Warbird Information Exchange

I think this video explains it http://vimeo.com/m/99991680

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Moreno Aguiari
mo@vintageaviationnews.com
http://www.vintageaviationnews.com

That is quite a story! Thanks for posting the link for the video.

God bless Mr. Edwards. No one should have to lose a son and a brother in their lifetime to accidents. Everyone here blathers on ad nauseum about the Soplata collection. WHat about this guy? A dozen Spitfires, a dozen Mustangs, 1 1/2 dozen Buchons, a PBY, T-6, HU-16 Albatross, a P-38, Corsair, A-26, C-45, Goose,TBM, half dozen Siai Marchetti Sea Gull amphibs and probably 50 more we don't know about or that he financially backed for the CAF. I bet he's saved a 100 warbirds.
Plus he kept them inside a dry hangar in the desert. Oh, don't forget all the fighters have engines and props with them plus a few dozen V-12's as spares. He even has a Daimler Benz or two on a pallet
.

He didn't have a great relationship with the CAF.
There is a stencil or 2 on his A/C that are, ….well, interesting.

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Rich Palmer

Remember an Injured Youth
benstear.org
#64- Stay Strong and Keep the Faith

BOOM BOOM, ROUND ROUND, PROPELLER GO

Don't Be A Dilbert!

After watching that VIMEO video I decide that if I ever grab that Buchon two-seater that'd I'd have it restored mechanically but leave it cosmetically just the way it is.

Someone says he has a P-38? Does he still have it? What variant?


Chappie

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Brrring. Dispersal? TWO SECTIONS SCRAMBLE!!

No P-38 in the last decade at least..............................his story of his relationship with the CAF is you got it right......"interesting"!!! It goes way , way back; and hasn't got any better in recent years for good reason. Why do you think he has his "own" airshow the same weekend as Midland?

In the 1980's , he donated his P-38, F4U-4 Corsair, A-26 Invader, and a Buchon to the EAA at Oshkosh. Except for the BUchon(ME-109), the others were flown to the museum in pretty great shape for "free" airplanes.

Hello,

Didn't Chuck Greenhill's "Geraldine" Mustang come from Connie several years ago (prior to rebuild) and in very stock condition?

Now, for sale as well at:

http://www.platinumfighters.com/#!p51dn5500s/c1bm7

When I visited with Gary Austin there were a couple wooden boxes with P-38 props in them, looked NOS. and a P-38 Nose Gear Strut laying where you would trip over it walking around.
Duuno if they are still there or how much other bits might be there.

_________________
Rich Palmer

Remember an Injured Youth
benstear.org
#64- Stay Strong and Keep the Faith

BOOM BOOM, ROUND ROUND, PROPELLER GO

Don't Be A Dilbert!

I don't believe so, going by this record of ownership: http://warbirdregistry.org/p51registry/p51-4474543.html

Some of the airframes he did own, which went onto become examples like "Happy Jack's Go Buggy", "Miss Marylin II", "February" and "Red Dog XII", were all basically identical to the one now for sale (level of original completeness/no previous restoration), before they were restored.

Just my two cents here...

Someone mentioned that those were WAY overpriced, which I would tend to agree with. Watching that (very cool) video through, I think you can read between the lines and it all makes sense though.

I wish people like that, regardless of whether they're right or wrong, would grow up and put politics behind them. He frankly doesn't come off like a very nice person in that video. He may be a great guy, but the video doesn't show it. And yes, I know I'll be pilloried for saying that.

Can't remember a single nice thing he said about anyone in that video other than about himself or his son, who was apparently God's gift to aviation...no disrespect to the deceased intended.

However, all that said, I hope he sells every one of those for at least what he's asking. He deserves it for sure after being such a good steward of them for so long. I'll be looking forward to hearing about the sale sometime.

Thanks for the info John.

Rajun Cajun did...

I stand corrected, it was another Mustang...

Connie's son Tex must've been a pretty good stick. On his 16th birthday he soloed a bunch of airplanes. I don't remember all of them but it was something like SUperCub, Stearman, T-6, Beech 18, TBM, and PBY Catalina, to name a few. NO doubt he was water qualified in the PBY, Mallard, and ALbatross. IF he started flying warbirds at age 14 and passed away at 41 then he had 27 years of flying warbirds in the prime of his youth and health.
The family seemed to have unlimited money, petroleum, and hangar space, and their own airport. They seemed to prefer staying out of the high profile stuff like Reno Air Racing, etc. They are somewhat private, maybe 'Tex" was the best there was.

I believe that there are two PBY's, two HU-16's, and two apparently "airworthy" Grumman Gooses plus stripped out hulks of two more Gooses - for a total of 4 Gooses.

According to my research, the two "airworthy" Gooses are N68157 (ex-British JRF-6B s/n 1138) which is still (or at least "currently") painted in British RN colors, and N7211 (JRF-5 s/n B-24, ex-C-GPIA, and ex-USN Bu. 37771) which has McKinnon mods including retractable wingtip floats, extended fiberglass "radar" nose, and enlarged main cabin "picture" windows.

The two Goose hulks are probably N322 (JRF-5 s/n B-73, ex-USN Bu. 37820) which is reported to have crashed in July 1987 as a result of a plugged fuel vent, and N3282 (JRF-5 s/n 1110, ex-USN Bu. 6440.)

Don't know about any "Siai Marchetti Sea Gull amphibs" but I believe that there are also one or two Piaggio P.136 Royal Gulls plus several Piaggio P.166 Albatross aircraft that are very similar to the P.136 in configuration (inverted Gull wing with pusher props) but which have larger cabins and are just land planes.

All of that was culled from the aforementioned Gary Austin photos which I greedily and shamelessly downloaded when they appeared here...

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