Warbird Information Exchange

At 79, maybe he shouldn’t rebuild the engine himself. Maybe just keep the airplane in annual, except the engine leak and run it up from time to time. That would be far more satisfying than breaking the engine down , taking three years, possibly having health issues, and never getting to fly or hear it run again in his lifetime.

Note the time stamps of each post - the post about Getchell being 79 is from way back in 2014, so he is at least 85 now and has been living in a senior home based on Mike's recent post made today.

I fondly remember seeing Getchell and his Sea Fury at a couple of air shows in St. Paul, MN back in the 90's/early 2000's era, and thought it fantastic that he would share his aircraft that far from home.

I was great back in the day when we had Getchell's and Lloyd Hamilton's Sea Furies at the shows around Northern California.

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remember the Oogahonk!
old school enthusiast of Civiltary Warbirds and Air Racers

Was that "unit put on the de-navalized Fury" used on more than the first few? Maybe only on the first few two-seaters destined for Iraq of which one was diverted to Pakistan? I have seen a picture of a two-seater (K850, the one diverted to Pakistan) with the rounded rudder and two separate windscreens but others (K852, K858) have had the "standard" rudder without the tail hook but the "interconnected" canopies. I have seen no picture of a single seater with the rounded rudder.

EDITED: K850 also has a retractable tailwheel which the other two-seaters (K852, K858) don't have.

A few pictures but I don't know whome to give credit:

Ellsworth sent all his Centaurus bottom ends to Nobby Bartsch here in Australia, he was happy with that arrangement and had 3-4 engines done that way, he did prefer to fit all the cylinders and sleeves himself which is still pretty good considering his age, I would count him and Frank Sanders as the most knowledgeable pilots on the Centaurus, sadly I seriously doubt he will fly again given his health at the moment, I do wish him well!! A very funny man!

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Give me a Centaurus over a Merlin any day

I just came upon this piece of news over at mustangsmustangs.com. I could not remember reading about it here, and a quick search found nothing about it at all.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mercu ... =197378877

The names I used to read about in Air Classics airshow features back in the day are starting to thin out.

T J

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Make my day, punk!

Now Getch and Lloyd Hamilton are back in formation in their matching Sea Furys.

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remember the Oogahonk!
old school enthusiast of Civiltary Warbirds and Air Racers

That's a great image.
Thanks for that

TJ thanks for the link and yes the old names are flying West...

Getch was one of the few who would take the time to talk to a kid about his plane at OSH back in the 70’s. I hung on his every word, learning how sleeve valves work, how they fail when they stop working, how he built up Centaurus assemblies in his basement, cryogenically cooling the crank (iirc) and heating the bronze bushings so they would slip on, and why the cylinder ID was limited by the speed of the flame front when the mixture ignited. Last time I saw him was at a pre-Galloping Ghost Reno - I explained how I knew him and he seemed really pleased to be recognized. Really a cool guy.

I once heard someone (Charlie Hilliard, maybe) tell a story about the time Getch went to Australia to help someone out in the country get a Centaurus running. He went missing for a week, and about the time the owner was going to call the authorities, here he comes down this dirt road on a bicycle. Anyone else ever heard that one?

Blue skies, Getch!

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Chris