The Unofficial Oshkosh 2019 Thread

Pogo · **Posted:** Sun Jul 28, 2019 7:56 pm

I'm still unclear on a couple things. First, were Lil and Fifi there, at Apple, or what? Secondly, I'm woefully out to lunch on the Hellcat, and would sure appreciate a bit of background on this one, or a nudge in the direction the story may be found. Beautiful bird to be sure, but the scrawled spray paint number on the cowl was curious.

Thomas_Mac · **Posted:** Sun Jul 28, 2019 8:13 pm

Pogo wrote:

I'm still unclear on a couple things. First, were Lil and Fifi there, at Apple, or what?

Both were flying overhead all week doing rides out of Appleton. Neither landed at OSH from what I saw, I was there from Monday to Thursday.

Pogo wrote:

Secondly, I'm woefully out to lunch on the Hellcat, and would sure appreciate a bit of background on this one, or a nudge in the direction the story may be found. Beautiful bird to be sure, but the scrawled spray paint number on the cowl was curious.

This is a good starting point
https://www.collingsfoundation.org/airc ... n-hellcat/

garbs · **Posted:** Sun Jul 28, 2019 8:19 pm

Pogo wrote:

I'm still unclear on a couple things. First, were Lil and Fifi there, at Apple, or what? Secondly, I'm woefully out to lunch on the Hellcat, and would sure appreciate a bit of background on this one, or a nudge in the direction the story may be found. Beautiful bird to be sure, but the scrawled spray paint number on the cowl was curious.

Lil intended to be at OSH but got held at APL due to wet grounds. They elected to stay there and do rides along with Fifi and Aluminum Overcast. Saw all three overhead all week.

Can’t help on the Hellcat. As a casual observer, I didn’t think there was a huge difference in quality and that the difficulty points might make the difference. Mosquito looked more like a piece of jewelry while the Hellcat looked more like something that came out of a factory in 1944. Mosquito flew though, at least.

JohnTerrell · **Posted:** Sun Jul 28, 2019 9:02 pm

Pogo wrote:

Secondly, I'm woefully out to lunch on the Hellcat, and would sure appreciate a bit of background on this one, or a nudge in the direction the story may be found. Beautiful bird to be sure, but the scrawled spray paint number on the cowl was curious.

Kurt, it was a factory practice done by Grumman to apply the last three digits of the bureau number to the cowlings as they left the factory so that they could easily identify the bureau numbers of each aircraft from a distance when all were lined up on the ramp. Here are some photo examples quickly found on the web. (I've also seen photos of others which don't have the numbers but you can see that they were scrubbed off.)

ErrolC · **Posted:** Sun Jul 28, 2019 9:22 pm

garbs wrote:

...
Can’t help on the Hellcat. As a casual observer, I didn’t think there was a huge difference in quality and that the difficulty points might make the difference. Mosquito looked more like a piece of jewelry while the Hellcat looked more like something that came out of a factory in 1944. Mosquito flew though, at least.

I'm glad I've got photos of the Mossie on its 4th test flight, with noticeable exhaust streaks :drinkers:

garbs · **Posted:** Sun Jul 28, 2019 9:29 pm

Have a couple of good ones I’ll post soon, Errol

phil65 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 10:09 am

Blackbirdfan - "forget the man made fireworks"

I didn't see it, so I'm guessing the Hellcat didn't fly at the show ?

Phil

Blackbirdfan · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 11:30 am

phil65 wrote:

Blackbirdfan - "forget the man made fireworks"

I didn't see it, so I'm guessing the Hellcat didn't fly at the show ?

Phil

Sorry, I was asked to pull my pics down by the magazine, so they can use them at a later date.

No, I don't think the Hellcat flew, nor did the Sea Fury.

Will

phil65 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 11:34 am

WOW....

Phil

Thomas_Mac · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 12:16 pm

They confirmed during the F6F Warbirds in Review that it wouldn't be flying until the Sunday leaving the show which was unfortunate. They mentioned it would be stopping at one of the Wings of Freedom tour spots and then heading to the east coast.

Firefly is now for sale.
https://www.platinumfighters.com/firefly

mazdaP5 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 3:05 pm

Panchito and Doc arrivals.

DH82EH · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:03 pm

I was touching down, half way down 36R in our Chipmunk as Doc was landing on 36L.

Only at Oshkosh! :supz:

Andy

I just learned that our Chipmunk CF-LBT won best primary trainer!
How cool is that?! (there are three of us partnered in the aircraft)

Pogo · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 8:00 pm

What was better: getting to land with Doc, or winning the best primary trainer prize? In any case, double congratz to you on a very successful little outing!

Thanks so much all for the answers to my questions. I can't help but wonder if, after that epic restoration, some guy just walked up to the F6F and simply sprayed the 476 on with a can of Krylon like any common graffiti artist, or if they somehow got technical with the application?

Blackbirdfan, your photos are out of this world! And mazdaP5, that last image of Doc landing is absolutely awesome - if that doesn't catch the spirit of OSH I don't know what does!

k5083 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 8:17 pm

DH82EH wrote:

I just learned that our Chipmunk CF-LBT won best primary trainer!
How cool is that?! (there are three of us partnered in the aircraft)

Congrats Andy! Nothing better than an Oshkosh prize. I'm sorry I didn't get to see your bird. Was it parked next to 18010 "Alvin" for part of the week? I saw a second yellow Chipmunk next to 010 on the webcams before I left for OSH, but it wasn't there on Friday morning when I did my walk through the trainers. Were you gone by then?

August

DH82EH · **Posted:** Mon Jul 29, 2019 8:33 pm

Thanks guys.

Kurt, it was all pretty awesome. Before we were even judged, i told people that I'd already won.
I just flew, in our Chipmunk, to Osh! So cool and fun
The award is just some icing on the cake.

August, we seem to be really good at just missing each other. I had to depart on Thursday, as Friday was my mothers 90th birthday.
I couldn't miss that.
One day sir. :wink:

Here's a link to some Airic (Dumigan) shots of her from last fall.

http://www.airic.ca/html/dhc118065.html

Andy

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The Unofficial Oshkosh 2019 Thread

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