Warbird Information Exchange

We recently bought a piece of land in Port Charlotte, Florida, and are having a house built there. Are there any interesting warbird restoration projects or warbird-related museums in southwest Florida? The area I have in mind is from Sarasota to Naples. I recall hearing about a DC-3 project in the Punta Gorda area which I will look into. But what else is around?

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Nothing??? With all of the warbird and classic aircraft knowledge available on WIX, nobody knows of anything?

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Nothing springs to mind but pop the location in Mike’s Website, expand the search radius and see what comes up…. https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Locator.php

This link suggests a P-39 wreck exists somewhere in Fort Myers (Just in case you're up for some detective work):

https://www.aviationmuseum.eu/Blogvorm/ ... m-history/


Another possibility might be to check out the EAA chapters in Florida. Here's a list of active websites:

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-chapters/fi ... aa-chapter

At least it's a way to get on the ramp side of the fence...possibly discover some vintage rebuild projects...

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

You will have to go a bit further inland or to the east coast to find museums I'm afraid. They're a bit thin on the ground in the area you're looking at.

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A Little VC10derness - A Tribute to the Vickers VC10 - www.VC10.net

Yep, there are none that I'm aware of in that part of the state. There are excellent museums in Florida but in different parts of the state than there.

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

I don't know who is behind the Florida Warbirds blog, but they seem like the perfect person to ask.

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Not much happening in SW Florida. Or even the west coast.

Best place to help would VAC Museum in Titusville but that is a long drive.

When I lived in Sarasota, my go to places were the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland and Fantasy of Flight in Polk. Outside of your search area, but as others have said, the pickings are slim on the west coast.

Thanks, guys. I was hoping for some "action" in (what will become) my home area, but I guess that's not likely to happen.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Bummer that you are going to move out of the DFW area, Dean.

I'm truly brain dead.

This may be ancient history for you, Dean, but it didn't click with me until tonight that your "DC-3 project" is probably N133D, the oldest surviving DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) being restored by (the legendary!) Frank Moss and son Glen out at Shell Creek airpark.

If you were looking to roll up your sleeves and get some hands on history, this could be just the ticket.

http://www.proplinerinfoexchange.com/pi ... 8_0409.jpg

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Thanks, Dan! I believe that's the aircraft that I was thinking of. Next time I'm in the area, I'll try to make time to run out there and check it out. Shell Creek is about a half hour's drive from Port Charlotte where my new house is being built.

I was up for a joyride in a Waco UPF-7 many years ago and we did a low pass down the runway at Shell Creek. Even back then, there were a number of DC-3 carcasses on the field. The latest Google Earth view still shows a lot of DC-3 parts and a couple of, shall we say, "less-than-airworthy" airframes along with what appears to be an H-19 helicopter, also not looking anywhere near flyable.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida