Warbird Information Exchange

I was at the museum yesterday and am curious as to the wings on this airplane (bu 92050).

Does anyone know if these are airworthy pieces that the airplane actually flew with? With the gray primer and "no touch" rope I couldn't really examine closely, but there seemed to be a lot of detail with the aileron and pushrods installed, and so forth. Are these wings laminated with wood or fiberglass, or some other composite?

It was neat to see a bare metal Corsair.

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Life's a Pitts

Never seen the plane in question, but most Corsairs had fabric covered bays in the outer wings originally. Also the ailerons are made of wood.

The wings might have been metalized (sheet metal replacing the fabric) and filled to make them smooth for racing.

I will give you the history as I know it. This Corsair was owned by a gentleman name Bob Mitchem (sp?) For many years it was stored in a hanger in Broomfield. CO. He raced this Corsair in the, I believe, 1970's at Reno. There are great pics in the book Gentlemen, You Have a Race of him landing after he blew an engine on approach to Stead. These may not be the exact facts, but sort of what I remember from reading. This plane sat in the hanger for many years and I don't believe was flown after the return from Reno. There was a small pic several years ago in Air Classics of this plane in the hanger after a wind storm had blown open the door.
As I understand it, the plane is not too far from being airworthy and is only on loan to the museum.
Again maybe not all the facts are exact, but that is the best that I can remember.

Yeah, obviously wings were metalized with the -4 on....but I am referring to this specific set which is either specialty made for racing or else constructed for mock purposes only. The ailerons were wood, but once again, I am not certain whether this set specifically are airworthy examples or not. They were laminated with wood and had a clear finish on them.

Basically I am just curious if the plane flew with this set, or are these "display only".

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Life's a Pitts

That airplane had the wings clipped and the outer panels metalized. It also has the flaps faired in and the whole wing is filled and sanded smooth. It also has different cowl and I can't remember what it is from. It would be a good candidate for restoration. Don

The plane is in basically the same configuration it was in when last operated by Bob Mitchem. The current owner (James Axtell) has done some cosmetic restorative work to the wheel wells, etc, but to the best of my knowledge the wings remain effectively untouched since the plane's flying days. Kind of spooky to think of flying the thing with large sections of flying surface missing.

That's actually the second clip job Mitchem performed on the plane. Looks like he was well on his way down the same path that Cook Cleland took with Racer 94 back in the late 1940's. Keep snipping length off a little at a time until the other pilots stumble from their hesitance to get close to you.

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Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

Thanks Rob. I guess it was the sanded filler that threw me as to the composition/construction of the wings. My guess was that these were airworthy since the ailerons were rigged, but I was certainly curious. I wonder if anyone has pictures of this plane flying in 68/69?

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Life's a Pitts

...or recent photos?

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

airnutz....go to warbirdaeropress.com and search under the photo gallers. Quite a few posted there of what it looks like today. In hte book Gentlemen You Have A Race, there are also several pics.

Thanks Xrayist! warbirdaeropress.com, beware dial-up folks, this is a
sloooowloader...

hmmm...wonder why it won't direct-link?

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

I have a picture from two weeks ago...but I'm not going to create a image gallery. Wait for my website.

Direct link needs the www. in front of it.
www.warbirdaeropress.com

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Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.

When I tried to access the Warbirdaeropress photogallery, I got constant warnings from my anti-virus software that it was infected with the JS/Wonka trojan.

Thanks Roger, but I first posted it with the www. that day, but it kept
coming back with a "address not found" or something of the sort when I
'clicked' on it. It did fine when I manually typed it in. So I edited the www's
out to save folks the trouble. Musta been a 'puter glitch..it works fine
today. Thanks for the virus heads-up Mike and the info Roger.

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Hi guys,

I've tried to find a way of dealing with this supposed worm problem, but my antivirus doesn't give me any wanrings. If you know of a way, please let me know.

There are a number of photos of Mitchum's Corsair, as I went to that museum specifically for photographing that airplane.

Thanks,

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Scotty G
www.LightAndLift.com
www.WarbirdAeroPress.com