Warbird Information Exchange

I recently had an overnight in Altoona, PA, and when my Captain, Flight Attendant, and I walked into the terminal to wait for the hotel van, I saw some pretty interesting murals done by a local artist. Some of these are located in the restaurant that's upstairs. Not sure if this airport was significant to the area during the war.









Supposedly this is the artists grandfather next to his airplane

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"According to the map, we've only gone 4 inches."

Neat way to break up some bare walls!

The B-17 scene looks like a Shep Paine Diorama and the P-38 looks like it is mounted on a pole!

The B-17 painting looks almost exactly like the pictures of the diorama that was included with the instructions for Monogram's 1/48 scale B-17 - right down to the pilot kneeling and contemplating the hole in his flak helmet.

Nice to see a tribute like that.

Thanks for posting.

Andy Scott

We get a good response each time that we take the Wings of Freedom Tour into the airport there in Martinsburg/Altoona. When you look around the airport and notice all of the farms are owned by Amish or Menonite you think that there would not be much warbird interest in the area, but there is some interest there for sure. The only bad part about that airport is that it is a good 25 minute car ride to actually get into the city of Altoona.

I actually grew up not far from there, and that airport is where I did my first solo when I was in High School.

The wing on that one Thunderbolt looks a bit askew.

The prop painting like it's hanging there is a pretty clever idea.

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

I believe that one Thunderbolt is meant to represent the XP-47Q, which was a test bed for assymetrical wings with staggered dihedral as a way to counter the torque of a the rotating propeller and improve the P-47s close in dogfighting maneuverability. I didn't think that particular model ever left Wright Field, but apparently the artist took some artistic license by putting in ETO coloring. You can see how it is making a tight maneuver so low off the ground while the other "conventional' P-47s are just buzzing along, which would be consistent with the XP-47Qs enhanced maneuverability characteristics.

So far as I know, no actual pictures exist of the XP-47Q. This mural may be the only extant representation of this rare and previously unheard of model of the P-47.

hilarious. i like, saxman.