T J Johansen wrote:
C VEICH wrote:
However, I don't think the Yanks Hellcat has flown in 30+ years.
Must have been that long since Stan Hoeffler fried the engine of the plane on the run- up at Chino. Funny thing about Yanks is that they never made their restorations in the 1990s airworthy. For instance the P-39 never any got wiring installed nor did the P-47 as I remember. I knew a couple of their employees back then but they just shrugged their shoulders and said "That's what Nichols want". Even Stan acknowledged that their fighters weren't made for flying. The only one I've ever seen airborne was the P-51D which gave a lot of rides for the Nichols family one day in the summer of 1991, flown by the late John Crocker.
T J
That's very ironic considering how hyper-sensitive Yanks is about calling the vast majority of their collection "airworthy". It couldn't be further from the truth. I don't know if it's still up, but either on Yanks' facebook page or youtube, there was an interview with Yanks personnel and they talk about how many of their aircraft are airworthy. It gave the false perception that the vast majority of their collection flies.
I don't have a problem with what Nichols does or to what standard he restores his airplanes, but at least be honest about it!