Warbird Information Exchange

My recollection was that it flew in. Did Yanks even restore this aircraft?

Hi All,

Thought I'd toss in these pics of the Air Zoo's Hellcat. Sorry about the quality..they're scans of old prints. The reason they're special is that they were taken on October 31, 2000..the day the Hellcat last flew.

The final shots were taken from the Air Zoo's Ford Tri-Motor on the Hellcat's final flight. Barry Smith was at the controls. Of course, I left my telephoto lens on the ground, expecting him to form up a bit closer.

In fact, this was the last flight of any of the Zoo's warbirds. The SNJ was flown a few times after that, but it too has been grounded for four or five years now.

Cheers!

Steve

Wasn't the AirZoo T-28 flown after that date as part of the daily flight program? (The T-28 is a warbird...........ouch!!!)

Sorry..you're right of course. Maybe I should have specified "combat aircraft." But even then, the T-28 was used for close air support.

I stand humbly corrected.


Steve

I think the Hellcat looks really good with the external tank on!! Those are some really nice shots!

_________________
Never drive faster than your Guardian Angel can fly!!

http://www.390th.org/
www.LSFM.org

Trae

Phil;
This is a photo of NEAM's TBM Avenger. It was painted in these colors when we received it from the USS Intrepid where it had been on display in Philidelphia in 1976. NEAM aquired in in 1979. It was damaged in the '79 tornado and has been partially disassembled and under restoration at Larry Webster's in Rhode Island.
The Hellcat was almost finished when you took this photo of the TBM.
Blue skies,
Jerry

_________________
"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Here are a few photos from my collection. The lst one is the F6F-5N, 79669 at Moffett Field NAS, CA.
The other three are of F6F-5, N1078Z, when up in MN and being stripped and repainted.
I will look for some shots of the one that was at the USS Alabama later tonight.









Enjoy, John Kerr

I know we've had a few threads on it, but did we ever get to the bottom of what happened to the Moffett Hellcat?

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... php?t=3468

Here is a series of 4 shots of F6F-5K, 79593, at the USS Alabama. Note in the lst three shots it is marked as 41476 which is a serial number of a F6F-3. Photo 1 is in 1977, Photos 2&3 are in 1979, and Photo 4 was taken in December 1989. Cheers, John Kerr

I like the Hellcat, but something I have wondered about since it was restored, What is up with the extra windows and colors of the LSFM Hellcat ?

Extra windows as it has a back seat mod.

As for the colour...............

John - Thanks for the pictures of the Hellcat at Mobile. What is interesting is that when I saw it, it had an immaculate dark, dark navy blue scheme with thin red stripe in the bars (from the fuselage stars).

Also, forgot to say thanks for posting those great shots of CAF Mauler 158 a couple of weerks ago. I would think those are rare pictures, and the one of 158 kicking up dust prior to takeoff was quite a sight.

George

As was mentioned earlier, the Hellcat is a rare bird. But about 10-15 years ago, a company that worked closely with the Naval Museum (I think the company was called Black Shadow Aviation) was in the process of recovering 6 Hellcats from a missle-testing island near California. Does anyone know where these aircraft ended up? Thanks.

John,

Thank you for the Moffett Field F6F photo! It is the first I've ever seen.

Now who has one of it on the base green circa 1965? I don't think it had this nice of paint and these type markings then. I actually remember apparent bullet holes in the right rear fuselage in its 1964/1965 colors. This 1973 shot looks like they had dolled it up for a flightline show.

What unit had these type markings?

Are the prop blades bent on the F6 @ the Alabama???

_________________
Never drive faster than your Guardian Angel can fly!!

http://www.390th.org/
www.LSFM.org

Trae