Warbird Information Exchange

Great pics...more Please?? Wildcat Glider Pilot story, too?

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DBF

much as I'd not want to disagree with Gerald (and they're great pix! - many thanks...) 'Buchón' is a type of pigeon, certainly NOT a Pelican. A search on 'Buchón' on the web will quickly throw up the details of the original bird.

But the tie clip is indeed a Pelican, the unit marking, as Gerald says (rather than the aircraft's name) and seen on a lot of Buchons, including several of those preserved in Spanish (rather than Ersatz German colours).

Interesting that the Spanish pilots called them Messerschmitts. The two seater was only of only two ever built, the only survivor, and it had been a Hispano engined version before acquiring the Merlin. It always had a 109K style tail, just discernible in the photo, rather than a 'G' type like the single seaters. I believe it's still in store with Connie, still in the BoB film colours - what a warbird!

More please!

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Raven

Yes, its still there along with a several single place versions a Spit and Mustang.

Sir....please do & tks again for charing those pictures.

Connie had several Mustangs. Is he down to only one ?

Yep, one is all I saw left when I was there last. We took three of them out of there that I know of (when I was with Ezell Aviation) a few years back. One was turned into Miss Marilyn II, one was Heber Costello's airplane, and the other was going to go to Romania (or somewhere like that) to be used as a "blueprint" for some new-built Mustangs they were going to produce. I think all of that fell through though, and I personally don't know what happened to that airplane after that.

GA

For my money that 2-seat canopy design was quite beautiful and made the dual Buchon the prettiest of the postwar 109s, maybe even the prettiest of all the 109 series. Especially because it also had clean wings without the cannon or fences.

Chad, I would be especially interested in whether Gerald has pics of Bill Greenwood's Spitfire T.9 TE308 in its BoB film colors. It was not featured on camera but was used for some air-to-air photography and it received a full paint job, but I have never seen a good clear pic of it.

August

Thanks, Retro.

Heber Costello, what a nice man he was. Spent three days with he and his lovely wife at a Hope , Ark. airshow. I called his office to speak with him and was met with awkward silence and then I was told that Heber wasn't there anymore. I knew it was his company and figured maybe he sold out. Asked how I could get hold of him and was then told that he had been killed the day before. Needless to say I was shocked and saddened by the news. One of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet.

The last one to leave was 44-64122. Went to Dr. Wes Stricker and is now called "Kansas City Kitty" in Jefferson City, MO.

Chad, the Spaniards called them simply, "Messers" and this goes back to their use by the Escuadron de Caza Garcia Morato, during the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939).

Saludos,


Tulio

Thanks King.

Couldn't agree with you more.

Gary

Tulio, just to clarify, your quote above is from Raven and not myself.

Notice in my original post where I quoted Gerald's description of the picture he clearly says that the Spanish pilots never called them anything but "Messers". Interesting that he would remember that point, as confirmed by Tulio, all these years later.

K5083, I will ask Gerald if he has pics of TE308 during the filming of BoB.

Here's another, a bit of history in this shot eh?

"That's me, Adolph Galland, Lefty Gardner, and Robert Stanford Tuck talking about what else?? Aeroplanes........"

My apologies to you, Chad, and a larger than life "DUH!!" to myself!

There are of course, many books covering the Spanish Civil War aviation; one of my favorites, is titled "Cadenas del Aire" [Aerial Chains] and refers to the use of first, He-46s and then He-51s to perform a looping maneouver that was employed to strafe and bomb entrenched troops; and the constant looping and strafing, was called a "Cadena" or chain.

Some of the pilots, then transitioned to the recently acquired Bf-109s and He-112s and conformed the "Grupo de Caza de los Pirineos" [The Pyrinees Fighter Group].

And, some of these pilots then went to fight the Russians, as part of the Blue Division, during WW-II


Saludos,

Tulio