AT-12 whereabouts

[T J Johansen]

Does anyone know what happened to Vince Perron's AT-12 N55811 which raced in the 1949 Bendix? Is it preserved somewhere?



T J

[ALOHADAVE]

According to FAA records Aircraft Registration prior to Deregistration
date unknown
AT-12 Aircraft serial number 383-22 was last registered to
FRYE JACK, SMOKE TRAIL RANCH street, SEDONA, Arizona

[T J Johansen]

Yeah, I noted that. This would of course be Jack Frye of TWA fame. Registration was cancelled in 1951 which leaves the question, was it just left at Grand Junction after Perron dropped out of the race and eventually scrapped there? Did Frye own the AT-12 and Perron only flew it?

T J

[bdk]

Did Frank Fuller's Seversky survive the war? Was it impressed into service?

[marine air]

Totally guessing what happened. 1) Someone landed it gear up and since spare parts are non existent, it was scrapped. 2) It ran out of fuel as the gages no longer worked and someone totaled it. 3) It sat behind a row of hangars being picked for parts and souvenirs, for many years, then someone grabbed it and sold it for scrap metal. 4) It was sold to a third world country that planned on using it to start an insurrection. 5) Sat on tiedown for years and later sold for scrap to pay it's debt. 6) Burned on a fire pit for training the local fire department.
So many of these neat airplanes just disappeared. I know of a guy whose PJ-3 Cub floatplane sank in a storm in 1968 in Nashville. He just abandoned it. His family still talks about it. I would try to find out who the last owners were and some grandson or nephew will know what happened to it.