AVIWhirlwind Drawings
Did the factory drawings for the Whirlwind survive and is there a source for copies?
AVIThe Original Dustoff
It might be noted that COL Novosel is usually credited with being the original callsign “Dustoff” and that the generic “Dustoff” in reference to medivacs was/is in honour of his bravery.
AVIYeah, Flanker_Man – lots of memories … it was interesting for me to trace some of the battlefield where my father fought in WWII. You mention Stanley, and that was where he was taken POW on Christmas Day, 1941 when the Colony surrendered. The Japs shipped him off on one of the Hell Ships to Japan where he worked as slave labour in a Mitsubishi locomotive plant until the end of the war when he was repatriated to Vancouver. He was one of the lucky Allied POWs to have survived the brutal years of captivity. The Old Man’s gone now, passed away in ’96 but when he was alive he rarely talked about the war. Let’s not forget their sacrifice. Nor should we forget the brutality and cruelty inflicted on British and Canadian POWs by the Japanese.
AVIHK Spitfire and Vampire
Thanks. So the photographs were most likely taken either 1954 or 1955.
The display would have been in August and there are other personal photos among the negatives discovered that date from 1955 so August 1955 may very well be the timeframe. Thanks.
AVIWonderful advice! Reminds me of the time we drove up to DC specifically to view and photograph a certain Gauguin at the National Gallery only to find that particular section of the museum closed for renovations! What a bummer that was!
AVICORSAIR GATHERING
Mark – give Tony Pileggi a call and check out his 82% Corsair. Tony is located near Frederick, MD, not too far from the DC area. There’s also a nice F4U at the USMC museum in Quantico. Tony: http://www.corsair82.com
AVIAh, but NASM Downtown, as remarkable as it is, pales in comparison with Hazy. Hazy is the Disneyworld of aviation and it would be a shame to be so close and not to set foot there! You’d be absolutely amazed and overjoyed from the moment you walk up the entrance ramp to face the P-40 and F4U suspended at eye level. And now there’s a Lysander hanging up as well.
AVIUS/Canada By Greyhound
Steve:
I don’t think you’ve quite grasped how vast our two countries are and how great the distances from city to city are, compared to distances in Europe. For example, the training area in Cold Lake, if superimposed over a map of Western Europe would most likely blanket most of the continent. And that’s just one military training area.
If you’re planning to travel by Greyhound, you’re taking the proverbial slow boat to China, and you’re likely to spend many hours of downtime sitting in a Greyhound terminal between busses. Incidentally, Greyhound terminals seem to be located in some of the worst (read: seedy) parts of town, and you’re also going to be exposed to the seedy part of our culture. Now, in a town like Toronto, you’re not going to have much to worry about, but it may not be the same around DC.
I hate to sound like a party pooper, but there’s not much sightseeing to be done by Greyhound, running along the freeway and interstates. When you do find the time to stop over in a major area, you’re very likely going to have to rent a car to get anywhere. Mass transit and Amtrak are not what you might expect.
Yes, there is a shuttle from NASM Downtown out to Dulles and Hazy, ( I think it’s $7.50 per person one way) but unless you choose to travel by taxi cab, you’re going to have a lot of real life humping in front of you.
If you’re in the DC area, it would be a shame to miss the wonderful, if small, Marine museum located in Quantico. Yes, Quantico is just down the road from DC, but you’re going to need an automobile to get there. See what I mean?
And take the Orlando area … Fantasy of Flight is a fair distance from the Flying Tiger Museum, and I don’t believe that there’s any type of bus service between the two locations. You’d have to rent a car.
Here in North Carolina and Virginia, we’re in the airshow season, but without a car, you’d never be able to visit Langley, Oceana, Cherry Point, Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune or Seymour johnson. By the time you made it to these military bases/stations, the show would be over!
My advice is to decide on a plan. Are you going to drive across the continent and wave at folks from the window of a Greyhound, or do you want to hit a couple of the great aviation museums? You could spend a few days just checking out NASM Downtown and Hazy out in Dulles while in DC, but it would be a shame not to allow a couple more days for some sightseeing and to visit the various museums and tourist attractions in the Washington area.
Somebody up above in a previous post said, “you might be biting off more than you can chew.” Oh, and yes, as a north of the border native, I can vouch for the fact that we did heartily reject the offer of annexation back in 1812. Can you picture Mounties in dress blues instead of scarlets? Com’n!
