Parris Island MCRD Brewster Buccaneer Wreckage

[muddyboots]

Well, Maybe if McCain wins we can start lobbying him to change things. Not a political comment at all, please don't get upset, I just know he'd be willing to listen if anybody would.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

I have often wondered why Ex Sec/ NavSen. John Warner and John Lehman were not more fan friendly about this situation. I know of one instance where a retired Admiral spoke to Lehman at a function and was politley dismissed.

[ffuries]

At the time that I posted these pictures I wasn't aware that only one complete example survived.


Mike in Florida
USAF Aircrew Life Support (Retired)
"Your Life Is Our Business"

[Matt Gunsch]

http://collections.naval.aviation.museu ... FQuery.php

[mustangdriver]

The NMNA Did a beautiful restoration of that aircraft.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

From what I recall, the plane was somewhere in the vicinity of 80 to 85 % complete when the Navy showed up and just took it from Johnsville citing their ownership rights. It was not a polite situation at the time and it appears from the website that some revisionist work has gone on since many of the men who worked on her have passed on.

[ffuries]

I've spent the better part of the day trying to come up with a Bureau Number for the Parris Island bird with no luck. Heck there is very little mention of the AC that I can find. Somebody out there have the magic touch that can come up with it or even some more information on the AC?


Mike in Florida
USAF Aircrew Life Support (Retired)
"Your Life Is Our Business"

[mustangdriver]

From what I recall, the plane was somewhere in the vicinity of 80 to 85 % complete when the Navy showed up and just took it from Johnsville citing their ownership rights. It was not a polite situation at the time and it appears from the website that some revisionist work has gone on since many of the men who worked on her have passed on.

The museum's example of the SB2A Buccaneer is actually an Army Air Forces version of the aircraft, which designated the A-34, that was delivered during World War II and operated from William Northern Field near Tullahoma, Tennessee. Either after a mishap or because of the fact that the A-34 was not the most popular or capable of trainers, the aircraft was at some point in its service pushed off the runway at that airfield into a nearby swamp. There, during the mid-1970s, collector Dave Talluchet found it and another A-34, bullet holes visible in the metal not the result of combat as is normally the case on aircraft wrecks, but rather from the rifles of hunters, who after the war found the swamp to be a fruitful spot for game.

The next stop for the aircraft was Naval Air Development Center (NADC) Warminster, Pennsylvania, which in part occupied the former buildings of the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation where they were built. In an agreement with the collector, about sixty former Brewster employees, some of whom continued to work at NADC Warminster, undertook restoration of one of the Buccaneers, beginning their work in 1978. Nearly two decades later, their ranks had dwindled to a handful, and with NADC Warminster a casualty of the Base Realignment and Closure Committee, the volunteers were in jeopardy of losing the countless hours they invested in the Brewster. It was still owned by the collector and he was preparing to remove it.

At the request of the volunteer group and with the concurrence of the collector, the museum agreed to bring the assorted components of the aircraft to Pensacola and start the long and involved process to acquire Navy ownership of the bird. In 2004, the Bermuda became museum property and restoration work began again in earnest. Thanks to the dedication of the volunteers and employees assigned to the project and to a generous contribution of a Foundation supporter, Mr. John Schumann of Vero Beach, Florida., where a significant number of Buccaneers operated as advanced trainers during World War II, the complex restoration was completed in 2007 and the aircraft was placed on indoor static display.

It involved DT who managed to sell a P-51 that he didn't own from right out under neath of us. So I wouldn't be shocked that the NMNA took it back.

[marine air]

Jiggersfrom philly is corect onhis account. The Brewster Bermudas were at Tullahoma on airport property owned by John Parrish. Around 1975 or so, Tallichet's guys pirated one or two of the best ones and took them away without paying for them. Around 1980, Parrish pulled the last one out and put it on dispay across from the Staggerwing Museum. It was minus the tail, firewall forward and anything that could be unscrewed or bolted from the airframe. (another Tallichet procedure) It had steel leading edges and sat on its main landing gear less wheels.
A few years ago this hulk went to the Naval Museum. A couple of years ago, a guy named Charles Runion was arrested for trespassing and trying to take whatever is left out of that swamp. It is all former Army Air Corps stuff and the airplanes were written off in "on airport" accidents, and bulldozed into the swamp. The base closed in 1945. WHat appears to be grenades of some kind were set off in the cockpit area.
The Parris Island example is probably the only true USN/USMC example remaining. It would be a Buccaneer.

[ffuries]

So in keeping with the Finest of U.S. Navy Traditions it is destined to dissolve into the Earth, the last of her kind. Dang that just gets my shorts in a bunch.

Mike in Florida
USAF Aircrew Life Support (Retired)
"Your Life Is Our Business"

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

Here is a link with a brief description of he plane and its movement to Florida in 1996.


http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/aircraft/Bermuda.htm

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

Hi Guys,

So................how many Buccaneers hulks or not still exist ?

Paul

[rwdfresno]

I ran across this one on the internet. Seems interesting. Wonder what the story is with it.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Na ... 0324311/M/

Ryan

[Dan K]

I ran across this one on the internet. Seems interesting. Wonder what the story is with it.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Na ... 0324311/M/

Ryan

Last one at Tullahoma. Towed away by Navy to NMNA. Observed (by me) still intact in July, 2005 at Pensacola. Scrapped by NMNA since then.

[warbird1]

I ran across this one on the internet. Seems interesting. Wonder what the story is with it.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Na ... 0324311/M/

Ryan

Last one at Tullahoma. Towed away by Navy to NMNA. Observed (by me) still intact in July, 2005 at Pensacola. Scrapped by NMNA since then.

I'm so glad that the U.S. Navy has preservation for future generations placed at such a high priority. Thankfully, there will now be one less Buccaneer for future generations to see!