Where are the F3Fs?

[Stephan Wilkinson]

Trying to figure out where the existing flying/flyable F3Fs are. As far as I can tell, Kermit Weeks has one (F3F-2), Planes of Fame has one (F3F-2) and Sonoma Vintage has the third F3F-2. But where is the two-seat G-32A?

Also, are all of these aircraft from the Herb Tischler series build--call them restorations, replicas or data-plate specials?

[JohnTerrell]

- The G-32A is owned by the Friedkins (often on display at the Planes of Fame Valle, Arizona location). http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N100TF.html

- Jim Slattery owns F3F-2 N20FG, that was once also owned by the Friedkins (at one time often found on display at the Planes of Fame Chino, California location). http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N20FG.html

- Chris Prevost owns F3F-2 N20RW, currently finishing restoration at Sonoma Valley airport (Schellville), to be flying soon.

- Kermit Weeks owns F3F-2 N26KW.

[C VEICH]

Love the registered owner's name of N20FG, "Pissed Away N20FG"!

[JohnTerrell]

And what a fine collection of vintage aircraft and warbirds is being assembled under that title. : )

Two F7F Tigercats (one under restoration at Westpac, the other at Fighter Rebuilders, both to airworthy)
B-23 Dragon (under restoration to airworthy at Sanders')
P-38F Lightning (under restoration to airworthy at Westpac)
F3A-1 Corsair (under restoration to airworthy at Ezell's)
SBD-4 Dauntless and SB2C-1 Helldiver (under restoration to airworthy at Vulture's Row)
PBY Catalina (http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/57 ... 0_copy.jpg)
AD-5 Skyraider (http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N39147.html)
TBM Avenger (http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N6VC.html)

[tom d. friedman]

- The G-32A is owned by the Friedkins (often on display at the Planes of Fame Valle, Arizona location). http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N100TF.html

- Jim Slattery owns F3F-2 N20FG, that was once also owned by the Friedkins (at one time often found on display at the Planes of Fame Chino, California location). http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N20FG.html

- Chris Prevost owns F3F-2 N20RW, currently finishing restoration at Sonoma Valley airport (Schellville), to be flying soon.

- Kermit Weeks owns F3F-2 N26KW.

i sold chris prevost a very rare mk 7 gun camera for his f3f. i believe his f3f is a collection from put together crashes of the type. i can't wait to see my former camera on that top wing!!

[JDK]

Also, are all of these aircraft from the Herb Tischler series build--call them restorations, replicas or data-plate specials?

Really you can call them what you like, as there's no agreed definitions in aviation restoration as there is for some other forms of transport, antiques or museum work. (I'm thinking primarily that 'replica', which has a generally understood definition in aviation preservation, which is flatly contradicted in definition by the term when used in other fields. National level museums sometimes try and use museum terminology, but it's not generally accepted or understood.)

Talking generally, what matters is you are correct in describing what's new built and what's incorporated from original examples, and don't perpetuate the 'originality growth' of the increasing original status of a modern-built new-metal example that over time (and with no physical changes) becomes more and more 'the real thing' in media descriptions.

While we're here, Stephan, could you please post what you feel is the appropriate element of your last comment to me re- source data on the A-36 & 'Apache' saga in that thread? There's more to be said, but you need to go first, surely. Ta!

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=46602

Regards,

[Bearcat SA]

And what a fine collection of vintage aircraft and warbirds is being assembled under that title. : )

Two F7F Tigercats (one under restoration at Westpac, the other at Fighter Rebuilders, both to airworthy)
B-23 Dragon (under restoration to airworthy at Sanders')
P-38F Lightning (under restoration to airworthy at Westpac)
F3A-1 Corsair (under restoration to airworthy at Ezell's)
SBD-4 Dauntless and SB2C-1 Helldiver (under restoration to airworthy at Vulture's Row)
PBY Catalina (http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/57 ... 0_copy.jpg)
AD-5 Skyraider (http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N39147.html)
TBM Avenger (http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N6VC.html)

After having been halted for a while, work on the Catalina has resumed. About a month ago they did engine run ups

[DaveM2]

Trying to figure out where the existing flying/flyable F3Fs are. As far as I can tell, Kermit Weeks has one (F3F-2), Planes of Fame has one (F3F-2) and Sonoma Vintage has the third F3F-2. But where is the two-seat G-32A?

Also, are all of these aircraft from the Herb Tischler series build--call them restorations, replicas or data-plate specials?

The Sonoma aircraft has quite a bit of original structure and parts- it was the only aircraft of the three Hawaiian wrecks that didn't burn out.

Dave

[Stephan Wilkinson]

While we're here, Stephan, could you please post what you feel is the appropriate element of your last comment to me re- source data on the A-36 & 'Apache' saga in that thread? There's more to be said, but you need to go first, surely. Ta!

Well, working from memory here--and the mind is the second thing to go...--you and I had been discussing the long-standing dispute over whether the North American A-36 should be called an Apache or a Mustang. We both agree that the airplane was never officially called an Apache, which is a name that was briefly given to the original Mustang by the North American marketing people when they were trying to sell it to the British, and it was a name that was abandoned months before the A-36 was ever built.

I had been pretty much convinced that "Apache" was a phony name that had sprung up during the late 1970s and early '80s among model-builders and had become a minor urban legend because it was repeated in modeling-magazine articles and ultimately a Squadron Signal "Mustang in Action" book.

But then I talked to Rob Collings, of the Collings Foundation, because it was his A-36 that I was writing about for Aviation History magazine, and I asked him what -he- called his airplane.

"What do you call an F-16?" he asked me in response.

"A Viper, of course," knowing full well that its official name was Fighting Falcon, though that sounds like a member of a high-school football team.

"Exactly," Rob said, "and every former A-36 pilot and ground crew member that I've talked to said they called the A-36 an Apache or an Invader [which is another story]."

His point was that maybe an airplane gets named by the people who operate it, not the air force that flies it or the company that makes it, which is certainly the case with the F-16 and very well may be the case with the A-36. Collings's final words were that he's going to reserve judgement until he talks to more A-36 veterans, but at this point, those that he has questioned all have said that they called the airplane either an Apache (most of them) or an Invader.

At least that's what I think I wrote to you...

[Stephan Wilkinson]

The Sonoma aircraft has quite a bit of original structure and parts

Yes, I certainly shouldn't have been as broad in my replica/data-plate comment. I do understand that the G-32A was rebuilt from intact wreckage.

[JDK]

Thanks Stephan, that's about it!

I'll copy that over to the other thread for the discussion to continue there, rather than here, though.

Regards,