Warbird Information Exchange

I was wondering how this Spitfire is coming along and how soon it will be till it flies again. Does anyone on this forum know anything of it's progress? Thanks in advance.

I'd like to know that too.

Would also like to know what happened to the LSFM birds that were damaged in the hurricane. And yes, their Hurricane too.

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Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

PIC, Ford 6600 pulling Rhino batwing up and down the runway

This question was posed within the last year.

Peter Arnold (Spitfire historian extraordinaire) chimed in that things were progressing as finances allowed.

I believe that wings were re skinned and engine was headed off to the rebuilders.

I know Bill pi$$ed off a few members here, but I met him a few times and always enjoyed his posts.

Both machines are in Ray Middleton's shop in Colorado. Not all of the Hurricane got caught in the hurricane. The wings were already in Colorado.

Andy

Thanks Andy, I vaguely remember that now. Also agree with what you say about Bill, mighty nice guy indeed.

I'm still wondering what happened to a bunch of LSFM birds though. There was a Spitfire of theirs too, plus an AT-11, the fabulous F3F, the tricycle Twin Beech, a Harpoon, a Tiger Moth, and god only knows what's slipping my mind at the moment. I'm still jumping up and down with joy that the lovely old DC-3 was able to fly outa there in the nick of time.

And to think I was a volunteer there for some time. But never even thought about all that stuff, just did my work and kept my head down. Heck, I go all the way back to LSFM's Hobby Airport days, you'd think I'd know all the poop. Guess that's what I get for minding my own business.

_________________
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

PIC, Ford 6600 pulling Rhino batwing up and down the runway

Actually most of the Hurricane was there during Ike. Only the left wing (which was the one damaged during the accident) had been removed and sent to Colorado at the time.

The airplanes still in the museum when the storm hit were the Spitfire, Hurricane, PB4Y, PBY, Harpoon, F3F, TBM, AT-11, tri-gear Twin Beech, T-50, Tiger Moth, L-5, N3N, C-1, and B-58. Those were the major airframes that I can think of. There were a few other small homebuilts and a Cessna 172 as well. They almost had the AT-11 ready to leave, but the tide was rising so fast, that they just ran out of time.

Out of those, the Spitfire is in storage at Ezells with some restoration work already carried out, the Hurricane is in storage at Middleton's shop, the PB4Y, PBY, Harpoon, TBM, AT-11, T-50, and C-1 are still static at the museum, the F3F was sold to and rebuilt by Chris Prevost, the Tiger Moth, L-5, and N3N are in storage, the B-58 is now on outside static display at Little Rock AFB, and the tri-gear Twin Beech has moved on to parts unknown to me.

Thanks for the updates guys. Much appreciated. What was the identity of the Spitfire mentioned at Ezell's ?, got me curious now.

High back Mk. XVI TE392. She was down for engine maintenance which is why she couldn't leave the island.

Thanks Ryan

Met Bill at Oshkosh in 2009 he helped us with SL721 which at one time was a stable mate to his TE208. Great to talk Spits with him that evening. Hope she gets back in the air sometime soon.

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“Try to fly in the middle of the air. The edges are filled with mountains and oceans and rocks and it’s much harder to fly there.”