I want to thank Conrad Huffstutler, Craig Quattlebaum, and the rest of the team at Wild Warbirds in Uvalde, Texas for their efforts and pure artistic talent in our T-6's winter makeover. They did a very thorough annual inspection and I couldn't be happier with the result. Their communication with their customers is second to none and they went to the painstaking effort to make everything as original and, more importantly, safe as possible.
Our previous paint scheme was pretty off and the lopsided star always bugged us purists (none more so than Conrad), so we were all excited to put her into a more original scheme with the correct paint finish, etc. Some liberties had to be taken as we decided to essentially paint over the previous scheme as our base silver was in great shape and only a few years old, but the Wild Warbirds team nailed the finish and overall appearance. We decided on the 1943 Luke Field, AZ paint scheme from the famous color photo below. I'll be finishing the stenciling when I get her back to home base at KADS.
As an originality freak, I was also ecstatic with the installation of the original mast antenna and aerial wire. Luckily, I had an NOS wire assembly in the Stevenson parts hangar, so the wire is original down to the part number (including wrapped and soldered termination, as opposed to more modern swedging).
I encourage any warbird owner and/or operator to seriously consider sending their pieces of history down to Wild Warbirds for anything from routine maintenance and annual inspections to major modifications and full restoration. You will NOT be disappointed. Hats off!
Taylor Stevenson
Photo unapologetically stolen from the interweb. Sue me.
Photo by CraigQ
Photo by Conrad's iPhone with bedazzled case.
Photo by Conrad while wearing his custom Ray-Ban Wayfarers with invasion stripes
Photo by yours truly. NOS aerial wire assembly for a T-6 found at Fort Stevenson Air Material Depot
Photo by me. Original termination method.
Photo by Conrad while wearing his faded Armani jeans and New Balance 993s. That's a lot of tape.
Photo by someone holding Conrad's iPhone. See I told you he was wearing faded Armani jeans and New Balance 993s.
THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE INVOLVED!
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