Glacier Girl P-38 Departs Chino, California bound for DUXFORD !!

houston pics, P38

My friend Mark P was at the Wings Over Houston airshow last wkend and provided these pics.

He indicated the plane was not flying due to cooler problems.

True to his promise, Glacier Girl’s owner Rod Lewis is really making a big effort to show this wonderful aircraft at many venues. GG also made an appearance at the Reno Air Races and at the Gathering of Mustangs in Ohio during September 2007. The below photo shows GG once again at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California in early September 2007. As always, pilot Steve Hinton is still the only one allowed to fly GG.

Best,
– octane130 –

Houston, Glacier Girl here

This last weekend (Oct 6-7) was the annual Wings Over Houston airshow.

Glacier Girl was here on display.

I was not there and don’t have any pictures.

Well it did get to Oshkosh, and was at GML last week, so I think we can say she has recovered!

Bruce

Any further news on her health since July 21st?
Be lucky
David

Dateline Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada:

The latest word is that Glacier Girl has both of her new engines mounted as of today, Friday July 20! Just a few details such as hose clamps, etc. need to be finished up. That was really fast work but with such a talented crew (Steve and John Hinton, Bob Cardin, Jim Dale, owner Rod Lewis, and others), not really a surprise.

There was a problem with the U.S. shipper that was to deliver the aeromotive engine oil to Goose Bay. They wanted $6000 to deliver the oil from New York to Goose Bay. I don’t know if that also involved some substantial import duties into Canada but the crew obviously and appropriately said “forget it” to this highway robbery and found a more nearby, domestic source. As of today, the oil had not yet arrived but it was on its way. This will teach me not to complain about the US$19.00 for my automobile oil change at Jiffy Lube, ha! 🙂

Glacier Girl may fly tomorrow, Sat. July 20. Tentative plans (very tentative) are for Glacier Girl to fly to Oshkosh, Wisconsin next week for the big AirVenture gathering. Completing the trip to England this year is out, but maybe next year, who knows?

Cheers,
– octane130 –

I have just heard that two fresh Allison engines are available for Glacier Girl. Though not yet confirmed, GG’s owner (Texas Oil Man Rod Lewis) may decide to have BOTH engines replaced while GG is still at Goose Bay, Labrador. Following the installation of the engine(s), Glacier Girl MAY just go right ahead and continue the mission to England! Exciting news!

Remember, the engines on the P-38 are “handed” meaning that the left and right engines rotate in opposite directions. As looking forward to the nose of the aircraft, the right engine rotates clockwise and the left engine rotates counter-clockwise. This feature is great for neutralizing engine torque effect, which is especially useful during takeoff. Though no Allison engines or parts are very easily obtained anymore, the left engines (or parts to make the counter-clockwise rotation possible) are much harder to find.

Just before embarking on the Bolero II mission to England, Glacier Girl had logged just over a total of 100 flight hours on all systems since restoration. Of course, all these hours were flown exclusively by Steve Hinton.

I’ll post more news as I receive it.

All the best,
– octane130 –
SoCal USA

Excalibur III

At Udvar-Hazy last year

I know some of you have already seen this video interview of Glacier Girl’s pilot, Steve Hinton giving a VERY INTERESTING explanation of the problems that occurred with her right engine following departure from Goose Bay, Labrador. But in case you haven’t, check out the below link. Steve is the ONLY pilot ever allowed to fly Glacier Girl since her recovery from under the Greenland glacier ice in 1992. Why? He’s he best, that’s why! :).

VIDEO LINK:
http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r224/octane130/Message%20Board%20Photos/?action=view&current=SteveHintonExplainsGGProblems.flv

Glacier Girl will be airborne again soon!!

Best,
– octane130 –

What is the history of N251RJ before her recent restoration?

I looked her up on the Warbirds Registry but there’s not a lot there: http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51registry/p51-4484847.html

Perhaps someone else can enlighten us but I’m thinking that it may have been a roughly P-51 shaped pile of aluminium that was rebuilt with a lot of new components and parts. I could be wrong of course, and either way it won’t make me enjoy the end results any less :rolleyes:

Interesting post on Excalibur III by the way. Somewhere in my collection there’s a Smithsonian issued book about this airframe and its history, but I’d forgotten that bit about her! I need to reread that one I think.

Mustang long distance, over North Pole

A page or so back in postings, someone asked the last time someone flew a P51 across the Atlantic…

Here is one that is not too well known.

Capt Charles Blair flew his personal P51C razorback over the North Pole non-stop in record speed in 1951, after flying from NY to London Heathrow. (He was married to Maureen O’Hara, yes, the movie star) My dad used to fly with him in PAA.

His P51, ExcaliberIII, is at the Smithsonian Air Museum.

His aviation accomplishments are a very good read…

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/cfblair.htm

http://www.speakeasy.org/~beck/blair.html —–
On January 31, 1951, Captain Blair flew his Mustang – which he had named “Excalibur III’ non-stop from “New York to London’s Heathrow Airport. One objective of the flight was to test the effects of the then-relatively unknown high-altitude phenomenon called the “jet stream.” Captain Blair encountered the high-velocity westerly winds at 37,000 feet precisely as he had planned, and the resulting tail wind, in his words, “blew me to London.” He covered the 3,478 statute miles at an average speed of 446 miles an hour. His elapsed time of seven hours and 48 minutes set a record for a transatlantic crossing by a piston engine plane that still stands.

Four months later, on May 29, Captain Blair took off in this same Mustang from Bardutoss, Norway and headed for Fairbanks, Alaska. It was the first solo flight over the Arctic and the North Pole, and the first by a single-engine aircraft. On this 3,260 mile nonstop flight, which took ten hours and 27 minutes, he proved the accuracy and practicability of a system of navigation that he had developed for flying in polar regions. (He also took care of a personal errand. As he flew over the Pole, he dropped from the cockpit window a letter from his young son Chris, addressed to “Santa Claus.”)
————–

After retiring from PAA, he and his wife started and ran Antilles Airways in the Caribbean. He died in a Grumman Goose crash in 1978. Maureen ran the airline for awhile after that.

What is the history of N251RJ before her recent restoration?

I thought Miss Velma looked familiar….

November 2004 at DW Hooks Airport, Houston, TX.

Looks a bit like one that’s local to me as well, Bill Hane’s “Ho Hun”.

Well, fantastic though it would be to see Glacier Girl this year (or ever in all honesty), I can’t help but get tantalisingly excited about the thought of postponing the flight for a year….

…and sending her back in 2008 as a ‘Little Friend’ to Liberty Belle…

Legends 2008: Yanks Over Here.

3 B-17 Flying Forts

escorted by 6 P-51 Mustangs, a P-38, P-39, P-40, P-47.

How about it?! 😮

Well there’s been 5 forts flying together before now, but three would still be fantastic.

What a fantastic effort to get at least oe of the planes here.

Bomberboy

Miss Velma aka Gunfighter

I thought Miss Velma looked familiar….

November 2004 at DW Hooks Airport, Houston, TX.

It was nice of them to bring it, but it’s a bit grubby.

I can still hear PR..
“Chocks, wing mats, drip trays!”

It was nice of them to bring it, but it’s a bit grubby.

4th of July!

What timing! Great pics. Cheers.

Miss Velma at Duxford

I’m sure there’s plenty of photos out there…but here’s my contribution…

Fantastic to see a 55th FG scheme in the UK. Congrats to all those involved.

Shabby
www.55th.org

Miss Velma actually flew right over my house as she neared Duxford. Great sight, seeing as I had followed her virtually all the way from the US…