I believe the photo was taken at Bridgeport, when owned by Vought.
See my written history:
Type: FG-1D Name: “JOE” Registration: NX63382 BuNo: 88086 Race: #90 Pilot: Thomas Call, Frank P. Whitton
Purchased by Dave Weyler in the summer of 1946, “JOE” became prepped for the '46 Bendix Trophy race, a cross country event from Van Nuys, California, to Cleveland, Ohio. Weyler hired Thomas Call to pilot the bird, and a race strategy of heavily leaning the fuel mixture in efforts to fly non-stop the 2,048 miles to Cleveland. Unfortunately Call was forced to land prematurely in Toledo, with very dry tanks. By the time he made it to Cleveland he was an hour and a half behind the winner, Paul Mantz, who flew his P-51C at incredible speeds. Call would finish 15th out of 23 who started. His average speed was just over 325mph. In 1947 Weyler again decided to enter “JOE” in the Bendix race, but now hired pilot Frank P. Whitton, and changed the number to 99. The number 90 would be worn in '47 by Call's slick black P-51D named “Magic Town”, and flown by Joe DeBona. For the '47 Bendix it is unsure if Whitton was forced to make any stops. He only managed to get 7th place. His final time was even slower than Call's the year before. This would be the end of the cross country racing career of NX63382.After the 'Cleveland era' of air racing, this aircraft made it's way into the hands of Vought Company, Bridgeport, CT. The 'x' was dropped from civil registration, and it now wore a red and white paint scheme. Many details on the history of the aircraft are unclear, however it eventually was sold to none other than Paul Mantz, and was stationed at Orange County. Later transferred to Tallmantz Aviation/International Flight & Space Museum, Santa Ana, CA, then to. Jack M. Spanich, Detroit, MI, 1969-1980. Finally, and for the benefit of all, the aircraft was purchased by Kermit Weeks/Weeks Air Museum, Polk City, FL. This Corsair is currently undergoing a ground up restoration in Australia, and will be returned to flight worthy.
There's another photo circulating, showing the aircraft in the orange/white, when owned by Paul Mantz, and the photo was taken at Orange County airport.
There are already too many 'blue' Corsairs among us. I believe this particular airplane would bring back much more historical flavor and accuracy if it was again painted as 'Joe'.
- Joseph
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