DC PageThe Popemobile is carried from place to place on board the Vatican’s custom Antonov Popeliner. For getting into smaller fields it can be transported slung underneath the heavy-lift Sikorsky Popecopter. Next question?
DC PageThe Popemobile is carried from place to place on board the Vatican’s custom Antonov Popeliner. For getting into smaller fields it can be transported slung underneath the heavy-lift Sikorsky Popecopter. Next question?
DC PageThat’s a nice find. It appears to be an ammo box for a Sperry top turret like you would find in an early B-17, and is slightly different from the ones used for the waist guns. You may very well have a piece of an aircraft that was destroyed at Pearl Harbor in the Japanese attack.
In the book “The B-17 Flying Fortress Story” by Roger A. Freeman on page 73 there is this info:
40-3083 Ass 50BS/11BG Hawaii, dest Hickam Fd
7/12/41; sal (a/c No. 81)
On page 72 there is a picture of sister ship No. 41 (40-3092) that was at Hickam but survived the war. I think I have seen a picture of your aircraft and I’m trying to figure out which book it is in.
So it looks like a Sperry top turret ammo box that may have been in a B-17D that was assigned to Hickam, destroyed at Hickam, and salvaged at Hickam after the Pearl Harbor attack. That could account for the deformation and missing pieces. I’m glad you were there to rescue this piece from the junk pile.
DC PageHere are some alternatives:
1. Fighters
2. Bombers
3. Fighter-Bombers
4. Hunter-Killers
5. Attack Planes
That should about cover it! :diablo:
DC PageYes the previously mentioned video has been proven a complete fake. It uses footage of real aircraft, R/C aircraft, and CGI all poorly edited together. Watched closely at even low resolution it is pretty easy to pick apart.
However this recent clip of Dino Moline’s Rans S-9 losing a wing while doing an inverted pushup is quite real. He was saved by his BRS parachute system and the help of his spotter on the ground who told him to pull the chute via radio communications.
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/exclusivevids/LostWingLanding_BRSParachute_DinoMoline_203144-1.html
DC PageDaveM2 Russell 190. Different person
Still can’t find anything about it, could you give me a clue what incident you are referring to? Thanks.
DC PageDaveM2,
When did the Russell Bf-109 ground loop? I hadn’t heard about it and can’t find any info online. Thanks.
R/
Dave
DC PageAlan,
If you’re right about this being a Canadair part then could this be a camera port from a reconnaissance version of a Canadair Sabre? I don’t know what the Canadian version would be called, but a North American version would be a RF-86A or RF-86F, and they had 3 camera ports on the underside of the fuselage. When I first saw this part I thought of the RF-84 Thunderflash because we have 2 of them on display near me, but after looking at some pictures I decided that wasn’t it. Certainly looks to be the right size for a camera port.
Dave
DC PageReminds me of this pic of a B-17E’s tail gunner position, but it appears to be from another American bomber. It’s not a B-24, B-25, B-26, or TBF Avenger either.
[ATTACH]184042[/ATTACH]
DC PageI cannot find the Panther on my photos, but I do have one of the Cougar, see below. This was taken in 2002.
Archer, which plane is this and at what location? Thanks.
DC PageBefore Tom Reilly Aviation moved away from Kissimmee, Florida several years ago, they had a beat up old Panther sitting outside. It was in pretty rough shape and may have been from one of the gunnery ranges because it had a few holes in the fuselage. There were some extra parts or maybe even another partial airframe nearby. There was also a two seat Blue Angels TF-9J Cougar #147287 sitting outside not too far away. I have about 30 minutes of video that I taped around 2001 that I watched a few weeks ago while looking for details about a Corsair restoration mentioned in another thread, and I noticed them then. The TF-9J was in pretty decent shape with the original Blue Angels paint scheme still intact, if a little faded. Strangely enough I think the two seat trainer variant was the only Cougar to see combat duty, as some sort of C&C platform. Not sure if it was for other aircraft or artillery.
I’m not sure what happened to those aircraft because they were sitting outside, and I believe Tom Reilly Aviation moved north up to Georgia after getting hit (again?) by a hurricane. (And this one wasn’t made by Hawker!)
