Warbird Information Exchange

Hey Rick,

We are all getting old! Regarding Kermit's -24: I do recall that we did go through it once it was in Polk City, completely de-greased it, steam cleaned it, flushed out all of the dirt and so on and treated it with ACF-50, inside and out.

So is Ryan the 7 year old who is now 22?

Craig

Craig,

I was just telling somebody at NWOC about our take-off out of Palwaukee.

We went through the 24 again a couple of years ago. New paint on the fins, cowlings, markings and props. Interior is still like it was. Stop in sometime, new hangar is up.

Jack

Hey Jack,

Great to hear from you! I am glad to hear about the paint on the -24, do you have any photos of the new paint? I have a "Bombs Away" light that goes on the tail of the aircraft, to warn others in formation that they may be in the wrong spot. If Kermit wants it, I'll bring it down next time. Its specific to the -24. I think I have a bomb hoist winch for the aircraft as well. Ron Kaplan took some great photos of our flights at Palwaukee....

Craig

Yeah, Ryan's the 22 year old now, hard to believe. Seemed like yesterday we had his little body on top of the A-26 wet sanding the top of the fuselage.

Rob let him get a little stick time in the B-24 last year. Said it was heavy on the elevators but the ailerons seemed light. He rode it from Houston to Dallas.

Hey Rob,

I recall very well the details of that smoke system. At the end of the day, we finally got it tweaked, putting out seven gallons per minute, (all four engines). A lot of folks didn't agree with the system, but with it we were able to simulate high altitude contrails for several documentaries, and the best was the re-enactment of the Ploesti Raid we did at Oshkosh 1993, when we came by show center, with one engine smoking steady, one smoking intermittently, one main gear down, one main gear up, and right at show center we shot off a double red flare from the Very pistol, indicating we had wounded on board and needed to land right away. The show narrator was briefed on all of this, and told the whole story of that raid as we did this. We were able to do this 50 years to the day of the Ploesti Raid, and it was a real honor to pay tribute to those B-24 Veterans that way. A photographer won an award taking a picture of this, and it made the Oshkosh video. I have copies somewhere, I'll post them when I find them. But it did take the best part of that flying season to get that smoke system right!

Good to hear from you, Rob. I am located in Chester, Connecticut, at the Chester Airport. www.connecticutcorsair.com.

Best,

Craig

Hey Rick,

Wait until he has to stop on the rudders with one engine in the can!

By the way, how do you reply to one specific note, so it is in sequence? Like when it says: Craig wrote: such and such, and the reply makes sense?!

Craig