Warbird Information Exchange

I was driving from Florida to Tennessee yesterday and on the side of Interstate 75 N, I saw a small grass strip with a C-131 and about 3 or 4 jets around it. As best as I can tell it was near Pine Log, Georgia.Does anybody know anything about these and why are they there? Thank you.

Andy,

These planes have been sitting at that strip for many years (20 or more). The fellow that owns them bought them intending to set up a museum, but the money never materialized, and the planes are just being left there to rot. I took my son there to see them close-up one time, and discovered the jets are full of wasps.

There was a C-47 there at one time, but it's been gone some time. The jets are just hulks.

Walt

Thank you for the info. It is a shame to see them rotting away though.

What jets are there?

The only one I can recall for sure is an F8U Crusader. Seems like one is an F-86 variant, but I haven't been there in a number of years, and my memory is fading.

I do know that there was a C-47, the C-131 mentioned, and several GA-type aircraft, in addition to the three jets.

The field is Mercer, a private strip just SE of Calhoun, GA. The runway is N-S, and is supposed to be 3500 ft. It lies along the east side of I-75, and parallel to it.

Walt

Did a little more digging, and found that the C-131 is actually a T-29D navigation trainer. The interior is relatively complete, with navigator stations, sextant domes, etc.

The three jets are an F8U in Marine markings, an F-86D in GA ANG markings, and a camo-painted F-84F.

Walt

this thread brought back an old memory of a junk yard chock full of warbirds & old military goodies!! it was late july / early august 1992, i was going back home to ohio from the osh kosh fly in wisconsin, & while driving through the traffic nightmare of western ( ) chicago i saw a junk yard from the freeway full of the above described stuff. an f- 8 crusader or nam vintage corsair jet was most prominently seen. traffic of course was a bottleneck, my buddy & i wasted enough time on the way home, & didn't want to stop to investigate. any clue to what this place was??, who owns it?? is it still their?? & what of the goodies?? regards, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Check this out http://www.grabbingsand.com/i75mercer/index.htm

Do any of you know how good the F-84F is? I'm guessing the instrument panel is mostly gone. Any noticable parts missing? How big of a job would it be to make it look nice?

More:

http://www.ronbarrett.com/T-29D.htm

CorsairFreak...I think we will find out about the F-84...that is the plane coming to the Museum. Wish we could bring that Crusader along too.

Jim

I was an A-7. That guy has a private museum and gets stuff off the goverment. He had some H-3s and sold the engines and transmissions out of them to make money. He got the A-7 from Great lakes Navy base as he did 1 huey.

I have never seen an A7 Corsair at Mercer Field. The only similar aircraft was definitely an F8U Crusader. There is an A7 along side I-75 in Florida, around the Gainesville area, I believe. It's painted in faux Blue Angels colors.

Photos taken in 2002 show only the F8U among the others at Mercer.

I have seen several S-55 / S-58 type helos there on occasion.