RNZAF Museum Corsair F4U-5

Hi FAH619 & Zorro 7,regarding the unknown s/no for FAH608,I found the data plate you described and it has the s/no A10-353 which I know you gents can cross reference to a U.S Bu no,looking forward to a response on this ongoing saga,best regards for the new year,Pete

RNAF F4U-5N Corsair

RNZAF F4U-5N Folks:

Good day!

Looking to get in touch with Mr. Lewis Peek who in c. 1991 published a fine photo on Flypast magazine about the RNZAF F4U-5N now considered to be Buno 123168 x Honduras AF 603. If you remember taking pics of this aircraft please let me know.

RNZAF Museum F4U-5

Dave/Airart:

Good Day!

Tks for the info & data of the RNAF F4U-5.

For quiet some time we were also under the impression that the fuselage shipped to NZ from Florida c. 1987 was Buno 124493.

Now in July, 2009 that we are helping a fellow Wixer id his fuselage sold to Pete Thelen in FLa, we came to find out by comparing center fuselage pictures that the fuselage sent to NZ was indeed Buno 123168.

We kindly seek assistance for someone to dig into the Archives of the Wigram RNZAF Museum for possibly photos of this fuselage as they unpacked it & if they are any photos of ID plates or modification plates found in different sections of the fuselage or wings.

Back in c. 1993 RNAZ Museum indicated to me via letter that they found in the mid-section of their F4U-5N an ID plate with the C/n 353. This C/n 353, corresponds in F4U production sequence numbers to Buno 123168. Now, we have to find the ID plate or the documents that RNZA used to have to clear-up the issue.

Tks for all your help again!! Hope to hear fm you soon!! 🙂

All for now!!

It is not the aircraft you’re linking to Airart.

The Corsair Bu # 124493 was gifted to the RNZAF Museum by the Disney Corporation who pulled it out of longterm storage and gave it as a thank you after the RNZAF assisted them in the making of the film The Rescue. The history of it is here:
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/cafcorsair/Australian_NZ%20Corsairs.html

A restoration began which intended to backdate it to an F4U-1 model as used by the RNZAF, but then the decision was made to halt and reverse this. It became a swap item and was swapped to Graham Hosking in Australia for the P-40F which is under restoration now as a P-40E at the museum. The Corsair is nearing flight in Australia.

More here… looked in pretty good shape in 1988!

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/corsairregistry/f4u-123168.html

AND…

“You’ll also notice that the aircraft carries a bureau number of 122179, in place of its real ID number. 122179 is another ex-Honduran aircraft that suffered a forced landing near Houston, Texas in 1984 and was badly damaged. In 1987, work began to restore 123168 to airworthiness, with a large number of parts from 122179 used in the restoration. At some point over the years, 123168’s data plate was lost, and at the time of the restoration, no one seemed to know the true identity of the airplane.”

FROM:

http://agapemodels.com/?p=1243

AND MORE:

“123168 to Honduras AF as FAH-603 in 1956. Recovered from Honduras as a
collection of components in 1979. Rebuilt to airworthy using
parts of 122179. Original plate was illegible, adopted the ID of
122179. Registered as N179PT Oct 1987. To Warbirds of GB Ltd, Biggin
Hill Aug 14, 1988. Registered as N179NP. Damaged after running off
runway to avoid collision at Oshkosh, WI Jul 29, 1999 but rebuilt to
airworthy. Flown as Marines 122179/WR-5.

FROM:

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/thirdseries13.html

RJC

Came up with this, if it’s of interest:

F4U-5P Bu.123168 (N179NP), ex-F4U-5N, Sold Honduras 27 March 1956, ex-Honduras AF FAH-603 ” WR-5 “, Indiana Aviation Museum, Porter County Airport, Valparaiso, IN (A)

Does not figure in their present list of exhibits, though, so maybe you could try tracing its paces from there?

RJC