Warbird Information Exchange

Thanks Doug !

Paul
The Netherlands

I ally myself totally with Doug's comments above.

Rob: The BT is in good hands, and is currently flying. I never did see an answer to my question of what, exactly, you'd like to see changed so that prospective sponsors could more easily get an airplane to restore.

Regards

Jase

I'm growing tired of repeating myself here. As I posted earlier, Loyd himself said, in the 80's, that the name was a mistake and detracted from the mission. The name has changed, and all the sour-grapes in the world will not and should not undo that. As others have said, the CAF is seeing many new horizons, financially speaking, open up as a DIRECT result of changing the name.

Yea, as a born-n-bred Southerner, I grow weary of those who would rewrite history, didn't you catch my reference to the War of Northern Aggression in an earlier post? But, candidly, I'm willing to rise above all that crap for my beloved warbirds. If changing the name has made the CAF a viable organisation for the NEXT 40 years, I'm all for it. And make NO mistake Rob, without the name change the CAF would have gotten smaller and smaller and died eventually. I confess, I was used to the old name, and still catch myself saying "Confed, er COMMEMORATIVE Air Force" almost all the time.

It's evident to me that neither of us will change the other's mind, so my intention is to not continue this discussion.

Here's a pic of the BT, the first time I saw it when we went to Fryeburg to whip it into ferriable shape, and also a pic of her as she appears now. What the pics don't show is all the work "under the cowl" that's been done as well.

Regards

Jase

Here's the current pic of the BT:

Except for the R-1340 hanging on the front of her, she was pretty much as it would have looked at the end of the war. The 1340 was put on in CA, in 1963, under an STC so it flys in Normal Category, not Experimental. One of our pilots who has flown both the stock 985 BT and ours says that the 985 is kinda underpowered. Ours will, given the same power settings, outclimb a T-6 due to the 1,000# weight difference.

Today marks the 4th anniversary of her purchase by us, and donation to the CAF by the way.

Regards

Jase

Thanks for the compliment, we are justfiably proud of the work we've done on the BT as well as the L-5. Yup, that's "Gayle Ann", our Stinson L-5. We bought her in about 50 boxes of assorted parts, some of which were actually for an L-5 in 1992, she took her first post-resto flight in January 1999. Here's what she looks like now:

That L-5 was at The WW2 weekend in Reading correct? That was a nice job. I also love to see signs giving some history on the Airframes also. It really gives a great personal touch to the aircraft. Makes it stand out, sometimes the L-birds get lost in the crowds of them. BUT that one stood out to me.

from CAF Headquarters:

"We have entered into an agreement for the purchase of a Spitfire Mark
XIV.

It will take an undetermined period of time to complete the purchase.

The airplane does not yet belong to the CAF."

Thanks Tim,

Yes, she was at RDG/WW2 weekend. The signs are a great touch, I agree. They really seem to attract ppl to the airplanes..

Stop and say hello next year, I'm the short guy with mustache and black cowboy hat. I also seem to be the guy that gets to handprop most of the L-birds each year.

Regards

Jase