New Additions @ Kermit's Golden Hill Storage Facility

[T-28mike]

Ugh, I wish that B-29 was put together and on display...

It would be nice to see it whole again, but even to just re-assemble it for display is not as easy as it appears. The wings (I believe) are still in California and just the cross country shipping (because of the oversize loads) would be extremely expensive. Besides they were full of corrosion, and the "spares" from China Lake birds were not much better from a corrosion / restoration standpoint. When we took Kermit's B-29's apart we had to split the center sections at the centerline and remove all the nacelles (no small task). While this is not an impossible task, it would be a waste of resources to assemble it only to have to take it apart again for restoration.

[TAdan]

staggering collection, both restored & unrestored!! seriously, where does he get the funding for all these projects, right down to the rivets?? & daily operations?? inheritance?? wealthy wife?? my dream job would be to be on his search & scrounge team for any of those projects!!

IIRC, he inherited a substantial fortune.

IIRC, his Grandfather was involved in the discovery of some very valuable oil deposits. From Wiki:

Inherited oil and gas royalties[13] provide Weeks with the funds, capital and resources to pursue the preservation of historic aircraft.[14]

[shrike]

staggering collection, both restored & unrestored!! seriously, where does he get the funding for all these projects, right down to the rivets?? & daily operations?? inheritance?? wealthy wife?? my dream job would be to be on his search & scrounge team for any of those projects!!

IIRC, he inherited a substantial fortune.

IIRC, his Grandfather was involved in the discovery of some very valuable oil deposits. From Wiki:

Inherited oil and gas royalties[13] provide Weeks with the funds, capital and resources to pursue the preservation of historic aircraft.[14]

His grandfather, Lewis Weeks was one of the discoverers of the Australian Bass Strait oil fields, and received a royalty from production.
Probably a tiny, miniscule fraction of a percentage point, but the fields produce about a third of what all of Texas does, so...

[APG85]

Ugh, I wish that B-29 was put together and on display...

It would be nice to see it whole again, but even to just re-assemble it for display is not as easy as it appears. The wings (I believe) are still in California and just the cross country shipping (because of the oversize loads) would be extremely expensive. Besides they were full of corrosion, and the "spares" from China Lake birds were not much better from a corrosion / restoration standpoint. When we took Kermit's B-29's apart we had to split the center sections at the centerline and remove all the nacelles (no small task). While this is not an impossible task, it would be a waste of resources to assemble it only to have to take it apart again for restoration.

Understood. The key word was "wish". It's a great plane with a neat history. I'd actually like to see her restored as a "drop bird". Maybe someday...

[hang the expense]

I see many lifetimes of work in those storage areas.They need to start training the next couple of generations of sheet metal guys as well as systems guys or there will be no one able to restore these birds down the road.

[Silverplate]

Here are a couple shots I got of the Panther in the summer of 2012. She's a bit rough, but in better shape than a lot of the aircraft he has in storage.

SN

A shame to see the AT-11 sitting there. I remember when it flew all the time.

[tom d. friedman]

I see many lifetimes of work in those storage areas.They need to start training the next couple of generations of sheet metal guys as well as systems guys or there will be no one able to restore these birds down the road.

excellent point!!

[CoastieJohn]

One of Kermit's other Ducks:

That looks like the Kansas Duck? If so, myself and a couple of other guys were there (Kansas) in 2012 getting a bunch of pics of the various parts/pieces and identifying what was magnetic.

One of the parts tags.

[JDK]

Fascinating selection, many thanks! So much easier than walking the route ourselves, too!

His grandfather, Lewis Weeks was one of the discoverers of the Australian Bass Strait oil fields, and received a royalty from production.

What turned out to be a very smart move. And I'm personally very glad to see where this revenue going out of Australasia gets used for. But I'm biased.


THIS is very interesting. An ex-Canadian Fairey Swordfish, it has lost the exhaust collector ring (at the FRONT of the cowl) for the Bristol Pegasus engine, but the rarely documented Canadian mod of the heater unit that sat inside it is thus fully visible. Fist ever image I've seen that shows the structure. Were used on Lysanders and Bolingbrokes as well. Don't thank me, I know you're excited too.

Only the wings for the Ki-61 are in storage on Golden Hill. I believe the fuselage is in NZ.

The Ki 61 projects are being done at Precision Aerospace Productions, of Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia.

Regards,

[TAdan]

Kermit posted some pictures of his workshop on Facebook yesterday. Looks like some new (large) metal forming equipment has arrived. He said that should allow them to concentrate on more than one restoration at once.

Also, you can see the tail of his P-35 in one of the photos.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

[Zac Yates]

He has a Lavochkin La-11? Since when?! I better ask him!

[Mike]

He's had it a couple of decades, it came out of China.

[Zac Yates]

He told me via Twitter it had come from China and that it's incomplete - I'm surprised he's had it that long as I only knew of The Fighter Collection's example in the West.

One day! Til then, it's a truly stunning collection he has in there.

[RandolphB]

staggering collection, both restored & unrestored!! seriously, where does he get the funding for all these projects, right down to the rivets?? & daily operations?? inheritance?? wealthy wife?? my dream job would be to be on his search & scrounge team for any of those projects!!

The explanation given on his tours was this: His grandfather discovered the oil in an area the oil company said was unobtainable and refused to pay him for his work. The company said since they were never going to profit off of it, they weren't going to pay for finding it. He countered by pushing for a contract that would pay him a percentage of the profit permanently if they ever did start to use it. He figured sooner or later they would have the technology and the need for it and would actually go after it. Time proved him right and they did so. He had already set up his estate in such a way that his income would be divided between his children and grandchildren. I believe they said Kermit was in the process of building his first airplane as a teenager when he first saw money from the deal. I'd like to give HIM credit for managing his money well and investing. How many people that inherit at this level ever have anything to show for it....?

[AURktman]

I have never been "jealous" of any persons position in life or what they did for a living, but I have to say I am certainly envious of Kermit Weeks' day-to-day schedule. I could seriously take a sleeping bag and a couple changes of clothes and work / hang out in his hangars for a month. As long as someone brought me some coffee every morning, I could even forgo that whole "food" thing. Food would just be a time waster at that point.