More Spotting

[airnutz]

Nope, the airport manager and the county had declared the airplanes as hazardous, and the road division brought in a bulldozer and balled up the aircraft into piles and pushed the remains into the landfill off of the end of runway 1. If you walk along taxiway D, you can see shards of aluminum imbedded into the asphalt.

When we learned of the impending demise, we were given permission to scavenge what we wanted of the aircraft. We got as many accessories as we could, ie, voltage regulators, reverse current relays, hydraulic pumps, gear actuators, etc. We made and sold a lot of log splitters with the pumps and actuators.

What a depressing turn of events..if it's the same airport manager that I'm
thinking of (Ray, I think his name was), then I'm not terribly surprised.
That guy always had an "axe he was grinding on". He was always up in
arms about one of the local operators...rhymes with golly...that he was
after.

Did the DC-3's suffer the same fate? In '73 a South American outfit was
buying the DC's and an FBO I worked at were tasked with recovering the
ailerons and tailfeathers..doping for dollars...I learned ribstitching on
that little job. A bad year for our outfit. Our D-18 went down...Arab Oil
Embargo hit and I think that killed the DC-3 deal...so the FBO folded-up.
I pumped gas for the airport manager, and after awhile decided the Navy
was a more exciting proposition than Conroe..and it was. General
aviation got pretty slow for awhile there..not many folks were flying.

Thanks for filling in the blanks Skymstr.

Wonder if those log-splitters are still around??

[airnutz]

are we talking about ortner's convair??

Not unless Ortner owned a row of 440's that they stored in Conroe, Texas
in the late 60's/70's, Tom.

Monday and Tuesday I flew in and out of Knoxville. On the northside at the FBO, Blue Angel 4 was parked with a big puddle under her. Ground Control said that they heard that it puked its hydraulic system.

I went to the airshow in Chattanooga today and the Angels were there. Fat Albert had a mechanical problem and didn't fly and then about 1/3 of the way through the Blues show, #5 pulled in and quickly taxied over to their staging area, where the pilot hopped into #7 and finished the show in the two-seater. #4 flew and appeared to have no problems. With two weeks left in their season, maybe they're ready to get back to Pensacola.

Vlado flew his -51 with an F-16 in the Heritage Flight while Neil Melton and John Shoffner had their P-47's down from the Tennessee Museum of Aviation. They also brought the AT-11 and Avenger.

The DAV had their PBJ-1 (Navy B-25) there which was the first time I'd seen it. The A-26 "Spirit of North Carolina" (I think it is called) was there also.

Dave

[RickH]

# 3 B/A had a problem last week and diverted to Atlanta/ Dobbins and took a trap. Fat Albert made two trips over there, hauling parts and people.

[skymstr02]

about one of the local operators...rhymes with golly...that he was
after.

Did the DC-3's suffer the same fate?

I worked with Bill Holley for a while, and thats where I met the guys that were flying the black Skymaster doing the fish spotting. All of the planes on taxiway D met the same fate. I also did some work for Max Mahaffey, the local Ford dealer, he had a Queen Air, he sold the Beech and got a 421 Golden Eagle. The old Navy hangar burned to the ground in June, 1994, thats where I was working.

Bills son DW now has the business and he has made it grow. They moved from the t hangar area to another larger hangar, the old Conroe Jet Center and has an avionics shop now. Bill died in the early 90's of a brain tumor.

[Eric Friedebach]

are we talking about ortner's convair??

Not unless Ortner owned a row of 440's that they stored in Conroe, Texas
in the late 60's/70's, Tom.

I think we’re confusing the Texas *Mohawk – Allegheny* Convairs with the Wakeman *Mohican Air Service* Convairs. There is (was) a T-29 there as well. Don’t go in it until winter. Full of bees!

The first time I was first there was in the fall of1979. One of the 7’s was being readied for a ferry flight. The other was being cut up. Walter had already taken his 7 home. There was a 46 still there with that cool Ortner logo on the tail.

I don’t recall any Convairs, though. The only plane that survived into the 80’s from the Ortner era was a Twin Beech. I’m not sure if it was part of the fleet or someone else’s abandoned airframe. No engines. I'll have to dig up some pics.

That was a great article, Tom! Someone sent me a link to it last year.

[Eureka181]

Here is a link to Tom's ortner brothers article from Air Classics.

