Unknown warbirds in the U.S. - Could they exist?

[tom d. friedman]

so did what's his name?????? the guy that has the japanese version of the me 163 komet & other ultra rare birds. he went door to door too, asking enquiring etc. that was up to 50 years ago, unlike then, try that today & i'm sure the hit ratio is almost nil to none sad to say. regards, tom

[HarvardIV]

Hi Tom:

He lives in a rural area, and just asked around. He found another rare bird, and I can't tell anybody what kind.

[bdk]

so did what's his name?????? the guy that has the japanese version of the me 163 komet & other ultra rare birds.

Well, I think there is only one of those in existance, so you must mean Ed Maloney.

[tom d. friedman]

ed maloney, that's him!!! you win the car & luggage!!!! he must be up in years by now... wonder what he found. any hints chris?? possible private message??? regards, tom

[HarvardIV]

No not Ed Maloney;

Can't say what he found! hint he lives in the midwest, and not well known at all.

[tom d. friedman]

ok, but wasn't bdk right on the japanese version of the me 163 komet being saved by maloney?? i believe it was the j8m1 suishi (swinging sword) in japanese designation regards, tom

[HarvardIV]

Hi Tom:

Yeah it's in the museum. What a lot of people don't know is that they have a Ki-45 Nick tail that they recovered from Babo.

[tom d. friedman]

please elaborate!!

[HarvardIV]

Hi Tom:

All I know is that they've had the J8M for years, and that the Ki-45 came from Babo around the time they got their Betty and the Zero.

[Rob Mears]

Thanks Rob, I'll pass this on to the VMF-224 member, looks like his bird is indeed been snagged. However he was adamant that it was a -4. He ought to know, he was on the flight when it went down.

You're actually right that it was a -4 (that'll teach me to review my notes before I post)

What happened is that the US Forestry Service obtained a Bureau Number from the US Navy to be applied to the wreck, which turned out to be incorrect. Ends up the assigned Bureau Number belonged to an FG-1D that supposedly crashed in the same vicinity. So it looks like the plane was in fact an F4U-4 after all.

[bdk]

In the early 90s a guy recovered(don't rememeber the guys name) on behalf of POF and David Prices old museum a bunch of Japanese stuff included in this was a Betty, four or five Zeros a Tony and parts to about 10 other aircraft including the tail section of the Ki-45 along with I beleive a wing section.

Now two or three of the Zeros have been put back into the air the Betty is display as is with POF I think the Tony is now in Aussieland. The rest is still in storage.

POF Valle (Grand Canyon) also has a Judy wreck on display.

[JohnH]

Tom,

In the early 90s a guy recovered(don't rememeber the guys name) on behalf of POF and David Prices old museum a bunch of Japanese stuff included in this was a Betty, four or five Zeros a Tony and parts to about 10 other aircraft including the tail section of the Ki-45 along with I beleive a wing section.

Now two or three of the Zeros have been put back into the air the Betty is display as is with POF I think the Tony is now in Aussieland. The rest is still in storage.

RER

They were recovered in late 1990, early 1991 by Bruce Fenstermacher....There's a video at POF in front of the Betty of him talking about the recovery. Price's museum had a cool press conference showing off the recoveries in the summer of 1991, the free Sake was awesome!

John

[kennsmithf2g]

Hi,

back in 1985, These T-33s were sitting next to the Boy Scout camp in Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio





As I recall, they were pretty much intact. They even had the shell ejection chutes in the nose, seats, inflated tires, and most instruments. Just missing the engines and guns!

Off in the trees was an old revertament, sat as I recall, a F100 with the tails code "HI" that someone was restoring as it had a check list chalked or painted on it's side with remaining work to be done. As at the time, it was just outside the fence of the alert B52 SAC area, I thought it wise not to take any pictures of it, nor of the B25 parked among all the B52's on alert.

I was never back with my brother-in-law's troop so I don't know what ever happened to them.

The T33 with the tail is just a few numbers away from the one on display in Brooklyn, Ohio, 19263, not Brook Park as the register shows. Someone went and did a lot of restoration work into 19263 and now she sits it front of the Brooklyn Fire/Police station. At one time the city of Brooklyn was trying to give her away but then found out that the AFM still owned her.

I am still trying to find information on the jet fighter, an F86 or F84, that used to be on display next the the Parma Hts, Ohio tennis courts. My parents would never stop and by the time I was driving, she was gone.

TTFN....Kenn

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

Hi All,

A very interesting thread here. Many years ago, I worked with a group who had several Warbird aircraft and at the time I was told rumors of two different Warbirds that were sitting around in the Northeat US. One story was of a "hacked up B-17" that had cut up by chain saws but was esentially still "there" as in complete that was alledgedly someplace in Central, Pa. The other was of a Tigercat that had been pulled derelict out of a city park in the Eastern US back in the late 60's. Unfortunatley I cannot provide much more info on these items than that though I wish I could. I have since long been away from these folks due to my job constraints and we have lost touch. As this is a "what if" thread I thought I would just toss these out to see if anyone else had heard these "stories". While possible and potential, I think them both unlikely, but one can always hope.

Paul

[T J Johansen]

A very interesting thread here. Many years ago, I worked with a group who had several Warbird aircraft and at the time I was told rumors of two different Warbirds that were sitting around in the Northeat US. One story was of a "hacked up B-17" that had cut up by chain saws but was esentially still "there" as in complete that was alledgedly someplace in Central, Pa.
Paul

Would this by any chance be the XC-108 that was with Michael Kellner some years back? It had been cut in sections and stored at a farm in Maine for about 40 years!

The other was of a Tigercat that had been pulled derelict out of a city park in the Eastern US back in the late 60's.
Paul

There was a photo in Warbirds International a decade or so ago of a Tigercat sitting on a lawn. I thought it was on somebody's property, but maybe it was on the outskirts of a park!

T J