Stratford Corsairs History Reveled during paint removal

[Jerry O'Neill]

Hi Marco;
I can check with Nick Mainero, since he was the one to actually go to San Salvador and pick oout the airframe and make the deal. He could very well have gone down in 1969 and made the deal. It could've taken quite a bit of time to get it transported by barge up to Floyd Bennett Field, and then some more time to get it air lifted to Stratford.

BTW, I just added some more pics from Nov of 2008 of data plates that were visible and also some images from 1971 when it arrived in Stratford.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11465521@N ... 956720231/

Jerry

[zorro7]

Jerry:

Nice shots of the arrival of FAS FG-1D at Bridgeport CT. Tks!

I may have to agree with you on the accuracy of the number on FAS 217. Those FAS white letters on both sides of the fuselage were prob repainted just after the sale or for cosmetic purposes before the trip. Also, your flick pics show some work and a number on the RS of the vertical stab, will you plz post a close-up of this area??

Plz ask Nick how did he pick this sample among many that FAS had at the boneyard 1969? Also if he has any pics of poss FAS 217 as found or others at the boneyard. He should also have some FAS shipping/maint documents that usually were part of the deal.

And last but not least, do any of your other pictures show the L/S brake fairing dive assy?? Tks

Last edited by zorro7 on Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[262crew]

This statement is so true of airplanes no matter if they are 60yrs. old or never been flow! It made me laugh!

"Only one of the four nuts would turn even after months of soaking and torquing with wrenches so we were forced to carefully cut the nuts off. July 22, 2008."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11465521@N ... 956720231/

[Jerry O'Neill]

Jerry:

Nice shots of the arrival of FAS FG-1D at Bridgeport CT. Tks!

I may have to agree with you on the accuracy of the number FAS 217. Those FAS white letters on both sides of the fuselage were prob repainted just after the sale or for cosmetic purposes before the trip. Also, your flick pics show some work and a number on the RS of the vertical stab, will you plz post a close-up of this area??

Plz ask Nick how did he pick this sample among many that FAS had at the boneyard 1969? Also if he has any pics of poss FAS 217 as found or others at the boneyard. He should also have some FAS shipping/maint documents that usually were part of the deal.

And last but not least, do any of your other pictures show the L/S brake fairing dive assy?? Tks

There are no other numbers on the rudder or the vertical stab in any of the photos. They are just patches painted different colors.
There is no other photos that I have access to of the left side dive brake.

As far I know, Nick did not take a camera with him when he went down there butI'll ask him. he said they just went through the boneyard and picked one. I guess they all had damage of different sorts, some of which can be seen in the photos.
Jerry

[Enemy Ace]

The proper way to do it is to carefully hand sand off each layer of paint (per NASM)
DO NOT use the "Pink stuff" if you want to document the markings because that is paint stripper!!!!
it only looks like it takes off 1 layer at a time because it usually has to be applied several times.
Most paint strippers actually try and attack the underlying paint layers by "creeping" under the top coats, thus destroying what you are trying to find.

[Marco Lavagnino]

Hi Jerry, it would be great if you could contact Mr. Mainero and find out the details of this intreresting process of acquiring a FAS Corsair. Supposedly, the deal was closed before the El Salvador-Honduras war (July 1969), but I can only support this version with testimonies of witnesses. If that is the case, Mr. Mainero would have had plenty of drelict Corsairs to chose from, at least ten in similar conditions, not necessarily damaged but in several cases due to lack of spare parts. If he got so early to Ilopango, he could have been lucky enough to anticipate FAS measure of 1971-72, to store the R-2800 engines and sell them as separate items, and in fact get a complete Corsair, engine inclusive. Well, it will be very interesting to know his version, and maybe we can finally get a fix on the "donation" date.

Marco

[zorro7]

Jerry:

While we do not know with accuracy the origen of the # FAS 217 on the vertical stab we may however, capture the real FAS number in the same place when layers of paint are removed.

We are still looking for a poss FAS 200 or a FAS 201 registrations missing in the FAS FG-1D inventory. Also, the cockpit/instrument drawing mentioned before with the poss "Canario FAS 210" registration is another piece of the puzzle.

Will you plz show close-ups of both dive brake fairings that came with the aircraft?? Do they show some trace of an orange color??

[Robbie Roberts]

Jerry:

Also, I'm curious to know the Bunos found on the wings mod plates. (Both wings). Tks

Don't have those as of yet, but the wings may be from different airframes.
The center section was built by Willys-Overland in Toledo, OH.
Jerry

Told you the Jeep won the war. Even Corsairs were partially built by Willys...

Robbie

[Holedigger]

That's why it is so tough, it's built like a jeep!

[Jerry O'Neill]

I think even Briggs and Stratton built center sections for Corsairs.
That's why they were so good at low level "ground attack"!
Jerry

[Airplanejunkie]

I think even Briggs and Stratton built center sections for Corsairs.
That's why they were so good at low level "ground attack"!
Jerry

Easily identifiable by by the large "rope start" handle on the side.....?

(dang, I wish I knew how to use Photoshop.)

Steve

[Jerry O'Neill]

Now that's funny!

[RMAllnutt]

I think even Briggs and Stratton built center sections for Corsairs.
That's why they were so good at low level "ground attack"!
Jerry

Actually, it was Briggs Manufacturing Co. ... I believe Briggs & Stratton is a different company.

Cheers,
Richard

[marine air]

I have a couple of jeeps that I was trying to document their original military units and markings.
I started off with stripper trying to find the serial number on one side of the hood. Stripper eats voaraciuously and indiscrimantly like termites; barely on the surface and then a 1/4 inch over all the way down to the metal. SO scrapped using liquid stripper for this.
Decided to use sandpaper. The grits go from about 20 to 2000 grit. I started off using like 6o to 100 grit , not too much pressure until I saw a trace of the yellow markings. then switched to 150 and then finally when trying to literally remove tiny amounts around the stencilling went to the 200 grit.
I sold my restored M-38A1 Jeep a couple of weeks ago and the buyer , a Vietnam veteran said the reason he bought it is that it had the documented unit markings on it.

[jaldo]

Here are some pictures I took of the plates on the Corsair at Stratford