Aero Enterprises at LaPorte/ Elkhart, IN

[T J Johansen]

Does any of our esteemed band of brothers here at WIX know of any individual that worked for this company back in the 60s? They were the main dealers of surplus 51s in the mid-west at the time, and would most likely have had a number of employees. I am interested in contacting anyone still alive with a plan to interview them, hopefully in May if I can make the time to visit the east coast. The owner, Jim Morton passed away some years ago I'm afraid, but I trust some WIX'er from IN must remember the company and even know some of the people involved.

Also if you might know of any former 51 owner between Illinois and New York I'd love to to hear. I will probably be driving the 80 most of that distance, with a few detours along the way.

Last edited by T J Johansen on Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

[mustangdriver]

There was a gentleman here that restored several P-51's and T-6's. He is no longer on the field. I think his name is Stutzman. Not sure on the spelling. He restored the razorback P-47 "Little Demon". He at one time had many Mustangs on the field. Currently we do have some warbirds on the field. If you stop by, I 'd be more than happy to show you around. I am a controller here.

[Tim Savage]

There was a gentleman here that restored several P-51's and T-6's. He is no longer on the field. I think his name is Stutzman. Not sure on the spelling. He restored the razorback P-47 "Little Demon". He at one time had many Mustangs on the field. Currently we do have some warbirds on the field. If you stop by, I 'd be more than happy to show you around. I am a controller here.

Ray Stutzman only had one P-51 as far as I know, and I was around there lot back in the eighties when he was active in aviation. That airplane was restored as Double Trouble and is now Double Trouble II with Jerry Yagen. His company Combat Aircraft/Stutzman Aircraft did import a little over 50 Spanish T-6s into the country from about 1982-1985. Someone is probably confusing Mustangs with Texans. He also had the P-47G, a TBM-3R (now in the Liberal Air Museum), an L-2, and a bunch of Saeta jets towards the end.

Aero Enterprises was not based at EKM but at the long gone Midway Airport in Dunlap on US33. It was still there when I was a kid and a little bit of activity. I went off to college and when I came back it was a Meijer's store.

[B-25 MM Jim]

Al Morphew, one of our pilots/mechanics helped ferry a number of the P-51s from Canada to Indiana. He did it with a number of his Republic Airlines buddies IIRC.
Addition: He's in Minnesota though.

Last edited by B-25 MM Jim on Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

[mustangdriver]

Thanks Tim. yeah I knew about Double Trouble but at one time there were around 5 mustangs that he brought back from another counrty. They didn't stay here as he sold them off, but there is a photo down in the EAA building of the mustangs when he brought them back. Not sure what time period that would have been.

[Tim Savage]

Thanks Tim. yeah I knew about Double Trouble but at one time there were around 5 mustangs that he brought back from another counrty. They didn't stay here as he sold them off, but there is a photo down in the EAA building of the mustangs when he brought them back. Not sure what time period that would have been.

Could be, but I have a hard time believing that. As much time as I spent with Ray and as much time as I combed through his stuff and the records of his purchases, I would have come across tha or heard the story. Of course, maybe I am just forgetting things with age.

The photo might be of the stuff that Will Martin from the Chicago area brought back from Latin America, and while he and Ray where friends, I don't believe Ray was involved in that venture. He wasn't really involved in the warbird movement until the late seventies when he sold his RV factory. Most of the Mustangs were back in the states by then.

WIXer Mark Hurtkay was hanging around Ray's place back then too...he might have additional info.

[DoraNineFan]

Thanks Tim. yeah I knew about Double Trouble but at one time there were around 5 mustangs that he brought back from another counrty. They didn't stay here as he sold them off, but there is a photo down in the EAA building of the mustangs when he brought them back. Not sure what time period that would have been.

Wouldn't that be the RCAF Carberry Mustangs that were ferried to the US 1960-1962?

I thought it was more than five, though.

