October 22, 2005 at 3:14 pm
In 1993 I photographed the wreck of the only four-engined aircraft ever built in Louisiana, the Monsted-Vincent MV-1 Starflight (reg N77770), of which only one example was built. It was located at the Wedell Williams Memorial Aviation Museum in Patterson, Louisiana, USA. The museum was (is?) adjacent to the Harry P. Williams Memorial Airport located at Patterson, Louisiana (PTN / KPTN). This museum was devastated by hurricane Andrew in 1992, and the MV-1 was blown over on its back and sustained heavy damage. The wrecked aircraft and a little building were the only remnants of the museum left on the site. A brief note on the door of the building stated that the rest of the collection was ‘stored elsewhere’.
Since then I tried to find out what happened to this unique aircraft. There is no reference on the www about its fate; was it was broken up, restored, put in storage or whatever? Anyone knows where it is now? Was the museum rebuilt or relocated in the years after the hurricane? I’ve e-mailed to several persons connected to the museum, but they even didn’t answer my e-mails.
Here are some pictures of the aircraft while it was intact and flying:
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Shumaker/3084.htm
http://aerofiles.com/mon-vincent.jpg
And here are some of the slides of the wreck I took in 1993, at the museum.
Tillerman.
By: DazDaMan - 25th October 2005 at 09:09
Funny that – Blue Max sent me an article about a proposed miniature B-17 replica that mentions this very plane. I thought the name was familiar.
The MV-1 was powered by four Continental C-85s, and judging by Tillerman’s photos it wasn’t too pretty! 😉
Apparently it had a cruising speed of 180mph – that’s not too shabby!
By: Tillerman - 24th October 2005 at 10:49
Thanks for the suggestion, Cking. I’ll post my question there too.
Tillerman.
By: Cking - 23rd October 2005 at 09:53
Try the WIX group. They will know
Rgds Cking
By: Newforest - 22nd October 2005 at 15:28
Good luck finding this! What is that saying? ‘if it looks right it must be right??’ 😀