Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:50 pm
Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:55 pm
Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:16 pm
Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:33 pm
Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:13 am
Steve T wrote:Memory lane indeed...Many of these were regulars at the late lamented Hamilton shows during the same period. I have very similar shots of Bill Ross' P-38L taken at Mt.Hope in near-identical lighting in '81. That was the first P-38 I saw fly; and "Aluminum Overcast" was the first B-17 I saw fly. The XP-51 visited Hamilton at least once, too, but I did not have a proper camera then...
The Thunderbirds-marked T-33 was an ex-RCAF Silver Star, owned and flown by Ray Mabrey; sadly he lost his life in that aircraft when it crashed at Selfridge AFB a few years later. The grey and blue one would have been an active service machine, with the Montana ANG ("taxi" aircraft belonging to the Montana ANG F-106 unit).
The Royal Navy TBM was Bob Pond's from (at that time) Minnesota.
Ray Stutsman's restoration of that P-47G as Walter Beckham's "Little Demon" really raised the bar...that's still my favourite Jug restoration. Saw it fly at Mt.Hope in '82 at the head of a diamond-four otherwise comprising three A-10As...so cool.
The F9F would've belonged either to Jack Levine or Art Wolk, depending on the year (it passed to Wolk after Levine was killed in a P-51 crash). It, too, was--and remains--a benchmark restoration, especially considering the ruinous condition of the Panther airframe it was based on. Sadly this F9F was heavily damaged in an accident a number of years ago; its remains are reportedly stored at Kalamazoo MI.
Thanks for the memories!
S.