Tri-State Warbird Museum P-40M NZ3119

[Lightning]

Howdy All

Latest Tri-State Warbird Museum News

"Its the year of the P-40...
The Tri-State Warbird Museum Curtiss-Wright P-40 complete restoration is progressing toward its debut at the Seventh Annual Gala June 3, 2011
This world class restoration has produced an outstanding quality WW2 restoration that will be featured this year in international aviation publications.
Museum President Paul Redlich will fly the airplane and make a presentation at the world's biggest civilian airshow at Oshkosh, Wisconsin in July. The P-40 will also be presented at the prestigious Rolls Royce Heritage Trophy Invitational Fly-In during the Reno Air Races in Reno, Nevada in September."

http://www.tri-statewarbirdmuseum.org/news.html

Lightning

Last edited by Lightning on Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

[BenG]

Thanks for the head-up Lightning - another P-40 in the air is ALWAYS a good thing!
Can't wait to see air-to-air photos.

[Dan K]

RNZAF colors look sharp!

Looking forward to seeing her in person.

[warbird_patrick]

What a beautiful aircraft, visited her when she was under restoration.

[Django]

That will be unique to see those markings for sure. Very cool.

[Zachary]

Completely off topic, but wasn't the Tri-State Warbird Museum going to close a year or so ago? Or am I thinking about some other collection in that general area? Is there another collection with a similar name that was having some financial troubles? Sorry for the off topic questions...

Zack

[kalamazookid]

Completely off topic, but wasn't the Tri-State Warbird Museum going to close a year or so ago? Or am I thinking about some other collection in that general area? Is there another collection with a similar name that was having some financial troubles? Sorry for the off topic questions...

Zack

You MAY be thinking of the Ultimate Sacrifice Memorial at Blue Ash Airport, also in Cincinnati. They have the recovered B-17E "My Gal Sal" they recovered and restored to the condition of its crash-landing in Greenland (?) I believe. One of their big problems was always finding a building large enough to display the B-17 when completed. If I remember correctly, the airport is closing to be turned into an industrial park, but there will be a building to display the B-17. Hopefully someone more familiar with the details can offer a better explanation.

As for the P-40, it's great to see this one nearing completion. It will certainly carry unique markings, especially when compared with the rest of the P-40s in the US. If this restoration is on par with the rest of the museum's aircraft, it will be a beauty and almost certainly take home some hardware at Oshkosh. I can't wait to see this one for myself.

[JDK]

Good news!

That will be unique to see those markings for sure. Very cool.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But there's been at least one other warbird P-40 in Kiwi markings, originally flown by a very famous Kiwi in the UK (Ray Hanna) then later in New Zealand.

Great to see another late model P-40 escape the AVG paint police.

[Django]

Generally in the US though, most people will not have a clue what those markings are.

[JDK]

Generally in the US though, most people will not have a clue what those markings are.

Thanks Django, you said it, rather than me! As you did...

The danger (often discussed indirectly, like this, on WIX) is that people regard that as a difficulty, or a threat, rather than an opportunity to learn something they didn't know. The more we go for the safe 'we already know that' option the more we build ignorance, which has a number of xenophobic companions. The more people who encounter these 'odd AVG' colours, read the display board, learn something about the Kiwi use of the P-40, the more good is done.

The US "museum" tax break is, in the main part, for providing access and helping 'education' (rather than perpetuating stereotypes and overly simplistic 'history').

Too often we see here on WIX and elsewhere in life, people claiming an interest in history which is in reality a very selective, biased and often distorted selection of the few bits they are comfortable remembering. Often just when 'my people 'were 'the good guys'. We regularly see blow-ups where that ossified selection runs straight into new information or different views, and there's a failure to cope.

All credit to Tri-State for recognising the real history of their machine and celebrating it, rather than going for the safe option.

Herendeth the monologue. YMMV!

[gale_dono]

Completely off topic, but wasn't the Tri-State Warbird Museum going to close a year or so ago? Or am I thinking about some other collection in that general area? Is there another collection with a similar name that was having some financial troubles? Sorry for the off topic questions...

Zack

You MAY be thinking of the Ultimate Sacrifice Memorial at Blue Ash Airport, also in Cincinnati. They have the recovered B-17E "My Gal Sal" they recovered and restored to the condition of its crash-landing in Greenland (?) I believe. One of their big problems was always finding a building large enough to display the B-17 when completed. If I remember correctly, the airport is closing to be turned into an industrial park, but there will be a building to display the B-17. Hopefully someone more familiar with the details can offer a better explanation.

As for the P-40, it's great to see this one nearing completion. It will certainly carry unique markings, especially when compared with the rest of the P-40s in the US. If this restoration is on par with the rest of the museum's aircraft, it will be a beauty and almost certainly take home some hardware at Oshkosh. I can't wait to see this one for myself.

I've not heard anything about KISZ closing recently, where did you hear this from?

[AvroAvian]

Good news!

That will be unique to see those markings for sure. Very cool.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But there's been at least one other warbird P-40 in Kiwi markings, originally flown by a very famous Kiwi in the UK (Ray Hanna) then later in New Zealand.

Great to see another late model P-40 escape the AVG paint police.

Except Ray Hanna's P-40E is now sporting AVG markings!!! Aaaaarrrgggghh!!!!! I had a crack at one of the owners about it too....

Still, it is truly fantastic to see the P-40M NZ3119 retain its original markings. It's the only airworthy one now...

[JonL]

That'll be 3 airworthy ex RNZAF P40s - The Ex Ray Hanna one is NZ3009, but now has the obligatory sharks teeth, as does the one in Australia.....
Aaaargh!

[Dave Homewood]

JonL said:
"That'll be 3 airworthy ex RNZAF P40s"

No, it will be four. Already flying are the Old Stick And Rudder Company's NZ3009 in Chinese markings here in NZ; and in Australia the Pay family's P-40 in RAAF markings and Alan Arthur's P-40 in RAF markings are all ex-RNZAF aircraft.

It will be really good to know that on the airshow scene in the USA the RNZAF's Fighter Wing will be remembered for their fantastic work in the Pacific War. Not just the aircraft itself but hopefully also the commentary will tell their story which will be unknown to most people in the USA. It has been recorded, that the New Zealand fighter pilots were considered the best there were by many US bomber crews, and some US bomber squadrons in the Solomons refused to fly unless they had RNZAF fighters as their escort. Many of their pilots were vastly experienced over the US pilot, having served in the RAF pre-war and through the Battle of Britain and early years in the European war. Others had served in combat in Singapore and Malaya and the Dutch East Indies right from the entry into the war of the Japanese.

Two days ago we lost our ace of aces, RNZAF Buffalo and P-40 ace Geoffrey Fisken passed away in Rotorua aged 96. He was the top scoring fighter ace of the Pacific for not just New Zealand but the entire British Empire. They grow fewer and fewer now, but to know that their incredible legacy will live on in this machine, and they will be remembered, is very pleasing indeed.