PDK Warbirds 1969-70

[billtate]

I am in the process of digitizing my photos and uploading them on to my CP. These are some shots of Warbirds at Epps AirService from 1969 -1970 something. Peachtree Dekalb Airport is located at Chamblee, GA, the former location of NAS Atlanta.
I was still young and could not afford a real camera, just a Kodak Brownie.
Enjoy Bill

[John Kerr]

Didn't that mustang vanish in the middle of the night and end up involved in the Soccer War?

[steve dickey]

Nice pictures, upload more when ya can!

[T J Johansen]

Didn't that mustang vanish in the middle of the night and end up involved in the Soccer War?

Wonder if it was ferried by a certain mid-west pilot who delivered several others...

T J

[hang the expense]

Hard to believe that was over 40 years ago.Is Dave Forrest still alive?

[Rauhbatz]

Great pics! Thanks for sending...a few comments:

+ That Hellcat may be Mike Rettke's, a Dixie Wing member who used to keep it at ATL till they tore down the old hangars.

+ The P-51 I have also seen on the Old/Abandoned Airport website entry for Stone Mt airport...had to have a lot of flap to get it in there I think...

[Robbie Stuart]

Bill, I about peed myself when I saw these pics.
Gonna take a WAG here.
The Skyraider is for sure Dave Forrest's airplane; Now owned by The Fighter Factory.
The Fighter Factory's Douglas AD-4 Skyraider was built and commissioned into the United States Navy in 1949. During its first tour of duty, it was part of the VA-55 squadron that was deployed in the Korean War. After a short overhaul in late 1951 it returned to the war with several different squadrons – VA-175, VA-15, and VA-75. Its third and final tour of active duty ended in February of 1956 with the Marine Corps Squadron VMAT-20. It then spent 10 years on static display in Atlanta, Georgia, before being purchased in 1966 and restored back into flying condition by Dave Forrest of the Atlanta area. It was eventually sold to Dr. Bill Harrison, who then sold the aircraft to Wiley Sanders of Troy, Alabama. The Fighter Factory acquired the plane from Alabama in August 2000 and it was then flown to its current location in Virginia.

"Hard to believe that was over 40 years ago.Is Dave Forrest still alive?"
Yea Dave is still around, has a nice looking "L-Bird"

Lou IV, that was Dave's Mustang. Yea it went south.

The Mustang taking off with the Cobra, I believe was John Steinmetz (sp) I don't remember who the Cobra belonged to.

The Hellcat was either Mike's airplane or Dub Yarbrough's.

The sign behind the stripped down Skyraider pic is still up in our hanger #2.

Bill please repost those pics of the old NAS Atlanta Flightline, & the one of the parking lot.

Best Always
Robbie
PDK

[Ken]

I think the original Air Classics coverage of Dave Forrest's AD-4 restoration was one of the first warbird stories that really captured my imagination as a kid. I must have read that article a hundred times. Little did I know that I'd become friends with one of Wiley's pilots and have wide access to hang around that very airplane, while it was still in the stable. It was always well taken care of and I miss it, however I really enjoy seeing her in new paint and flying more often in VA. The drive and determination of Mr Forrest sets a great example ... where there's a will there's a way.

Ken

[zorro7]

Billtate:

Excellent P-51 find!!

That P-51D nick "Lou IV" is one of about 6/7 samples that went S. of the border c. July 69. Plz post more of "Lou iV" if you have them and any other P-51 in the area. Nice find. Tks

[Lynn Allen]

The P-63 is the CAF's isn't it? Seems like its the same as in the pictures on the wall down at the Sugarland Airport back towards the pilots palace...

[billtate]

Thanks for all the info and updates on the Warbirds of PDK. I am so glad to hear that Dave Forrest is still alive, he must surely be in his eighties now. I am on a road trip at present but I will try and post more pictures of PDK, "Lou IV" and old NAS Atlanta for Robbie and zorro
Cheers
Bill

[Scott Rose]

Great pics, especially love the scheme on the P-63. No way you could do that today without somebody having a coronary.

[billtate]

"Bill please repost those pics of the old NAS Atlanta Flightline, & the one of the parking lot."
Robbie"

Here you go Robbie check your Depends, I hope these are the pictures you wanted.







This was a sad day in the Summer of 1959 when the Skyraiders flew away from NAS Atlanta, Chamblee and the airport became Peachtree DeKalb Airport, (PDK). I was playing ball in the dump adjacent to the runway and had a front row seat.



This taxi accident happend some time in 1954. I know I have a couple more pics of the flight line and will continue to look for them. I hope this is a help to you Robbie.
Enjoy
Bill

[billtate]

From zorro7;
"Excellent P-51 find!!
That P-51D nick "Lou IV" is one of about 6/7 samples that went S. of the border c. July 69. Plz post more of "Lou iV" if you have them and any other P-51 in the area. Nice find. Tks"



As promised I am posting a few more pictures of "Lou IV" N13410. The watercolor I did of the aircraft after it went to El Salvador was finished in 2005. It is my impression of how N13410 looked as FAS-411. I had a lot of help from Tulio Soto and Mario Overall of LAAHS and Dan Hagedorn formerly of the NASM.
There assistance was greatly appreciated.



Hope you all enjoy
Bill

[billtate]

I have this last entry about Old NAS Atlanta/PDK and then I will keep quit for a while. Back in the Fifties civilian kids were not allowed to take pictures of military installations: on or off base. So I occasionally had a sketch pad and a pencil and I drew what I saw. This is a watercolor I did based on these sketches, for the NAS Atlanta Reunion Group. It is of BuNo 64097 the last flying PBY-6A in the Navy.