Warbird Information Exchange

Have the BuNo for the following Fuerza Aérea Salvadoreña FG-1D's ever been identified?

FAS-201
FAS-202
FAS-204
FAS-205
FAS-213
FAS-216
FAS-218
FAS-219

Many thanks

_________________
shuck

FG-1D Folks/Shuck:

Good Day!

I could give you all 22 Bunos that we know of but to this day we have not been able to match'em to a particular FAS FG-1D. It's still a big puzzle but here are some of the pieces. Some of the other cockpit id plates exist but we are still chasing 'em.

This is what we know on the 67XXX series. At least 4 samples. ( gull grey schemes):

1. FAS 201: Poss 67087 .Now N11Y.

2. FAS 202: Poss 67082. Crashed Jul '69.

3. FAS 204: Poss 67071. Crashed Jul '69. Id plate found at crash site.c. 2003.

4. FAS 203: Poss/most likely 67070. A superb restoration/rebuilt job done in the US by Vintage Fighters & a fine crew.Now N29VF.

5. FAS 219: Poss 92XXX,. Crashed Jul '69.

All for now!!

We have the engine out of 219 were fairly certain of it.

_________________
Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions

FG-1D Folks/C13;

Good day!

If you have some close-ups of the mod plates found on the wings flaps of your CT FG-1D plz post. Then we'll have other clues as to what other Bunos FAS had in their inventory.

I asked before for pictures of your CT plane as found by the Marine POC in El Salvador c. 1969 but I was told that pics were not taken. You may have a composite of several aircraft parts on your CT FG-1D. As far as the engine coming out of a FAS 219 is poss but the real FAS 219 went down off the Savadorean coast near La Union c. July 16-17 of 1969 due to friendly fire while returning fm a recon mission near the border around 18.00 hrs.

Thanks zorro9

I have BuNo.67087 as FAS-211, so probably presumed from the registration N11Y.

_________________
shuck

I would add that it's believed that FAS-202 is BuNo.67071. This is from a data plate that's on file with the FAS (as of 5-2003) reportedly recovered from the wreckage of the aircraft.

Short of locating actual log books kept by the pilots who flew these planes, I'm not sure if any evidence still exists that cross references FAS# to BuNo. Someone in the region needs to contact the FAS Corsair pilots from the 1960s and see if they'd be willing to share the information from their log books.

_________________
Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

FAS FG-1Ds:

Rob: Good point! Plz write to our colleague MAL to see if any of those log books exist. I have never seen a thread about them.

In addition, the easiest way to find out who flew what on July 17, 1969 is to ask (if still alive) to Cpt. Salvador Ceze`na Amaya which FAS FG-1D he flew. It should be easy to remember!

Shuck:

Good Day!

We'are still in the inside perimeter of things. We suspect Buno 67087 & its timeline to be the elusive FAS 201! If you have pics of its USA restoration c. 1980s-1995 in Calif plz post. Tks in advance.

Bob Hood recovered BuNo.67087 from El Salvador and identified it as FAS-211. It was a blue Corsair, though pretty faded. The best I can do as far as visual confirmation is point to the firewall details in the photos below of FAS-211. Though these were taken years apart, you can see that the flaking paint pattern on the firewall is a reasonable match.

_________________
Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

Rob:

Good day!

Tks for the info & data! Nice looking pic of FAS 211. Poss Via Mr. Frank Arrufat (RIP).

You may have a point, as I can't tell by the above b/w pic if its a faded blue, faded gull grey or just a plain NMF. Do Mr. Bob Hood has any pics of Buno 67087 as captured at Ilopango or at his farm in Missouri?? Any pics of its restoration in the US??

p.s How did Mr. Bob Hood arrive to the the Buno of FAS 211?? Have you ever had the chance to photograph the wings ID Mod plates of this a/c?? What to they say?? Tks in advance

Hood has been very secretive about his dealings down south. Suffice it to say that he had his assistant recover FAS-206/BuNo.92471 (*paired with the rear fuselage from FAS-208/BuNo.92618), and FAS-211/BuNo.67087. Both planes were recovered within a year of the photo seen above from the Ilopango boneyard and relocated both back to Hood's home where they were stored for close to two decades before both were sold as dismantled projects to Tom Camp in 1988.

You can tell from the photo above that FAS-211 is faded blue by checking the number '211' on the vertical tail, which is white. This is the same insignia configuration seen on all of the other blue FAS FG-1Ds.

_________________
Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

Rob/ FAS FG-1d Folks:

Good day!

According to your comments the pics of the FAS fuselages coming fm S. of the border do exist fm the Bob Hood Missouri farm.. they just have not emerged yet. Buno 92471 is not an "official player" according to the delivery list of c. May 1957. It may be linked to some of the spare FG-1D fuselages (4) bought afterwards for spares only. I'll press on with a letter to Tom Camp for further details of his planes & poss restoration pictures. What we need for now, is to find someone to photograph the Wing id/ Mod plates of Buno 67087 & then compare some real "numbers".

