Seafuries at Breckenridge. Various years.

Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:36 pm

Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:39 pm

Aw, c'mon Brad, that's not fair.

Give us a clue as to identities!

So there's WJ288 (ex-G-SALY), presumably being re-engined with a '3350, plus Howard's machine.

Which one is the silver one coded 'CL'?

Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:20 pm

My money is on N24SF shortly after it was finished for Chuck Leshe. I believe this would make it the current Spirit of Texas.

Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:21 pm

In the background is Don Knapp´s P'51D that he was killed in at dyess AFB July 90.
Great series Brad keep it coming.!
JH

Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:38 pm

Looking at Pardues plane NX666HP, she came to Reno in '89 without the blue painted on the roundels, and returned in '90 with the roundels fully painted, so those pictures of Pardues plane would have to have been taken after Sept. of '89

Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:46 am

Picture 1 is of Joe Thibodeau's airplane, just before he bought it.

Pictures 2 & 3 are of WJ288. This is when we had it at Nelson's shop doing repairs on it after a landing incident. It lives in Memphis, TN and was just donated to the CAF.

Pictures 4 & 5 are of the old Henry Haigh machine. It now lives in the Dallas area and is owned by John Shackleford.

Pictures 6, 7, 9, & 10 are of course, Howard Pardue's airplane. This airplane still lives in Beer-can-ridge, TX.

Pictures 8 & 9 are of Chuck Leshe's airplane, which did indeed eventually become the Spirit of Texas, owned by Stewart Dawson.

Picture 11 is of Wally McDonald's airplane as we were finishing it up. This airplane was purchased by Mike Keenum after the first flight and became Riff Raff.

Man, I suuurrrre do miss working at Nelson's place!
Gary

Wed Nov 01, 2006 9:38 am

retroaviation wrote:Picture 1 is of Joe Thibodeau's airplane, just before he bought it.

Pictures 2 & 3 are of WJ288. This is when we had it at Nelson's shop doing repairs on it after a landing incident. It lives in Memphis, TN and was just donated to the CAF.

Pictures 4 & 5 are of the old Henry Haigh machine. It now lives in the Dallas area and is owned by John Shackleford.

Pictures 6, 7, 9, & 10 are of course, Howard Pardue's airplane. This airplane still lives in Beer-can-ridge, TX.

Pictures 8 & 9 are of Chuck Leshe's airplane, which did indeed eventually become the Spirit of Texas, owned by Stewart Dawson.

Picture 11 is of Wally McDonald's airplane as we were finishing it up. This airplane was purchased by Mike Keenum after the first flight and became Riff Raff.

Man, I suuurrrre do miss working at Nelson's place!
Gary

Beer-can-ridge, TX........... That's a good one.....

Lynn

Wed Nov 01, 2006 10:08 am

I was gonna mention...the first pic looks suspiciously like Thibodeau's Sea Fury before he bought it and put the name 'Sea Hawk' on the engine cowling....it now resides in Denver...dunno if either his Fury or Mustang made it to Reno this year?

Mark

Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:47 pm

Mmmmm, Furies...I really must get round to winning a lottery, soon...

S.

Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:05 pm

Steve T wrote:Mmmmm, Furies...I really must get round to winning a lottery, soon...

S.

Well, one thing about it...you don't really need to win the lottery to buy a Fury. You just have to be kind of rich. ;-)

They're actually one of the best "bangs for the buck" on the Warbird market in my opinion.

Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:05 pm

corsair166b wrote:...dunno if either his Fury or Mustang made it to Reno this year?

The Fury was there, and qualified but failed to start any races.