Warbird Information Exchange

hey bill,

any chance that your flight sim team is considering the p-61 as a project?

You bet! But the bad news is, it will have to wait until the real P-61 is flying. That's because of the way we build our sims. All the textures are produced from digital photos of the real MAAM plane and the sounds are recorded from the original as well. That's the way we did it with our B-25J 'Briefing Time' and our R4D / DC-3 / C-47 package. Check them out here: http://www.maam.org/maam_sim.html

So if you have any pull with Northrop Grumman, get them to drop about a million of their tax-deductible dollars on the project and watch our dust! Believe me, we have tried and tried again to get some support from them, to no avail.

I mean really -- picture this: You and several thousand other aviation enthusiasts are at World War II Weekend when a couple dark shapes appear over the crest of Mt. Penn. You hear the growing, mixed roar and whine of a pair of P&W 2800's and a quartet of F118-GE-100 turbojets. Two unmistakable aircraft sillouettes take shape as they approach the air show line. The P-61B 'Black Widow' and the B-2 'Spirit' execute a formation show pass - both black, both stealthy, both deadly, both Northrop! Does that sound like the ultimate Heritage Flight and a Northrop Grumman press agent's ***dream, or what?

It leaves me shaking my head over what could be. Short-sighted is a polite term. I can think of others!

BTW, the new 'Widow's Web' is up. It's still a work in progress and I have not finished checking it for broken links, etc., so if you find any, please let me know. But there are some fascinating photos, never before published, of the recovery from Mt. Cyclops and the ongoing restoration.
http://www.maam.org/p61.html Don't forget the refresh button. I just changed some links'.

Eventually we'll be adding some film clips and other features. Our Museum President has a film clip showing the helicopter lifting out the P-61 components from the mountain. According to Russ, that chopper pilot had a pair of "giant pumpkins!" It was reportedly a very hairy operation!

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Bill Rambow
Mid-Atlantic Air Museum
www.maam.org

Rambow that what-if heritage flight brought a big grin to my face

I cant wait to see the Widow in person again. I really like seeing how far it has progressed each year I visit.

I wanted to add a slight correction to an earlier posting by Rambow. The Yankee Air Force/Yankee Air Museum's C-47 and B-25D will not be selling "Flight Experiences" at the Reading show. Our B-17G "Yankee Lady" will be "selling rides there.
Todd Hackbarth Yankee Air Force

My fault on that listing Todd, I either misread the sheet I was sent or was working from an out of date listing. If you've got something recent, can you send me a copy?

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Phil K.
Yankee Air Museum
Systems Admin / Ramp Crew / Professional Photo Ruiner

Sorry, Todd. Brain fart/senior moment. The C-47 will be open for tours, not selling rides as Todd says. I don't believe I mentioned the B-25, but that reminds me,Todd, will 'Yankee Warrior' be doing ground tours? If so I want to add it to the list.

Thanks for the correction.

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Bill Rambow
Mid-Atlantic Air Museum
www.maam.org

I'll bet a $100 bucks that Doc won't be flying until 2010. Hope to be wrong, though.

Bill,
great job on the website. I gotta tell you it looks 1000% better! I'm a reenactor with the 25th infantry in the pto area (think lots and lots of bamboo!) thanks for putting up pics of our camp too, you did us well! can't wait for the show, I love getting an extra day to take a look at the planes while we set up our stuff! small price to pay for labor intensive work ....surrounded by warbirds! see ya there.

Brian

Rambow,

I found out the Yankee Air Museum will be selling cockpit tours of their B-25D while it is on static display at the show.

Todd

O_O ...er...you sure about that? Doc's owner is Tony Mazzolini. I don't think there's any dispute about that.

The main thing they're having trouble with is a suitable hangar for it...which needs about $4 million to get built. They also need to get the engines rebuilt and the fuel cells done...dunno how much that costs.

You guys'll get an update from me in the early fall when I get back in.

School is evil.

I know he didn't have the money...that's why he got Boeing to help and is currently asking for donations.

Unless Mr. Zigler, the project director, was misinformed or lied to me (which I doubt), then Tony Mazzolini is the owner. Mr. Ziegler told me that Mazzolini is the owner of the aircraft as he possesses the pink slip. He said that Mr. Mazzolini would still own Doc even though it would be based at the Kansas Aviation Museum.

So....what's this about a legal dispute about ownership?

Wolverine,

Rob is not pulling your leg. The B-29 is owned by a corporation. (Not USAM.) There is more than one sharehold in the corporation. Mr. Mazzolini may wish he was the owner and sure talks like he is the owner, but he is not the sole owner.

Jim

Ok. ok. Who owns the plane and who is the famous warbird collector seen in the pictures of the recovery? Enough beating around the bush. What's the current restoration status of the plane? The web site is gone.....

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=69972

My guess would be: David Tallichet

Dennis