Corsair Photo

[C170BDan]

Good friend of mine forwarded this photo to me today. A couple months ago he printed this picture out for us to see and I asked for a copy. This is scanned from a slide. Just had to share it here. His note to me read...

They were taken in the AZ desert somewhere near the TUS VOR close to Davis-Mothan (?) AFB on private property. Don't know who's but not fenced or guarded. About 78-80.

Rob has just seen the photo so I will let him relay what he knows about them! Look forward to reading the story!

[B-29 Super Fort]

When was this photo taken?

[DanteC]

Wow, interesting photo. Isn't the "K" tailcode Olathe NAS, Kansas?

I have been very curious to see more photos of NAS Olathe birds, other than the gull gray over white -4.

[bdk]

Must be some of the Mr. Bean aircraft. Yanks' Corsair still has the Olathe markings on the underside of the wings I believe.

[John Lane]

Those were Bob Beans aircraft at Litchfield Park, Arizona in the early sixties being prepaired for towing to Mosley Field in Tollison!

[C170BDan]

Thanks John... Trying to piece the whole story together...

Bob Baas said he estimated he took the photo about 1978, 1979 or 1980. Does Mr. Bean still own the airframes and are they complete projects?

[John Lane]

Dan, I believe that photo was taken around 1959 or 60. I worked for Mosley Bros. Summers of 1963-64 and would eat my lunch in those U-Bird's from time to time. Got lots of spit & stick time in those old girl's! We have one from that group here Bu.97359, so I guess I'm still eating my lunch in them! By around 1969-70 all were sold off and by 1979-80 Mosley Field was turned into housing. Bob Bean died in the early 80's in Herford, Arizona and was one of the early Warbird Investors! We can trace many Warbirds back to his owership from those early days! Who know's how many he saved for us to enjoy today. Hope this helps! Nancy say's Hi!! Best Regards Always,

[Rob Mears]

John, any chance you were still hanging around Moseley Aviation when Bob relocated the remaining Corsairs south to the Tulsa area? As best I can recount, he purchased some property southeast of Tucson in the town of Hereford during the mid-1970's and had a private airstrip built there. He relocated what Corsairs remained to that field, as well as some surplus Grumman Albatrosses, and apparently the twin-tailed (cargo?) planes in the photo. He also had a D-18 and a couple of old rail cars out there to boot. You probably know as well as anyone how eccentric the guy was, though a perfect gentleman as I understand it.

I think the the photo must have been taken later on at the Hereford airstrip since the plane's control surfaces and other bits seem to be fairly well deteriorated in the picture. As best I can tell, the two planes are BuNo.97349 (foreground - Now at Pima Air Museum), and BuNo.97330 (background - destroyed in 1991). That would date this photo at around 1977-78, but I can't be perfectly sure.

I sure wish I could have visited Moseley Field back in the day. Very cool that you were at the scene back then!

[Brad]

Dan,

John and Nancy are my friends! Go find your own!!

I'm sitting in Kuwait with a sick plane right now. I should be back just in time for Reno. It's a good thing that I bought my airline tickets before I left. They have gone up over $200 in the last two days.

[C170BDan]

Ah... there we go... that's the info I was digging for! Thanks John and Rob! I'll have to find a recent picture of the one from Pima. Bummer that the other is gone. I had seen Bean's name around before... just didnt know the story behind the name.

John and Nancy are my friends! Go find your own!!

Well... we know the Lanes are good enough people for us to share...

Yikes... you get that bird fixed! You HAVE to make Reno so I can get pictures of you jumping into some bubble wrap!

[Brad]

The bubble wrap acrobatics incident left me with bad memories! I still wake up shivering at night! I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. Have no fear though, Reno always presents me with several opportunities to embarrass myself!

[John Kerr]

Dan, I have a few duplicate slides of the following corsairs, taken in 1973 in the Tucson, AZ area. Aircraft noted are: 97142 Seattle 71 on tail and 10 on nose, 97264 Seattle 72 on tail, 81415 Olathe K on tail, 97330 marked K-16, and 97390 Seattle. All are F4U-4.

Some had hand painted N numbers on them, others had N numbers assigned as follows: 97142 N3771A (Note data plate switched with 97349 and 97349 is now on display with Pima Air Museum with data plate in it from 97142). 97267 N5218V. 97330 N5219V (Now on display in Seoul South Korea). 97336 N5222V. 97390 N47991 (Now at Yanks Air Museum).

Hope this helps, John