Warbird Information Exchange

According to: http://www.chinalakealumni.org/Aircraft.htm, AU-1 Bureau Number 133836 from VX-5 was photographed at China Lake in 1972, assigned to Capt. "Tex" Birdwell, circa 1972:

"Official US Navy Photo"

L-r: former VX-5 CO Capt. H. N. O'Connor, Range Head Duane Mack, Bob Whiting Range Patrol, former VX-5 CO CAPT Boyd Muncie, A. Chappelle Motorola Corp. and VX-5 CO CAPT "Tex" Birdwell:

"Official US Navy Photo"


"photographer unknown, G. Verver collection"

Anyone have any further info on this bird?

That's actually F4U-4 BuNo.97259, owned at that time by Gene Akers of Lancaster, California. Connie Edwards bought the plane around 1973-74 and mainly kept it stored at his ranch in Big Spring, Texas before donating it to the EAA in 1982. Judging from the overall finish of the plane when on display at Oshkosh 1985, I'd guess it had been stored outdoors during the majority of its time at the Edwards Ranch. It's currently an airworthy machine, but hasn't flown in some years now.

I'm supposing that Mr. Akers had the plane painted in the AU-1 scheme in honor of Mr. Birdwell, but it was not an actual AU-1 (wouldn't that be a treasure!). The photos were likely taken during a visit to China Lake, as it had not been in the possession of the Navy since 1959.

BuNo.97259 was one of the twelve Bob Bean Corsairs that remained Stateside after the original nine ships were traded to Honduras in 1960. Akers bought it in 1966 to take part in the air race scene, racing successfully from 1967 through 1971 as "Lancer Too". I'm guessing that Mr. Akers had the plane repainted in the AU-1 scheme just prior to reselling it.

I'm going to have to contact Connie Edwards to double check who actually owned the plane when the photos were taken at China Lake. I'll report that info here if anyone is interested.

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Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

Your posts always get my attention Rob, as they usually include some good Corsair stories and facts. Post away with any details you have.

Mike

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Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

This reminds me of the F4U-7 at The USS Alabama. They have that marked as AU-1. When I finally found out that that wasn't an AU-1 I was kind of upset. After All they have it marked very clearly marked as one. The fact that it doen't have a chin scoop never really jumped out at me; the AU-1 doesn't have one. I guess it made me a little less trusting of what Museums tell you and I generally check out things, Like the Bf-109G rep that is in the San Diego Museum. It took a lot of searching to find out that that wasn't a real 109. But I was impressed by the work put into it.

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www.tailhookstudio.com