We were at the McMinnville fly-in over the weekend, and
one of the guys we were camping with is one of my
best friend's Dad, who grew up with Bill Compton in
the Camby area. I suggested we take a box of beer or
something and go visit him, so several of us piled into an
extended cab pickup truck and headed that way.
I agree it could fly again, no problem. Throw enough good
sheet metal men at the project and $$$ and it could fly in
a few years.
I have to say Bill struck me as a super nice guy, and really
misses flying the Hellcat and his '55 C-180, which has around
1200TTSN and hasn't flown in a long time either.... He was
very gracious and invited us to visit again whenever we
were in the area.
Here are links to a few photos I took.
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/1.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/2.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/3.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/4.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/5.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/6.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/7.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/8.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/9.jpg
http://www.havasreti.com/Hellcat/10.jpg
Bela P. Havasreti