I got to go home this last week so I got some pics of these old birds before they leave Central Fl. Had I gotten back sooner I could have gotten some of a P-40 and 3 Spitfires. First up is a P-38 Lightning that has just gone thru a 2 year renovation. I have posted some of these pics in another thread and have found out some of the info was wrong,sorrry. This P-38 is painted up like Putt Putt Maroo but it is not that plane. There were 3 Putt Putt Maroo's in the Pacific Theatre but none made it back Stateside. They are having a hard time tracing the historyof this bird. It was in an air force in S. America after WWII. Pete
I could only show 2 pics because others were already posted in World war II Weekend, sorry. I'll skip ahead to the first time I saw the plane flying after its restoration. It's really quiet compared to the P-51's because the exhaust comes out on top of the engine. To me this one dam good looking plane!! Pete
T-6 Texan The famous trainer off WWII. 18 year old kids learned to fly in these things, when they were done in the T-6 they went right into single seat fighters.You can stillgo for a joy ride in one of these, I would highly recomend it.
P-38 Flying What a sight! I am truely fortunate to have been able to see this warbird fly.
Those engines must have sounded great! Still nothing quite like a radial.
Next project This is what they will start on when they're all done with the P-38. Anybody seen one of these flying around lately? I'm not up on the German planes, long nose 109 maybe?
Hows this Curly, P-51 12 cyl Merlin and 2 T-6 Texans. Now that sounds good
P-51 Heres a Mustang they did about 6 years ago. They made it into a 2 seater for training and joy rides. They did a fantastic jobon the restoration and it's kept in mint condition.
i like the corsairs not sure why, just think they are cool birds,black sheep was on the other day i had not seen it in years i sill enjoy watching it.
Excellent pics Cat287B! I really dig WWII era aircraft.
The German bird is a Focke-Wolfe FW-190D long nose replica. I think it has an Allison V-12 for power....the original had a Jumo inverted V-12. There are only a few originals left in the world. None fly. The replicas are exact in most eery detail from what I understand....with modern avionics and far more reliable! Not sure when the first flight for this one is....soon I hope!
Hamilton Standard props---Yes! I assume the P-38 saw action in New Guinea? A little piece of history is that Charles Lindburg flew P-38's and helped the crews to conserve fuel by keeping the throttles at max conserve throttle until they needed the fuel for fighting. The P-38's had high rates of failures due to running out of fuel on those long runs to fight the Japanese. It was said once you backed the throttles back you could hear all kinds of noises and pilots would get into this mind screw mode and listen for engine failures since it was a known fact the engines weren't so reliable. Beautiful pictures you have shared with us and the P-51 is most impressive! Thanks
Radials are neat, but the sound of a P-51 taking off is pure joy. I worked at a local airport where a well off guy kept one. Whenever he opened his hanger the crew would wait to see him taxi. Imagine 4 621s, D8 ,D3 and packer all shuttin off just to hear an old warbird crank up. Poor Foreman could'nt make us move till the plane was gone.