another F4U thread - Paris, TX, 1975 - ID please ?

[Swiss Mustangs]

Hi

just found these two photos and would like to get the ID to this one - photos were taken in Paris, TX, in 1975 and it looks like this a/c was used in the filming of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" - the canopy looks queer - is this some sort of a two-seater ?





TIA & Cheers
Martin

[Chad Veich]

Gotta be "Junior" Burchinal's N3440G which was destroyed in a hangar fire in the late '70s. As I recall the airplane was set up with a rudimentary set of dual controls and Burchinal offered training in it.

[Rob Mears]

That would be the real FG-1D BuNo.92433.

[Swiss Mustangs]

thanks guys !

Martin

[Tulio]

Okay, I.N. "Junior" Burchinal was very famous many years back in the warbird community, and his operation in Parix, TX was often quoted in the magazines and aviation media.

I understand now from reading more on the subject, that some of his aircraft "conversions" were to say the least, unorthodox.

BUT, he was a guy to be reckoned with, and from what I have read, witty, smart and very funny guy.

Anyone knows what happened to him? Is he still around? Does he still fly?

For someone with the name Isaac Newton, "Junior" was probably a better choice for a moniker : )


Saludos,


Tulio

[famvburg]

ISTR in '78 he was moving from Paris, Tx., to somewhere in Fl. He was making fuel stops at VKS that Summer & he was in this Corsair, his T-28(B or D, it had the big engine & 3 blade prop), his B-17 & I think his P-51D. ISTR he owned LOTS of others, including the only civilian airworty F9F. His Corsair had the back of the cockpit area crudely cut out & the plexiglas was crudely shaped to fit on the LH side & hinged in the middle I think & was certainly not "professionally" made. All the controls in the back were for the engine & a stick & rudder pedals, IIRC. A friend & I were talking a while back & I was told that Burchinal had been busted way back for drug running. BTW, he was AKA "Preacher" Burchinal, again, IIRC. I also remember he was quite adamant about running mineral oil in the big radials, said the AD oil would "burn 'em up". And they were'nt low time, either.

[famvburg]

What's so "real" about it being an FG-1D?

[Steve Rister]

In 1978 I was able to sit in Mr. Burchinall's Mustang "In God We Trust" at his airfield. Never saw the Corsair there but did make it to the Paris, TX airport. My cousin, father and I were watching him start the A-26 when he opened the cockpit and motioned for us to climb aboard. Oh heck yes!
Dad almost didn't make the climb in from the back when the a/c began to taxi! We made a few passes over town and buzzed the runway. It was a great ride!
I have always thought the A-26 was 41-39161/N317W, currently N26RP now owned by Jerry Yagen. I would like to know if that's the case.

Stephen

[Warbirdnerd]

In 1978 I was able to sit in Mr. Burchinall's Mustang "In God We Trust" at his airfield. Never saw the Corsair there but did make it to the Paris, TX airport. My cousin, father and I were watching him start the A-26 when he opened the cockpit and motioned for us to climb aboard. Oh heck yes!
Dad almost didn't make the climb in from the back when the a/c began to taxi! We made a few passes over town and buzzed the runway. It was a great ride!
I have always thought the A-26 was 41-39161/N317W, currently N26RP now owned by Jerry Yagen. I would like to know if that's the case.

Stephen

Warbirds Dircetory 4 lists the following 3 A-26s as belonging to Junior

43-22523, 44-34156, + 44-35224
The listing for 41-39161 does not list Junior as a registered owner..

[T J Johansen]

In 1978 I was able to sit in Mr. Burchinall's Mustang "In God We Trust" at his airfield. Never saw the Corsair there but did make it to the Paris, TX airport. My cousin, father and I were watching him start the A-26 when he opened the cockpit and motioned for us to climb aboard. Oh heck yes!
Dad almost didn't make the climb in from the back when the a/c began to taxi! We made a few passes over town and buzzed the runway. It was a great ride!
I have always thought the A-26 was 41-39161/N317W, currently N26RP now owned by Jerry Yagen. I would like to know if that's the case.