Part 1
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3901/is_200204/ai_n9054367
Part 2
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3901/is_200205/ai_n9052669

Eric

[tom d. friedman]

the beech 18 is still at wakeman in derelict condition. there were originally 3 convair 340's, the last 1 was hacked for scrap in 1998. as n707na, it was used in jack kennedy's presidential campaign in 1960. as n8048x it was used by nasa. it was cut up in this nasa scheme configuration, complete w/ this reg number. best, tom

[skymstr02]

as n707na, it was used in jack kennedy's presidential campaign in 1960. as n8048x it was used by nasa. it was cut up in this nasa scheme configuration, complete w/ this reg number. best, tom

Tom, are you sure? This contradicts what the National Air And Space Museum says. They have the aircraft and it was donated by the Kennedy family in 1967. The tail number is N240K, formerly N94245, which it was from its delivery from Convair to American Airlines until Joe Kennedy purchased it for his sons Presidential campain.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/ai ... ir_240.htm

[tom d. friedman]

i'll get the detail that explains it further, & get back to you

[hatzosman6]

the beech 18 is still at wakeman in derelict condition. there were originally 3 convair 340's, the last 1 was hacked for scrap in 1998. as n707na, it was used in jack kennedy's presidential campaign in 1960. as n8048x it was used by nasa. it was cut up in this nasa scheme configuration, complete w/ this reg number. best, tom

Hello,

I'm hoping I can get some help in solving a mystery that's run through my mind for many years now -- and this is the only place on the internet I've found any discussion that might lead me in the right direction!

First, I'll share my picture:



This is part of an old cut-up airplane that is located on the side of the road on Ohio Route 2, about halfway between Sandusky and Toledo -- near Camp Perry. I saw the plane many times while driving to and from Cedar Point amusement park... and always wondered why it was there.

So, I was able to get that picture a couple months ago. The plane has a very clear number "N8048X" on it, but what's hard to see in this picture (but easier to see in my full-size version) is the number "N707NA" printed over the blue stripe.

Also, here's a link to Google Maps, and you can see the plane itself on the aerial photography: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=18&ll ... 2&t=k&om=1 . Note that the main portion of the airplane had been moved since the aerial photography, and is now located behind some trees (where I took the picture).

I'm not familiar at all with the history of airplanes like this, or how the numbering system works -- but could this be the plane that was being discussed in this topic, or are there a whole series of them and this is just some piece of junk on the side of the road?

Thanks very much!

--Andy Hatzos
hatzosman@comcast.net

[tom d. friedman]

andy, that's the animal!!! basically correct area dumped too. as to why it was dumped their, & still sitting to this day?? no clue. i can ask the wakeman airport owner if you wish, i hope he got paid for the aluminum!! i'll ask. ohio state troopers probably dogged the hauler, they are real s.o.b.'s & affect this state's tourism because of their gestapo attitude. the hauler probably didn't have a secure strap facing east to west....... anything to give you a ticket in this sorry assed state. governor taft....... hope you are a lurker you individual of questionable judgement!!!!

[tom d. friedman]

scott... fyi.... naughty word filters are running top notch!!!! lucky for you out going governor taft. i salute you gov!!

[hatzosman6]

andy, that's the animal!!! basically correct area dumped too. as to why it was dumped their, & still sitting to this day?? no clue. i can ask the wakeman airport owner if you wish, i hope he got paid for the aluminum!! i'll ask. ohio state troopers probably dogged the hauler, they are real s.o.b.'s & affect this state's tourism because of their gestapo attitude. the hauler probably didn't have a secure strap facing east to west....... anything to give you a ticket in this sorry assed state. governor taft....... hope you are a lurker you individual of questionable judgement!!!!

Hello, and thank you for the reply!

I can say with certainty that the plane has been in roughly it's current location for at least 5 years. Wakeman Airport and the plane's current location are about 40 miles apart. Who knows how it got to its seemingly-random location alongside Route 2? Certainly if you wanted to contact someone to find out, that would be pretty neat.

Did you and the other person here figure out if this was the Kennedy plane, or if it's some other plane that we aren't sure of its history? And, is there any way to look up a plane's history based on its number?

Thanks much,
Andy

[tom d. friedman]

there is an old local newspaper clipping hanging in the airport office stating the kennedy link.