Airwar '74 – More Warbirds in colour & b/w

Eighteen(!!) years on from the start of this thread I see a close associate of Mark12 has uploaded some wonderful film from this airshow to YouTube:

https://youtu.be/-zmq0xX_Vq8
 

Dennis,

I think I must hold my hand up say I have got his wrong. 😮

It seems my memory over 30 odd years has confusd the P-38 with the TF-51 re the Bill Edwards fatal crash.

Mark

It’s ok. After decades of photographing and keeping track of warbirds, it’s all too easy to mix things up a little.

I’ve been consumed by warbird fever for the last 21 years (NOT counting the early 8 yr old to 18 year old phase- before college, marriage & kids – when the seeds were sown through books and models) and I’m starting to get a little blurry on some interviews I’ve done or aircraft I’ve captured on film as well.

Dennis

Air Classics did indeed run an article on TZ138 with several air to air pics of the Spit. Don’t have it directly in front of me but if I can track it down I’ll post the date.

The Edwards P-38 was donated to EAA in 1981 by the Edwards family and was flown from Big Spring, Texas to Oshkosh by Connie. I have pictures somewhere of its arrival at Oshkosh. It was later dismantled and restored by EAA staff, funded by Gary Levitz. The Edwards family acquired it in Sept 1973. This aircraft was never in an accident as far as I know. Kevin Grantham’s excellent book “P-Screamers” doesn’t mention an accident either.
Attached is part of an article from the November 1989 issue of “Sport Aviation” magazine (EAA’s membership magazine).

The other two P-38s at Airwar 74 are also still around today: N3JB with the Museum of Flight Seattle in their new Personal Courage wing as “Lizzie V” and N9005R with Lone Star Flight Museum as “Putt Putt Maru”. Sadly, two of the three will never fly again and I understand that Putt Putt has been grounded by Lone Star.

Cheers, Dennis

Dennis,

I think I must hold my hand up say I have got his wrong. 😮

It seems my memory over 30 odd years has confusd the P-38 with the TF-51 re the Bill Edwards fatal crash.

Mark

Chad,

N3800L

My understanding from Connie, and it is a long time ago, was that the aircraft just rolled into the ground on take off or approach, I am not sure which.

The most likely situation here, in my view, is that Connie Edwards donated the wrecked P-38 some 15 years later to the EAA and has been rebuilt to static display for their museum.

Mark

The Edwards P-38 was donated to EAA in 1981 by the Edwards family and was flown from Big Spring, Texas to Oshkosh by Connie. I have pictures somewhere of its arrival at Oshkosh. It was later dismantled and restored by EAA staff, funded by Gary Levitz. The Edwards family acquired it in Sept 1973. This aircraft was never in an accident as far as I know. Kevin Grantham’s excellent book “P-Screamers” doesn’t mention an accident either.
Attached is part of an article from the November 1989 issue of “Sport Aviation” magazine (EAA’s membership magazine).

The other two P-38s at Airwar 74 are also still around today: N3JB with the Museum of Flight Seattle in their new Personal Courage wing as “Lizzie V” and N9005R with Lone Star Flight Museum as “Putt Putt Maru”. Sadly, two of the three will never fly again and I understand that Putt Putt has been grounded by Lone Star.

Cheers, Dennis

It flew.

TZ138. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any pics of this one airborne! :confused:

Delivery flight:-
Flown from Mojave California to Vancouver Canada via Modesto, Medford and Olympia. Delivery flight over 11/12 April 2000 Pilot Skip Holms.

I think Mike O’Leary took some air to air.

Any US parties got the Air Classic/Challange Pubs to hand for either side of that date, to confirm?

Mark

I must’ve missed this thread first time round. What fantastic pictures! Thanks for sharing Mark…..

I can’t find any proof of it on the net that TZ138 flies. :confused:
But I did find this old pic (from 1949) on the net.
Maybe some canadian member can help here?

J.V.

