As I posted in March of '05, with some corrections:
Earl's a/c:
Lockheed 18 CF-TCY ex-Trans Canada Airlines, last owner Canadian Department of Transportation, derelict at Midway Airport circa '61; Earl got it, sold the engines and displayed it as "Ole Boomerang" ER-V, and I added the Hudson IIIA serial BW409. Last I heard it was at the WCAM in Vancouver. Any updates on this plane? Their website doesn't list it.
YP-47M 42-27385 ex-Bill Odom, now with Yanks.
TB-25N 44-30243 N17666 now on outside display in B-25B Tokyo Raiders markings at Pendelton Air Museum, OR.
PBY-6A BuNo 64002 N331RS rear fuselage now at NMUSAF (used for parts for OA-10).
A-26C 44-35590 N3248G now owned by Kermit Weeks, currently under restoration at Aero Trader.
F7U Cutlass forward fuselage, BuNo unknown - looked pockmarked as if cut up with a torch - possibly ex-NAS Glenview.
T-33 forward fuselage, s/n unknown.
Ohka now at Yanks.
AT-11 wreck N81Y painted as Japanese transport, ex John Ortseifen? Its nose glass was metaled over. Earl told me that it got wrecked at Chicagoland Airport when the pilot tried to take off overloaded on a 90-degree day with no wind. Its registration was transferred to:
AT-11 42-37240, ex-N7341C,
which showed up at the VAM around 1980 after what must have been long-term inside storage; now with Lone Star Museum of Flight.
F6F-3 BuNo 08831. Basically a fuselage, wing center section and landing gear. Tail to Ed Maloney, rest to Charlie Nichols.
Larry Matt:
Spitfire FR MK XIVe RM927 ex-Belgium. Fuselage stored in crate.
Amilio (Paul) Polidori:
AT-6F/SNJ-6 44-81957/BuNo 111966 N9828C, now N890DB
Taylorcraft BC-12 N44340 (Paul and his passenger were killed in the crash of this aircraft on June 28, 1985).
Also, Doug Goss's T-6G 49-2897 N7197C was based there (and was my first and only Warbird ride, to Oshkosh in '81), as well as a Citabria flown by a fellow named Gary who towed banners. Several ultralights were based there as well (one crashed into the Loadstar).
I'm sure there was a lot more, especially parts like the P-43 landing gear, a PBY nose turret, and a PB4Y elevator and aileron. I really do miss Earl; he had a great sense of humor - when the two guys who were going to ferry B-25H N5548N from where it had been parked for eleven years asked Earl what kind of equipment they should bring for the flight, he told them "Two coffins!"
The burnt garage was next to Paul Polidori's house; it burned in 1981. The casualties were a Dodge pickup truck and a partly completed homebuilt biplane belonging to Paul's son Roger.
Jay, were you there in 1979-81? That's when I hung out with Earl, Ray, Paul, Doug, a balloonist named Jack Frost, and a budding filmmaker named Alex Gloeckler who built a cockpit mockup of a P-47 and filmed a lot of miniature explosions culminating with him playing the pilot getting his own head blown off with a lot of squibs and fake blood.
Good times, good times...
And the Buffalo? I got the impression from Earl that it still existed, buried under the floor of that barn in Beloit, Wisconsin... who knows?
_________________
All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)