TBM Inc.'s last TBM Walk Around 1982

[Larry Kraus]

I took these pictures at Sequioa Field near Visalia,California as TBM's last Turkey was being readied for the ferry flight to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola.Kenny Stubbs is doing the run up.The airplane was restored by Ralph Ponte,who flew it to the museum a few days after these pics were taken.He's in the first and the last pictures wearing a ball cap and talking to Kenny.These two pictures were taken a bit earlier than the others.I'm just working with scans of 4x6 prints as I don't have the negatives handy,so I can't quite make out the name on the nose,but I believe that it was "El Paco".These shots aren't exactly in sequence.The last picture goes with the first and was taken the same day as the last F7F was being taken away in pieces.There are more shots of the F7F and a rear view of this last picture in my F7F Walkaround 1980 thread in this forum.