TZ138. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any pics of this one airborne! :confused:

Mark, I failed to see the two pics at the bottom of the registry page. The upper photo is obviously the P-38M and I think I see a hint of the rear canopy in the bottom photo as well. My guess would be they are both pics of the Bolton airplane with minor changes to the paint. Obviously that airplane is the one that went to the Champlin museum and is now with the MoF in Seattle. Why those pics ended up in the registry for N3800L is a question only Scott can answer. If the EAA airplane is the original N3800L and if it was wrecked as you say then kudos to the EAA, they did an outstanding job putting it back together. Thanks for the pics, a real stroll down memory lane! Keep ’em coming, can’t get too many threads like this for my money.

PS – The registry clearly states that the Bolton P-38M flew marked as 4-JS which is the same code in the upper pic mentioned above. Must be a mix-up here. I’ve been reading for years that the ex-Champlin bird was the ONLY P-38M survivor. Hmmm, very interesting. (not that it really matters, just interesting 🙂 )

Chad; I also noted the discrepancies in regard to the Edwards P-38. That plane didn’t crash. It was donated to the EAA in the name of “Connie’s” brother Bill, who died in their TF-51 N38228. I have also seen the photos in the registry, and they are both showing P-38M N3JB, not N3800L. John Deahls P-38 N6961 44-26961 did flip upside down (if I’m not mistaken) when it went in at Salt Lake City in 1981. That is the bird Corsair166b is talking about. I have a photo of it displaying at Madera in 79, all bare metal looking very similar to N3800L. They are however two different a/c.
To Mark12, what can I say. It never ceases to amaze me what great photos you bring to this forum. What makes me very envious is the fact that you have taken them (which means you were there), unlike me who sit with photos from those days which I’ve either been given, or have bought over the years. I have to admit to sometime wishing I was some 15-20 years older, having seen the then embryonic warbird movement grow till what we see today! But anyway, keep them coming. They’re most appreciated!

T J (Still only a lad) :rolleyes:

According to the Winter 1974 Air Classics Quarterly Review, page 39, this was N5672N, originally a P-40E that had a 2-seat business conversion, with the fuselage tank removed and a completely new canopy installed. It later became N151U and Tom Camp painted it in an inaccurate RAF camouflage scheme.

I’d have to got through my old Air Classics to be sure but I think the Camp P-40 had been used previously as a cloud seeding aircraft and already had the canopy mod when Mr. Camp purchased it. Sorry, but I don’t recall coming across any sort of explanation for the modifications.

Just curious about one of the P-40s: can someone with more P-40 knowledge than me explain why the canopy of the aircraft in RAF colours (TL-C) looks odd to me?

Archer,

I seem to recall at the time this was a local fix by owner Tom Camp. You have to remember Warbirds then didn’t command, even pro rata, the values that they acquired by the late 1990s. It may just be this was a cheap fix for missing glazing or cockpit structure or perhaps he just like the parasol effect.

Mark

About that Zero replica – my Dad has had a coloured photo of that plane on his workshop wall since I was a kid in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s. It came from a CAF calendar that was out of date. The NZ CAF branch were selling these rare US calendars as single pages at a local fly-in. Dad bought a load and plastered his walls. I should scan them someday if he lets me, and if I can get to them behind 20 odd years of junk in his workshop.

Anyway, I have always wondered, is that Zero’s colour scheme in any way accurate?

I have never come across such a colour scheme in any book. Does anyone know if it was based on a real plane or is it made up by the CAF?

Just curious about one of the P-40s: can someone with more P-40 knowledge than me explain why the canopy of the aircraft in RAF colours (TL-C) looks odd to me?

Thanks, Chad Veich, glad we sorted that one out!

The rudder is deflected towards the cameraman.

Ask Mike J!

I like my tailfin better than yours, Starfire! What happened there – or is it camera distortion?

Oshkosh 1988 🙂

(a Mike J picture I think)