Vintage Reilly Aviation Photos

Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:35 pm

Tom Roberts, a WIX lurker and sometims poster, gave me a couple of shoe boxes of photos he took on his travels over the years. There is some really cool stuff in his collection and I plan to scan and post them here as time goes by.

Some of the first pics I have scanned were taken in Kissimmee and the Reilly facility. I am hoping to get some help from you with the ID of these airframes. Which B-24 is this? Is it the Collings Lib, or possibly one that came out of a swamp? What A-26 is in the photo? Can anyone identify which part of which aircraft the work men are working on?

Also... Which year were these photos taken?

Looking forward to the replies.

Mike

Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:48 pm

That is the "Swamp" B-24/PB4Y. Don't know exactly the A-26.
Jerry

Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:36 pm

Where is that B-24 now? I think the Invader might be the one that was owned by Tom Garcia.

Fri Dec 15, 2006 6:18 pm

Mike,
Thanks for the look back in time.

Bill

This from a September 2006 post.

Pooner wrote:

Tom's -4Y has been reincarnated into a B-24 D by Ed Kaleta and
crew at KalAero in San Diego. It's now on display at Hill AFB, Utah, as
part of their growing warbird collection. It's come a long way from a
hermit's home in the swamplands of Florida. We can thank Jay Wisler
for having the foresight to save this one....

Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:35 pm

mustangdriver wrote:I think the Invader might be the one that was owned by Tom Garcia.

You're not thinking of Tommy Garcia, the director of Collings Foundation West are you? He was a pilot and helped operate the A-26 "My Mary Lou" for the CF (that was lost in an accident in the early 90's). Tommy never owned a flyable A-26 of his own.

'Course, if there is another T. Garcia running around, I am mistaken!

Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:17 am

Yeah, you might be right. I worked with him on a B-25, and he told me about the A-26. He told me that it was all black. I just thought that might be it. As for the B-24, it looks great now.

Sat Dec 16, 2006 8:44 am

That's definitely NOT the Collings A-26.

The A-26 in the picture is an On-Mark conversion. Notice the nose, props, and tip tanks. The Collings A-26C, 44-35696, was bone stock.

Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:08 am

Here is a photo of the A-26 in the background. It is A-26B, N500MR,
44-34769.

Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:50 am

Thanks everyone!

Does anyone have any idea what they are working on in the shop?

Mike

Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:10 pm

Can anyone date these photos?

Mike