Several years ago a friend of mine (retired naval aviator) told me that you wouldn’t see very many Panthers or Cougars except in Navy museums because the U.S. was really the only operator and it had a very short production life and a short time on active duty. He also said the Argentinian Cougars “Were an accident” and as soon as we realized it we “Cut them off” and never supplied any parts or spares.
DC PageHello fah619,
I’ve found the tape and it is only of the Corsair in the hangar without engine and having skins fitted all around. I was able to walk around the front and get underneath and see some pretty good detail, down to the rivets, but no cockpit footage and I didn’t ever see it outside the hangar. I must have been there just a few months before the pictures that are posted earlier in this thread, because the skinning process appears to be further along in those pictures (early 2002) than it is in my video. Let me know if there is anything else I can search for, I’m going to convert the tape and watch it closely in a few hours, so I’ll know exactly what I have by tomorrow.
R/
Dave
DC PageThank you both.
DC PageHello to RMAllnutt, Archer, fah619, and anyone else that was inquiring about the Corsair that was at Tom Reilly Aviation in Kissimmee undergoing restoration before he moved to Georgia. I videotaped my trip through the hangar and saw the Corsair airframe in a similar state as the pictures from 2002. I think I was there in late 2001, but not sure on the date yet.
I will have to get the tape digitized from VHS, but if you are looking for any specific details I can probably get them from the tape, maybe even take a few screen shots until I get the tape converted. At the time I was there, there was a B-17 in the hangar with the wings off and the fuselage in three sections with a new built mid section. I’m sure they were putting skins on one of the B-17 wings in a corner of the shop not far from the Corsair. I remember them talking about not having to put the fuel bladders back in the wings because this B-17G was going to a museum for static display. They were also talking about “The Outhouse Mouse”, but I don’t know if they were talking about a B-17 or possibly a B-25. Anyone know the story? My memory may be mixed up but off the top of my head I recall a Beech Baron in front having an engine overhaul, a Vampire (or Venom?) with Marvin the Martian in the cockpit, the Corsair, B-17, a great big U.S. Navy bird, maybe a Grumman Tracker? There was a nice A-4 Skyhawk, several AT-6’s, and literally tons of parts, pieces and engines piled up everywhere. Outside was A-20 “The Rude Invader”, the B-25 “Killer Bee”, and the B-25 “Panchito” which has one of the few “hard nose” installations of the 75mm cannon instead of the usual “greenhouse” nose seen on most B-25’s. Now that I think about it, they had 3 B-25’s at the time, and I may be wrong about the name of the hard nose bird, I’ve seen Panchito several times since then and I thought it had the normal glass nose.
Let me know if there are any specific details that I might be able find and I’ll start looking. I’m pretty sure there was a panel on a stand under the Corsair that had some details about the project, and I usually photograph or video those so I’ll look for that. I’ve been wanting to get this tape converted before it deteriorates because it has some really great footage of Reilly’s place, and right after I walked out of his hangar a formation of 6 P-51’s led by Lee Lauderbeck in Crazy Horse came overhead and did their break turns to come in for landing. I ran over to Stallion 51’s hangar in time to film the arrival of all 6 Mustangs. Up to that point I had only been close to a pair of Mustangs running at the same time. To have 6 of them taxi up right in front of me with their Merlins running is still one of the most impressive things I have ever seen, or HEARD. There were 3 more spotless P-51’s in the hangar, 1 red nose and 2 blue nose, one of them being Excalibur. The 6 that were flying that day were Crazy Horse (dual) Glamorous Glen III, Old Crow, Obsession, Mad Max (dual), and one had an unpainted bare metal finish. The Stallion 51 hangar was new at the time and I guarantee the polished floor of the hangar was cleaner than your kitchen table ever was! I think there was a black MiG 15 in the corner as well. One of these days I’m going to go back and buy a ride with Mr. Lauderbeck, the dream of a lifetime.
Regards,
Dave
DC PageThe Do 335 that is at the NASM’s Udvar-Hazy Center has an interesting story regarding demolition charges. After the war it was tested for a few years and then pretty much forgotten. It was eventually donated to the NASM and went to Silver Hill for storage. In the mid 1970s it was sent back to Dornier in Germany for a complete restoration. They discovered the demolition charges installed when it was built in April 1945 were still there and live. The charges were there to blow off the tail and rear prop in case of an emergency where the pilot might need to bail out, not to prevent capture by the enemy.
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