AVIJim Kern was the man behind the FEW Mustang kitplanes.
AVIThanks for the compliments, BlueNoser. When I began researching the artwork on the Memphis Belle some years ago, I was not certain which version of “Belle” was correct, and in 1997, after purchasing Gary Valant’s book, I wrote to him asking whether he could verify some information. In return, I received a very touching letter from his widow, saying that she was sorry to inform me that he had passed away from cancer in May of 1996 at the age of 52. She enclosed two original photographs taken by them while on their last family vacation, one of the port and one of the starboard side of the Belle. As you may know, the bathing suit is red on one side of the fuselage, and blue on the other. I have kept her letter and it’s attached to the inside of the dust jacket of the book.
Yes, the Collins Foundation B-24 had “The Dragon” on the starboard side. I was fortunate to come across a WWII colour photo of the original Dragon. Most people don’t realize the amount of research that can go into a simple piece of artwork.
I certainly am happy to share my art with anyone who’s an enthusiast – the only thing I ask is that my copyright be respected. If you look carefully at my panels, you’ll find a few original touches that are not on the original WWII aircraft nose art. If you care to chat, feel free to Email me anytime.
AVIThank you. Drab OD and gray paint were used on that panel. Photos of the original Belle, taken by the late Gary Valant who was the author of “Vintage Aricraft Nose Art” were kindly sent to me by his widow Nancy sometime in 1997. For the purists, the nose art displayed on the movie version of the Belle and also the art on the present-day B-17 making the airshow circuit painted as the Belle differ significantly from the art found on the original Memphis Belle.
AVINose Art
This nose art is not on the back of an A-2 – it’s on the back wall of my studio. Thought I’d let you guys have a look.
These panels are hand painted on aluminum sheet – the “Dragon and His Tail”, the last B-24 to be scrapped at Kingman, and of course, “Memphis Belle”. I’ve also got a “Flying Tigers” panel and same-sized “tail” art from a Marine F-4 Phantom.
The smaller pictures hanging between the two panels are wartime photos of the actual aircraft.
If there’s sufficient demand, I’d be willing to duplicate them on 24″X36″ aluminum panels, framed or unframed. With or without rivet holes. These panels are hand painted, not airbrushed or computer generated silkscreened panels and they’re guaranteed to brighten up any enthusiast’s wall.
Oh, BTW, if anybody’s wondering about the T-square, there is the odd occasion when I step away from AutoCAD and do manual drafting.
AVIThanks, PL.
Every little bit of info helps to piece the whole picture together. What’s needed are detailed photos of the rudder frame, ribs, and the wire cord that’s used to attach the fabric to the ribs. From my research, the Fw-190 uses a different type of fabric attachment to the cord stitching normally found on fabric control surfaces such as those on the Spitfire and Bf 109.
This photo was found in Warbirds but the quality is not sufficient to yield all the information required.
I tracked down the nearby warbird owner of both Fw 190 and Bf 109 restoration projects, but he told me that the airframes are being restored in Russia and in Romania. That’s a whole lot of distance from the USA.
Thanks anyway.
AVINASM Fw-190A-8
Here are a couple of fairly recent photos of the NASM Fw 190A-8 which I first saw many years ago at the Silver Hill restoration facility. It’s now at NASM Hazy, parked under the wing of the Enola Gay which sits raised on stands.
In following this thread, I too was amazed when I initially read that the Dora restored to airworthy condition would never see air under its wings. What a shame. Airplanes are meant to be flown, not kept in a hangar like some of the classic cars kept in heated and airconditioned garages as a form of 3D art, never to see the open road. How frustrating it would be to own and never be able to fly a Dora! Why not build a model airplane?
By the way, if anybody has any photos of the FW-190 rudder under construction, I’d appreciate it if they’d post them. Any photos of the bare bones rudder frame and also close-ups showing the fabric stitching. Thanks.
AVIHey, Funhouse, your project and the workmanship are absolutely astounding! I’m with HP 57 – why stop with the cockpit?
One question: I’ve visited your terrific website which illustrates the building of the frames and brackets, but how are the other metal fittings made? For example the spar attach fittings that appear to be machined. Do you have access to a machine shop?
Please show us some of the other construction methods on your website.
Thanks for sharing this amazing project with us!
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