Warbird Information Exchange

The FAA registration is still current. BTW - it looks like Planes of Fame is gettingcloser to flying thier F9F - Steve Hinton is asking around for a decent J-48 engine - if anyone knows of one you should contact POF.

Tom P.

Rob, I'm going to take a guess and say this is the Cougar setting on a farm / ex-duster field out in Buckeye. The owner has several Stearman carcasses and who knows what else stored in a run-down shed on his property. This is the same guy that owns the Invader doing a slow rot out at Buckeye airport. I posted pics of the Cougar on this board a few years back but I don't think I have them in digital format any longer. I only live a few miles from the location and I've never even heard of the "Global Aeronautical Museum".

I did a terraserver search on the airport and cannot see anything out in the open that looks like an invader - boy, a civilian Cougar! that would be a sight on the show circuit!

Tom P.

Tom, the Invader is/was at Buckeye for years and years. If it is gone now I did not hear about it. (Which would be no big surprise!) I have not been out to Buckeye airport for quite a few years myself.

Rob, I've been up close and personal with the Cougar. A few years ago their were a couple of guys cleaning out the cockpit and I stopped by to talk. They did not know much other than that they had been hired to clean out the bird because it had been sold. The airplane looks complete and had a fresh coat of paint within the last three or four years. (Which is why I cannot identify it anymore!) The engine is not installed but is in the afforementioned shed just a few yards away, along with a number of R-2800s and various other aviation related artifacts.

Does anyone know what heppened to the F9F that was displayed on the USS Hornet a few years ago?

Mike, that might be the Quartzite F9F-5P that finally returned to it's owner.
He's kinda the Lex Cralley of the West. Type "Quartzite" in the WIX-search for a former thread...and she's in the registry...

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I think the Invader was given to a local High School.

Don't think that was the same Invader spookyboss. I'll do some digging on it and get back.

What would the school want with it?

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[quote="systemofadown1162"}What would the school want with it?[/quote]

From what I remember this particular high school (Moon Valley High?) has or had some sort of aviation maintenance course. I'm pretty confident the Invader was an executive conversion that was used by GE as an engine test bed. The airplane was a fixture at Sky Harbor International for many years. As a point of interest, the High School I attended has a complete and well maintained T-33 on display within the ROTC compound.

Thanks airnutz. That explains it, I was wondering why I couldn't find it on my last couple of visits there.

Incidentally, they have a second, paint-stripped, Piasecki helicopter-thingy on one of the external elevators on USS Hornet when I visited last Sunday. Does anyone have any more details of this?

We are talking about two A-26s here.

The Invader at the Buckeye Airport is 44-34609, N4819E. I personally saw it there in April of 2004. I doubt if it has been moved. The GPS coordinates for the airport are N33-25.25; W112-41.17 See http://www.warbirdregistry.org/a26regis ... 34609.html and http://www.aerovintage.com/434609.jpg See also Warbirds International magazine February 1998, page 51.

The A-26 at South Mountain High School in Phoenix is 41-39221, N25GT, ex-N256H, ex-3035S, N9636C. See http://www.warbirdregistry.org/a26regis ... 39221.html and http://www.airliners.net/open.file/809713/M/ and http://www.aerovintage.com/139221.jpg

Thanks for the info Todd. I knew it was Garrett/Allied Signal (now Honeywell) that operated the Invader, not sure why I posted GE. They now operate a 5 engine 720 as their engine test bed, quite the sight to see flying around!

http://images.airliners.net/photos/phot ... 067611.jpg