F3F alive again....

[Steve]

The 2 seater was the G-32A Gulfhawk I worked on it when it was with Bill Ross
in the late 1960's

Steve

[Pogo]

I remember reading about that fire in .... shhh .... Air Classics .... with considerable trauma over losing that wonderful a/c, but never forgot the amusing side story. The passenger was, as stated, going for his first airplane ride. When the order to bail came, he hopped right out with no hesitation, but went for a stretch before his chute came open. Once on the ground, the pilot rushed over to him to anxiously inquire as to the problem that delayed his parachute. The young fella replied to the effect that there was no problem; he just wanted to try free falling, knew his parents would never let him go skydiving, and thought he'd better take the opportunity while he could. Budd Davisson wrote the article.

I talked at some length to the pilot who logged hours in the former LSFM example, and his salient observation was that "you can't see out of it".

[paulmcmillan]

The 3 F3F-2 replicas built were all based on those that crashed on Mount Haleakala an extinct volcano on Maui Island, Hawaii on 24th June 1941 while flying with the U.S. Marine Corps unit off a carrier for night operations. I believe there unit was VMF-2 but would like confirmation (and the name of the Carrier)

The Naval Bureau numbers are 0972 c/n 370 which became N20RW in which First Lieutenant William M. Ferris was killed, 1028 c/n 426 which became N26KW in which Second Lieutenant Warner Hagemann, Jr was killed and 1033 c/n 431 which became N20FG in which Second Lieutenant Clyde H. Story was killed. All three planes were wrecked when they crashed into the mountian in heavy rain which had reduced visibility to zero

The wrecks were discovered around 1988 and recovered soon after.

The Champlin Grumman G-32A c/n 447 registered N7F ex NC1326, N46110 crashed August 7, 1971 while at the EAA fly-in at Oshkosh after an in flight fire cuased by a loose fuel cap. Pilot Gene Chase and passenger Randy Beloff baled out. Now registered N100TF

If you want your own Grumman I suggest you look in the Florida Everglades.

Grumman G-32 "Gulfhawk III", registered NC1051, was delivered on 6 May 1938. Impressed by the Army Air Force in November 1942 for use as a VIP transport and designated a UC-103, it forced landed in the southern Florida Everglades 30 miles North West of Homestead on 6th November 1942 (pilot Robert J Stacy) - Not 'early 1943' as stated elsewhere. He walked out and as far as I know it was not recovered.