[Second Air Force]

Al Morphew, one of our pilots/mechanics helped ferry a number of the P-51s from Canada to Indiana. He did it with a number of his Republic Airlines buddies IIRC.
Addition: He's in Minnesota though.

An instructor that used to fly out of our little flight school once mentioned that his father (last name Pooler) helped ferry Mustangs out of Canada. As I recall he worked for an airline but I can't remember if it was Republic. I've no idea if I can track down the son but I'll give it a go.

Scott

[DoraNineFan]

There was a magazine article written by Norm Malayney on the Carberry Mustangs and Aero Enterprises, based on an interview with Ed Paluch who had worked with Ed Flemming prepping the Mustangs.

The Aero Enterprises rep was Chuck Mitchell who brought helpers to get the planes ready for ferry flights to the US.

[P51Mstg]

I was at Notre Dame in 1983/4 and spent some time at Stutzman's. I have to agree with Tim, Ray never imported a group of P-51s. I do recall a couple things, one was a T-6 that had broken loose in the shipping container and rolled around and had some fuselage damage for $6000 (about the price of a nice new car then).

Also Tim may be able to help with this one. In the back of the hangar was a P-40 fuselage, they were building a new cowling for it. Someone said it came off the "tundra", but it was corroded to where it was only a pattern. You could literally push a finger though it about anywhere. Anyone know what happened to it?

Mark H

[mustangdriver]

So where is the photo of the Mustangs taken from. I'll try and get a scan of it one day next week. Also someone on the field said he also had a badly corroded spitfire. Is that true or someone confuse that for the P-40. I also heard the story of the T-6 he crashed and after how the police were allowing kids to climb on the plane at the site!

[mlenoch]

Could Dennis Sherman or John Dilley have been employed there, before they moved on? Dennis later relocated to Florida with his own aircraft dealership. And John Dilley moved to Fort Wayne to be with Fort Wayne Air Service.
VL

[gtokid]

I have Ray's email, as well as Dave Kapica's email. Dave worked for Ray from '79 to '86, now has his own shop in Elkhart. Last time I saw Ray was about 5-6 years ago, not sure how's he doing these days.

[gtokid]

So where is the photo of the Mustangs taken from. I'll try and get a scan of it one day next week.

I'll bet the photo was taken at the Midway Airport that Tim mentioned. I remember this field when my family first moved to Elkhart. But like Tim said, it's a Meijer now. No trace of it left.

[Tim Savage]

So where is the photo of the Mustangs taken from. I'll try and get a scan of it one day next week. Also someone on the field said he also had a badly corroded spitfire. Is that true or someone confuse that for the P-40. I also heard the story of the T-6 he crashed and after how the police were allowing kids to climb on the plane at the site!

Ray did have a Spitfire and it wasn't badly corroded. The fuselage was being rebuilt right by his office door. I think he was converting it from a low back to a high back. If I recall the wings were finished and were up against the north wall of the hangar. It later went to Geneseo with Bill Anderson. I think it later went to the UK. I cannot recall the serial and I am too lazy to look it up

Mark: He did have a P-40 hulk. It was pretty cool. When I saw it was over on the north side of the hanagar where kept the Thunderbolt normally. It was pretty corroded but by today's standards it would be a restoration project. I believe it was owned by Bob Burns or maybe the folks that built Burn's P-40K. Would love to know what happened to it.

A lot of stuff passed through that shop during those years.

Vlado: I think John was already at FWAS by the time Ray started his shop. I first met John at Ray's place back in the early eighties. I think Denny was in Florida by then too. Like I mentioned earlier, Ray didn't get into the game until pretty late in the 1970s. I remember seeing his SNJ crash in the newspaper and I if I recall my Dad knew the gentlemen in the back seat.

One of the lessons I took away from the accident even as a kid was the importance of helmets in warbirds. Ray had a dent in his for head because his harness reel was either not locked or didn't work and he smashed his head into the AN style DG knob.