Not a warbird but it towed a few in it's day

[astixjr]

So here sits the old tug from the old Arrowhead Airport in St. Louis. The airport closed for good after the Great Flood Of 1993 and now the buildings are being torn down. This tug once belonged to John Gury who used it to tow his two Bearcats around the airport. It spent lots of time towing John Mosby's Skyprints "Miss Behavin" T-6 racer around as well as my father's old Tora Tora Tora Kate and a host of T-28s that used to inhabit the airport. It went under water in 93' so it will probably make a better anchor than a restoration project. The current property owner has offered it to me but my common sense (the little I have) says, run away. I have a bunch of fond memories of this old beast so I'd like to save it. The last time I saved an old a/c tug from the smelter, it sat in my hangar for six years and then wound up costing Eric Downing a bunch of money to restore it but that's another story. That's my son sitting on it and of course, he wants me to save it. Somebody please talk me out of this.



Arrowhead in it's Halcyon Days. Mid 1970s.

[n5151ts]

get it and donate it for parts to keep our old tug running!

[Jase]

Looks like a Clarktor. I've got two of em, they are real workhorses and WELL worth saving. (Sorry, bud!)

There's a fairly active Yahoo group called Clark Tugs, some one more local to you might take it off your hands to part out or restore.

[The Inspector]

You could do what the now long gone TRAMCO where I worked years ago did with one......drop in a crate motor 350 CHEVY and POWERGLIDE.
That dude would wheelstand for quite a distance across the ramp (I never did because no roll bar and a CG somewhere in the vicinity of your navel)
It was fun to watch the mechanics pull the wheels from idle-but Mom raised ugly kids, not stupid ones!

[ISPYWITHMYUAVEYE]

How's that old mustang (car) project of yours doing these days??

Sorry just trying to help talk you out of it

Sell me the 'stang and then take on the tug!!!

[Second Air Force]

Of course you have to save it.

We had a former Braniff tug at my old flight school that had an industrial hemi (I think a 331) in it. It sounded cool but fouled plugs like crazy on 100LL.

Scott

[Tillerman]

I have many hours on Clarks .... We used 3 of them at RTM until november 2003 when the company went down.
Here's a pic of one of them, towing a full load from an Affretair DC-8.



Tillerman

[Canso42]

Ya gotta save it Al. As one tug crew to another.
A couple of years ago we had to give up on a prehistoric Clark motor at Lone Star. The brake master cyl. cost $$$$, and right after it began stopping the differential died. clunk. We have some more boat anchors in the ground support hangar, dead before Ike.
We had a little a/c carrier tug that was called the bumper car since it was the size and shape of a carnival ride. They started calling me Clutch after I did an unintentional wheelie the first time I drove it. NOT good on the front end.

Doug

[kenlyco]

We had a few at Lycoming Flight Service that were from all the way back
to the Vought days ,its funny because when Mark posted the old Pic's
on the Vought sticky you can see them.One of them a bit bigger than this one is still pulling today,only its tugging big boats in and out of the water
in Bridgeport.Great tug but when we got one with power steering we were all screwed up it was just two easy with two fingers.

[Hal B]

We had a little a/c carrier tug that was called the bumper car since it was the size and shape of a carnival ride. They started calling me Clutch after I did an unintentional wheelie the first time I drove it.

Doug

Yeah, those old carrier tugs are kind of cute and OK for moving smaller A/C, but I did NOT like moving our Skyraider with one...



And Albert, you gotta save that old tug!

[astixjr]

I appreciate all the feedback. I'll go back over there on Sunday and see what it's going to take to move it. I've only got to haul it a few miles to Creve Coeur from Arrowhead and I've got a small trailer that just needs some boards so I'll go ahead and try to save this thing from the smelter. I doubt there are any usable parts on it but I would hate to see it go to the scrap yard.

The tug I gave Eric Downing was one of those little "bumper car" Clarks. It would still be sitting in my hangar, waiting for me to do something with it if I had not given it to him. I'll try to find some before and after photos of it. It looks great now! Maybe I cand wait until Eric is out of town and just park this ex-Arrowhead Clark tug in one of his hangars?

[Second Air Force]

Does anyone here have one of the Ford Moto-Tugs based on the 9N tractor? I saw photos of these on carrier decks from WWII but didn't see one "in the flesh" until a few years ago. They are neat little machines!

[The Inspector]

It would also make a really cool mailbox holder/landmark out in front of the house, plant some flowers in the engine bay and turn the seat into a planter rack-lets see the yahoo teenagers smack that with a baseball bat int the middle of the night!

[Jase]

Albert:

I might rethink using a "little" trailer. If it's a dual-rear wheel tug, it weighs about 5800#. Those fenders are solid steel!!

The link for the yahoo group on these gems is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Clarktugs ... roup&slk=1

And there is a sister group called Clark Manuals here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClarkManu ... roup&slk=2

The admin for both these groups is a fella by the name of Joe Swelnis who is a wealth of info on these tugs. "OldClarkGuy"

Oh, and the "bumper car" tug is probably a Clarkat. Also a neat and somewhat valuable toy.

[ZRX61]

-lets see the yahoo teenagers smack that with a baseball bat int the middle of the night!

My mailbox is lag bolted to a railroad tie... Found half a baseball bat laying near it one morning.... you know that guy got rung like a tuning fork..