W/o a pic of an ID plate/Mod plate Mr.Hood is just speculating as to what he brought back. I'll dig for a pic of a Warbird taking in Calif by a well traveled Wix member M.H that shows an F4U center fuselage in a corner of a hangar in storage. FAS forum also exhibits a nice B/w line -up of about 6 FG-1ds warming -up engines prior to a ferry trip to San Jose Rica Costa Rica (SALAS) c. May 1960s. What is unique about this picture is that it shows/confirms all the blue FG-1Ds Corsairs in that particular scheme. (92XXX series). Will post soon!

Tom Camp has passed away as of a couple of years ago.

Frank Arrufat confirmed the Bureau Numbers for two (2) of the FG-1D 'parts airframes' that were still present at Ilopango in 1972. Those were BuNo.92643, and BuNo.92644.

As for 92471, I've been leery about that identity as well. When I first spoke with Bob Hood, he was adamant that FAS-206 was the plane that he brought back. He positively identified it from Arrufat's photos, and even has a drawing of the plane on his wall that he had made. Per Frank Arrufat, the Bureau Number on FAS-206 during his visit was BuNo.92653. Bob Hood would have had no reason to swap identities, so its a mystery as to where '92471' actually came from. That Bureau Number seems to have materialized by the time the plane was obtained by Harry Tope, who has now also passed away. To further add confusion, I believe the data plate on this plane was swapped out for '92433' during its restoration in the 1990s, which further confuses the issue.

Here's my conclusion: The only other surviving FG-1D at Ilopango that does not have a confirmed Bureau Number is FAS-218. All of the others were either crashed, shot down, destroyed, or positively identified by Frank Arrufat in 1971. Either Bob Hood is mistaken, and his people actually recovered FAS-218 (which could then be construed to be BuNo.92471), or the '92471' identity came from one of the other two dismantled "parts" planes at Ilopango, which I've never actually seen evidence that more than two existed.

I completely trust that Frank Arrufat's accounting of the Bureau Numbers in 1972 was 100% accurate. So either Bob Hood recovered FAS-218 (which looked remarkably similar to FAS-206 at that time) and FAS-218 was BuNo.92471, or far less likely, the data plate or actual center section from one of the spare parts FG-1D's was recovered instead.

I'm going to try to make contact with Bob Hood again and ask him for further details, or at least to factually identify the Bureau Numbers of the planes that he had recovered from Ilopango. I'll share whatever information comes to light.

_________________
Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

Rob:

Good Day!

Tks for info & data again!

Plz do get a hold of B.Hood when you get a chance .. all these POCs are slowly fading away. If the FAS a/c that he brought to his Missouri farm were in semi-storage for some 20 yrs, some customers prob came by & took a few pics. I'm sure he may a have a few himself of that incredible adventure of buying a/c S. of the border. I'm pretty sure the pics will speak for themselves & would be much easier to ID.

The late F. Arrufat (RIP) talked in one of his letters about writing down & recording every ID that he could find/see. His son may have some copies of them also. I think we are inside the perimeter of things. Need to ck some other sources for Ids. I'll let you know before this millennium some results. Tks again!

Rob/FG-1D Folks:

Good Day!

Another poss POC about FAS FG-1Ds! via WWW! Mr. Brian O'Farrell of S. Fla.


Under restoration-

F4U-1 Corsair, BuNo. 02465 (early birdcage canopy) by National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 76628 by Duane S. Doyle in Castro Valley, CA.

F4U-4 Corsair, BuNo. 81164 by James Tobul in Bamberg, SC.

F4U-4 Corsair, BuNo. 81857 by Robert and Donna Odegaard Family Ltd. in Kindred, ND.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92213 by Jim & Judd Thomas in Livermore, CA.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92304 byAmphib Inc. in Lake Zurich, IL.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92463 by Brian O'Farrell Aviation Inc. in Pembroke Pines, FL.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92490 by Brian O'Farrell Aviation Inc. in Pembroke Pines, FL.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92618 by Brian O'Farrell Aviation Inc. in Pembroke Pines, FL.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92642 by Brian O'Farrell Aviation Inc. in Pembroke Pines, FL.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92643 by Brian O'Farrell Aviation Inc. in Pembroke Pines, FL.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92644 by Brian O'Farrell Aviation Inc. in Pembroke Pines, FL.

FG-1 Corsair, BuNo. 92690 by Aztec Capital Corp. in Coconut Grove, FL.

F4U-4 Corsair, BuNo. 97320 by Gerald S. Beck in Wahpeton, ND.

F4U-4 Corsair, BuNo. 97390 by Yanks Air Museum in Chino, CA.

F4U-5 Corsair, BuNo. 124486 by Mike George in Springfield, IL.

F4U-5 Corsair, BuNo. 122184 by James E. Smith at Crystal Lakes Resort in Fortine, MT.