Stephen

I remember driving down to Breckenridge in 91 for the show together with Dick Phillips and Mark Howard, and on our way we stopped by Meacham Field in Fort Worth. We found 41-39161 sitting there being worked on by Junior Burchinal and a group of guys. If he owned it I can't say, but they were busy running the engine on it. Can you remember if the 26 you flew in was a civilian conversion with passenger cabin or a stock bomber?

T J

[Steve Rister]

T J,
The A-26 at the time was civilian paint, kinda maroon colored and definately civilian conversion. I have a picture stached somewhere and will try to find it. Later is was painted green.
Incidently I have known Dick and Mark and alway looked forward to visiting with them at the BKD shows. Dick has flown with us a few times in the Navion/L-17A for photo missions.

Stephen

[Blake]

My family visited Flying Tigers War Museum in June, 1975, when I was just turning twelve years old. I got my first airplane ride that day. There was a choice of either a Stearman or a T-6 ride for $10. I was more into WWI aircraft, so I chose the Stearman. It was a very memorable day. That was the first time that I'd ever seen a warbird up close and I was totally on overload that day.

Unfortunately, my Dad and my older brother were experimenting with home photo developing at that time. So, the only pictures that I have are these two. As I recall, you could get a ride in the jumpseat of the Mustang for $75.

The B-17 was called "Balls of Fire". We were allowed to crawl through it. This is 44-83525. It now belongs to Kermit Weeks. There's a picture of it on a trailer in August 2002 at
http://www.aerovintage.com/b17news.htm Those were definitely better days for 44-83525.

[needle]

Tulio wrote

Anyone knows what happened to him? Is he still around? Does he still fly?

For someone with the name Isaac Newton, "Junior" was probably a better choice for a moniker : )

He was still around this time last year, if the following article dated March 2005 refers to "Junior". (I can't believe there can be more than one Isaac Newton Burchinal Jr. in Paris, TX )

http://www.theparisnews.com/print.lasso?wcd=19456

Julian

[T J Johansen]

T J,
The A-26 at the time was civilian paint, kinda maroon colored and definately civilian conversion. I have a picture stached somewhere and will try to find it. Later is was painted green.

Thanks for the photos of the 26. That is definately N317W which became Bob Lammerts N26RP, later going to Tom Thomas, and now Jerry Yagen. Did Burchinal claim to own the 26 at the time, or could it be that he was just working on it? Strange considering we saw him with the same a/c some 13 years later!

Were all of his planes kept at Cox Field in Paris? I've heard some talk about him having a private field in Brookston where he lives/lived!

Incidently I have known Dick and Mark and alway looked forward to visiting with them at the BKD shows. Dick has flown with us a few times in the Navion/L-17A for photo missions.

Stephen

I actually think I have a photo of Dick limping into your Navion that year... Great weekend with the barbeque in the Arnot hangar, aircraft buzzing the hangar all evening, and a certain 51 driver trying to scalp me going straight for the hangar. He didn't miss the roof by more than 5ft...

T J

[RickH]

The A-26 was at Meacham for a Chuckie airshow when the one of the main gear folded while taxiing. Chuckie told us that Tommy Thomas owned it at the time. It was parked inside the infamous fence in front of Chuckie's hangar.

Jr. and someone else showed up and installed a junkyard engine ( they didn't have enough oil for the engine so they went around the airport and got the oil they needed from the waste barrels of the FBO's) and prop on the bad side, worked on the gear lock and proceeded to fly it out. Things didn't go well on the takeoff and it was aborted. Turned out that there was a problem with the nose gear shimmy damper and they darn near shook the nose off of it. They taxiied back and parked it. They also crudely patched the right side canopy clamshell with a crude fiberglass and resin patch.

I sat in the right seat when I was up there and the aircraft had an On Mark style cockpit with dual controls and velvet seat cushions.

Apparently Thompson's collection was in the process of being broken up and no one knew what Jr.'s legal association really was with the airplane.

Sometime after this they showed back up and flew it out.