was at the Museum yesterday. The crew had Kay loaded out with a full complement of underwing ordinance (rocket launchers, bombs, nape tanks), and the nose hatch was open to display the very realistic .50 gun installation. She looked bad-azz for sure! She sounded bad-azz when they towed her outside for some engine runs on the ramp, too! If you're going to Oshkosh, be sure to visit Kay. You're in for a treat!

Congratulations to Jim and the Kay Krew. She looks magnificent!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Kay is A-OK on approach to Des Moines.

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The real JR

On the team's Instagram I saw a screenshot of Kay taxiing at Osh. Congratulations team, what a feeling!

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Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22

Nice story...

https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-a ... 5sL1lTQiJ9

Good job....
Phil

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A man's got to know his limitations.

It’s been a long old road, but we finally made it to Oshkosh. We are very pleased to announce that Kay won the award for Best Bomber ar AirVenture 2018 as determined by a highly qualified group of EAA judges.

Our next scheduled appearance is at the airshow at Burnet on 8 Sept. Several other CAF units and personal Warbirds are coming to help out the CAF unit that had the tragic loss of their aircraft. Come on out, support the rebuilding and see Kay fly in a VN re-enactment There will be plenty of time to tour Kay that morning. See you there!

I think this video will speak for itself. At EAA Oshkosh, two Vietnam Veterans flew together in 'their' airplane for the first time since 1960!!

https://youtu.be/UXlKFS1Vous

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Hawkeye Poole
https://www.youtube.com/c/hawkeyepoole
franklin@pgctv.com