What's in the middle of nowhere? (Big Spring, TX)

[retroaviation]

According to Connie the other day, he had 15 Mustangs once upon a time. I have personally helped take three of them out of there (Miss Marilyn II, Heber Costello's old Mustang, and one other Mustang that was supposedly going to go to Romania for "reverse blueprinting"). He is currently down to only one Mustang....and it's about as stock as they get (well, if you don't count the other ones we pulled out of there). Armor plate, all of the original radios, etc. Heck, the one that he's still got, still sports a bullet hole in one of the wings.

If I heard him right, I think he said he's "only" got ten 109's left, including the two seater. Yes, yes, they are all Hispano 109's, but still kind of cool to see them all lined up. Did I mention the zero time Daimler-Benz engine in the crate? I'll post pictures of that as well.

The Piaggios were twin engined, gull winged, land based aircraft. Not the seaplane version.

Anyway, I'll get y'all the pictures as soon as I get 'em.

Gary

[Ollie]

Ah, I see.

For one moment my heart was hoping for Piaggios P.149.

[Mike]

The Piaggios were twin engined, gull winged, land based aircraft. Not the seaplane version.

Not these ones then?

http://www.piaggio-center.co.uk/bike.php?bike_id=66

[retroaviation]

The Piaggios were twin engined, gull winged, land based aircraft. Not the seaplane version.

Not these ones then?

http://www.piaggio-center.co.uk/bike.php?bike_id=66

Nope. One of these (no, this isn't one of Connie's, but looks similar) ..........

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... 1%26sa%3DN

[King]

I met Mr. Edwards at that TBM reunion in Fort Lauderdale back in 1990 when we had our A-26 there... He and Tex both are super nice people... Tex let me sit in the TBM for the first time and he wanted to sit in the A-26 because he was getting ready to get his type rating in the one Wiley Sanders had at that time... As I was talking to his dad I asked why he didn't get one of those mustangs going to fly around and I'll never forget his response because I thought I'd never stop laughing, but he said and I quote "I flown mustangs alot and to me flying a mustang around was like driving a road grader down to the jiffy store to buy a six pack of beer"...
Well, I've flew in the backseat of Bob Brynes mustang and I didn't see it like that but his response still cracks me up...

Connie's brother was killed in one of the Mustangs out in west Texas. I don't think Connie flew any of his after that.

[Taylor Stevenson]

Tex is a super-nice guy, last time I saw him it was Oshkosh 99?? I think... We Buzz Connie's place every now and then. I'm surprised at the size of his collection though. Quite impressive. But I must say, I "Only" have 9 109's left in my hangar.

[bluethunder28]

Wow! Here I thought the only thing in Big Springs was Dickie Jones place with all of his Chevy tri-fives!!!

[King]

I have heard, not from Tex's mouth, that there is a great story about Tex when he was younger and had received a "Sam's" card from Sam himself. He tried to use it at a Sam's and they would not take it. The store manager came out and asked where he got this funny colored card and Tex said.........Sam!

Guess you had to be there.

[TimAPNY]

Did I mention the zero time Daimler-Benz engine in the crate? Gary

Please tell more and show more! That jumped out and beat me over the head as I read your post....

So where is the closest Geek to Gary that can give him a hand with the Camera?

Tim

[retroaviation]

Well, the closest geek would have to be Randy Wilson (I mean that in the nicest way, of course. ). However, the camera was borrowed from someone else, and it is now out of town. The owner of the camera is getting me the pictures as soon as they can and I will post them when I get them. As it turns out, however, I will be in Brownsville, TX next week to relocate the wings to the PBY, so it's probably going to be at least next weekend before anymore of my pictures get posted here. Sorry to be such a tease.

Gary

[Bill Greenwood]

Big Spring is "in the middle of nowhere", if you only look on the surface. If you look under it in the right places, there's black gold. Connie is like the Uncle Remus of aviation, he's got a thousand stories and a hell of a sense of humor. I stopped by his seaplane once at Oskosh to say hello with my young teenage son and Connie spent an hour regaleing the boy with these lurid tales, some of which may even be mostly true. He flew the other two seat Spitfire in the 1968 Battle of Britain movie, as well as He-111 etc.

[retroaviation]

Through the wonders of technology and the generosity of the owner of the camera I borrowed, I now have the remaining pictures that I took of Connie's place to share with you all. Sorry for the poor quality of some of them. The lighting wasn't the best for picture takin'.......

The Albatross greets you as you come into hangar 1.........









A couple of PBY's........







A Spitfire......







Some ol' Mustang......




A Piaggio (one of four that he has).........



And a TBM Avenger.......



That's pretty much all of the pictures I have of the first hangar. Here are a couple more Piaggios sitting outside, on the way to the other hangars.....



Looking inside hangar 2........









Then there was some ol' two seater thing-a-majiggy ...............









Walking in to hangar 3, you are greeted by Tex's crop dusters and a couple of old drop tanks.........


Further back in the corner, he's got a couple of T-6 projects, and just a few more 109's.............



















And I kept tripping over an old box with some ol' zero time engine in it. Now why on Earth would someone want an old German engine like this? ..........







Then, of course, there were other boxes of stuff laying around. These had some old props in them that were also zero time (there were something like four or six crates of these)..........





These were sitting outside the first hangar.........



And jpeters, this photo is for you............



Well, there you have it. That's all of the pictures I took of Connie's place. I know some of you would like more detailed shots of some of the airplanes, but I wasn't there long and I'll just have to save that for another trip. I have received many, many requests from everyone asking me to get them in touch with Connie, but unless you're a "Fat Cat" (his words), and want to buy the whole collection, he doesn't wish to discuss the sale of anything. Connie is quite friendly and has more stories than you can imagine. As time goes on, I will see about posting more photos of my future trips to his place, along with sharing some Connie stories.

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures.

Gary

[Beachy]

Is that the original packing crate and all that the Benz engine is in???? Incredible!!!! What an incredible collection of "stuff" he has!!!!!!!
Thanks for the photos, Gary.

Last edited by Beachy on Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Ztex]

Dang

[Tulio]

Thank you, Gary!

It is great to see an ex-Guatemalan F-51 still wearing the last cammo scheme they wore in service.

How much do I wish, that I was a "Fat Cat"!!!!!


Saludos,


Tulio