Warbird Information Exchange

Any guesses on the vehicle frame used? The headlights could be a clue. I see some writing on the frame above the exhaust pipe but can't make it out.

John,

I think the writing you see may be the battery. Blue Star perhaps? Real safe location! Just a guess since the engine is 24 stud, maybe a 1938 or later Ford chassis. There appears to be the outline where a lever shock absorber attached inside of the right front wheel. Beyond that, no clue.

_________________
Cheers,

Craig

Facebook Groups:

U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky HRS / CH-19 Helicopter Database
U.S. Coast Guard Sikorsky HO4S / HH-19 Helicopter Database

Thanks Craig. I figured someone would know something. I thought the headlights might offer a clue. Also....I sent you an email about the Yuba rescue.

The same source also turned up this one:
http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/coll ... 63/id/5295

"Chatsworth High School AT 8 (sic) airplane (not flyable) for class study, 1947"

Zooming in:

Per jdvoss's Fuselage Codes site, 423Y would have last served at Foster Field in Texas.
I checked Chatsworth High's yearbooks between '46 and '52, but only found one small photo:

_________________

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)

And now... The rest of the story. From the Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL, September 14, 1947:



Clem Gibson became a pretty successful stock car racer in the Bloomington area in the 1950s; from what I could glean from the Newspapers site, he passed away sometime between 1990 and 2005.

_________________

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)

Ford (Holley) carb's not Stromberg's