Warbird Information Exchange

It was a gate guard there for a very long time. I read someones rememberances of it a long time ago, but I don't think any of us nailed down where it ended up at. If I remember right, someone said that it left in the early 80's.

Where it be now?

_________________
DEEP THOUGHTS BY KIDS:
"If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started. Age 15 "


Deep Thoughts,
Jack Handy

I have posted that question about once a year, for many years, on different forums. No concrete answers yet. Best guess from some folks is Mike Coutches got it, possibly sans Bill of Sale, so it may resurface with a different ID.

I used to play on and around it as a kid around 1964-65. I have never seen a photo of it. Someone must have some.

How many non-public-view hangars does Coutches have?

I talked to Mrs Coutches awhile back and asked her about the Hellcat listed to them on the WRG. She said it was sold some years ago and that it was probably flying again. That bird was an ex CAF bird though.

Good call. If anyone would have it, it could be them. I saw on the WRG that they have a stored Bearcat also. I'll have to ask about that next time I visit Hayward.

_________________
DEEP THOUGHTS BY KIDS:
"If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started. Age 15 "


Deep Thoughts,
Jack Handy

Couches had 2 different F6s. One was the crashed CAF B/N 94385. The other is flying with Lone Star which maybe the one Mrs C was referring to. Steve Couches may be a better source of info. I was flying with VP-40 in 86-87 there was no F6F there.

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!

Interestingly Hayward has seen more than a couple of Hellcats pass through:

The acquisition of the wreck of N7861C by Michael Coutches in 1972 makes one wonder if this Bu94385 might someday resurface as our Moffett Hellcat in disguise.

I wish I knew where the Nicholas Parks, Hayward, CA F6F-5 Bu94203 had its origins.

Does anyone have the B/N for the Moffett Hellcat?

Most have reported:
Bureau #: 79669
Construction #: A-10814
Displayed as "1158"


Here are some WIX posts from 2 years ago March:

Re: Hellcat through the cracks
Posted by Owen Miller on 3/10/2003
In reply to: Hellcat through the cracks posted by Lowell
Some years ago NMNA rounded up all the Hellcats they
could find that were "lying about". They were restored by
independant restorers the best I remember and redistributed
around the country. In some cases two planes were used to
produce one. This may well account for the bird you describe.
I recall that one of the ones they rounded up was at
Battleship Park in Mobile where it had been since 1969. It
was displayed outside and was deteriorating. Although I
was upset at the time it is now at Patriots Point, in in-
finitely better shape, and preserved for future generations
on the hanger deck of the Yorktown

Re: Hellcat through the cracks
Posted by John Kerr on 3/10/2003
In reply to: Hellcat through the cracks posted by Lowell
I have a 35mm slide, 3/4 rear of the aircraft, taken in Oct 1973, has # 35 on tail. Slide is a dupe and not of the gratest quality. Sorry don't know disposition.

Re: Hellcat through the cracks
Posted by Joe Scheil 3/10/2003
Don't know about the fate of this one, it seems to have dissapeared. However, the one in the USS Intrepid museum I do not know the identity of, so they may be one in the same.

Re: Hellcat through the cracks
Posted by Tony Andrews 3/10/2003
The USS Intrepid website states that their exhibit is a non-flying replica

Posted by Steve Hinton on 3/10/2003
You know, Mike Coutches has a secret Hellcat still. I wonder if it could be the same one you mention. I asked him about it a while back and he said he still had it.

Orvis,

The Coutches still have the Bearcat at Hayward. Although it hasn't flown in a long time, it has a really sharp looking paint scheme. Ron Olsen has a picture of it that I scanned for his site at: http://www.ronsarchive.com/guest04/index_2.htm

_________________
Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.

What ever happened to the Hellcat that (ostensibly) is still
in the Portland, Oregon area? If I can believe the story I
was told, the fuel selector valve was put back together
incorrectly (?) after maintenance and the thing crash landed
in a field after "fuel exhaustion". This probably occurred some
time in the late (?) 1970s or possibly early 1980s. The story I
get is the gentleman who crash landed the airplane still owns
the carcass (he has to be getting on in years by now.....).

The name Compton comes to mind....

Any ideas/thoughts?

Bela P. Havasreti

Bela:

Actually I believe it's our very own WIXer, JCW.

The Hellcat you're referring to is Bill Compton's F6F-3 B/N 08825 N4965V. Bill flew the airplane was quite a while hence the fuel selector wasn't assembled wrong but i do believe it failed during the flight. Bill still has it and has refused all offers (lots of offers) to sell over the years and has collected enough stuff including new wings, cowlings, prop ect to rebuilt it. But, he'll never do it and enjoys having it and the attention it brings him. After his passing I do NOT believe the family will sell it. Jeff aka jcw lives only about 1 mile from Bill and like myself has known him for years. I'm going to try and see Bill this weekend.
By coincidence I dug up the newspaper story of the crash and will post it if there's an interest. The crash occured in June 1977. This F6F flew with VF-37 on the USS Sagamon escort carrier. It was flown by LT Jim Ritchie
who scored 3 kills and won the Navy Cross. It is the most historic of all surviving Hellcats.

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!

Yes, please post the info. I'd love to read it.

My neighbors on the airport (Crest Airpark) apparently
know/knew Mr. Compton quite well (one grew up in
the area, became a Western/Delta captain and has fond memories
of hanging around the area as a kid). This neighbor also
mentions a Wildcat that (I think?) was owned by Mr. Compton
for awhile as well, but the Wildcat ended up going to Pensacola.
Or maybe it was a friend of Compton's who's Wildcat went to
Pensacola. Too many beers during debriefing tends to wash
away the details!!!

Bill also apparently has a low-time early Cessna 180 stored that
my buddies salivate after.... He sounds like a neat (if a slight bit
eccentric) guy.... Hopefully the Hellcat will ultimately become
airworthy again some day.

The Wildcat was Jack Lenhardt's FM-2 N20HA now with John Dimmer in Olympia.

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!

How did it manage to leave the NAVY Museum, NHS, ?

Hi Bela!

You just hit on one of my favorite stories. It was 76 or 77 I think. I went to an airshow at the Portland Air National Guard base in Portland. It, was the only airshow I went to as a kid. The things I remember from it was, seeing the inside of a resuce helicopter, UH-1, There was an F-86 there that had flowers painted all over it, there was a Luftwaffe trainer there, and there was the Hellcat. I walked up the stairway/ ladder thing and looked in the cockpit. I remember it was very sparse compared to the other planes. The other thing I remember from that day is that an F4 Phantom took off and flew over and went straight up, right over us.

The next morning, on the front page of the paper,in Mollala Oregon , where I lived, had a picture of the Hellcat crashed in a field in Canby Oregon. If I remember right, it said the pilot had a broken arm or shoulder or something.

I was bummed that the airplane was crashed. No one else seemed to give a crap. I guess it was weird, or I thought it was important because I saw it the day before. My first models as a kid were F6F's. That was such a cool airplane.

Many, Many years later, I saw Ron Olsens site. There it was. I also managed to find a website, I think by that dudes son. I can't find it again now, but at the time, they were asking for donations to restore the plane. I wasn't sure what to think about that. It looked like they wanted dough to restore the plane, but that was it, no questions asked. I didn't think to highly of it so I didn't donate. I hope I'm wrong.

Anyway, sorry about the long winded story Bela, from what I've seen on the ol internot, the guy will not sell the plane, thats cool, and it hasn't flown since that day.

_________________
DEEP THOUGHTS BY KIDS:
"If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started. Age 15 "


Deep Thoughts,
Jack Handy