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This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
Figured you'd get a kick out of a few videos I posted onto my YT page. My friend has kindly digitized some older VHS tapes I wanted to make sure were preserved before something happened to them.
This first video shows the Flying Tigers Warbird Restoration Museum down in Kissimmee, Florida and shows the Collings Foundation's B-24J "All American" being worked on. You can also see multiple other projects down at Tom's shop including a PT-22, Tigermoth, T-28, P-51, B-24, PB4Y fuselage, etc...
VIDEO STARTS AT 1:33 for some reason.
Second is a video shot at the Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Connecticut with a local news segment featuring the Collings Foundation (then) recently restored B-24J Liberator and an original WWII tail turret gunner giving an interview.
The rest is home footage my father (Dennis Soltis) shot of me and my sister taking a tour through these two majestic bombers. Fun fact: The two bombers were on display in front of the original Curtiss 1929 Aircraft Hangar that is in the process of being restored by the local non-profit, the Connecticut Air & Space Center. http://www.ctairandspace.org
On a personal note: This is one of the earliest and most vivid memories I have. Walking through these two massive bombers as a little 3 year old. Alongside my grandfather, Peter J. Soltis who was a Top Turret Gunner and Flight Engineer on B-24 Liberators in the Pacific Theater of Operations, in the 320th Moby Dick Squadron, 90th Bomb Group known as the "Jolly Rogers", 5th Air Force.
I was fortunate enough to walk through these two historic bombers one last time in late September of 2019 when they visited nearby Waterbury-Oxford Airport. Their next stop was at the Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, CT where the B-17G "Nine 0 Nine" met her untimely and tragic end.
In one of Kermit's videos, he stated that he bought his B-24 in '94 and flew it 6 times in 1994-95 before sucessfully landing at FoF and subsequently parking it. He said that year he did some formation flying with the Collings B-24 at one of the shows. Are there any photos of this happening anywhere? Speaking of the CF B-24, where is it parked now?