Warbird and Vintage Aircraft Restorations to Watch in 2012

Another year is upon us and I can't help but think of the the restorations under way that are to fly in the next year or two.  Some aircraft types we have not seen grace the skies for many years and others may be a little more common but will stand out as spectacular works of art.  Here is a short list of the ones we are watching and will be making headlines within a few short years.

The Lufthansa Starliner - The German airline acquired a Lockheed Constellation and began the extensive restoration back in 2008.  To say this is a major restoration is an understatement.  The "Connie" is a full time project with hopes that the Starliner will fly within the next couple years.  This sleek airliner will make magazine covers worldwide when she flies and Lufthansa plans to make flights in her available to the public.  Watch the Connie Survivors web site for updates.

Link - www.conniesurvivors.com

Two P-82 Twin Mustangs - One, let alone two would capture the aviation worlds attention.  Two restorations are under way of this rare twin.  C and P Aviation in Minnesota and Tom Reily in Georgia are actively restoring Twin Mustangs for flight.  We should see great progress made this year.  It will be exciting to see them sitting on their own gear and rolling out for progress photos.  What a dreamy photo this will make to see two in formation roaring around the skies with Merlins and Allisons screaming!  Watch the XP-82 Twin Mustang Project blog for updates on one of these restorations.

Link - http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.com

Mosquito - Recently a rare Mosquito was rolled out into the light of day.  All new wood and fully restored this will be a stunning restoration.  Once completed in New Zealand this ultra rare de Havilland Mosquito will reside in Virgina.  Wow… what else can we say!?  A flying Mosquito!!!

Links - http://www.warbirdrestoration.co.nz/ - http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/ - http://www.fighterfactory.com

Brewster F3A-1 Corsair - Yes, a Brewster built Corsair.  Vought did not build all of the mighty Corsair fighters in world war two.  Brewster built them under license to pump out more fighters for the war effort.  This rare bird is under restoration in Texas with Ezell Aviation.  It may be a few years from flight but this will become the rarest Corsair in the skies!

Link - http://www.ezellaviation.com/f3a.html

Vultures Row Aviation to turn out two Navy Warbirds - In California a small shop that has turned out award winning Navy aircraft is restoring two rare birds to exacting standards.  A Curtiss SB2C Helldiver and a Douglas SBD Dauntless.  Slow and steady wins the awards at this shop.  When these Navy birds fly into airshows across the country they will take all the awards and have Warbird enthusiasts drooling on the ramps!

Link - http://vulturesrowaviation.com/

P-47 Dottie Mae - Allied Fighters in California is well along in the restoration of this rare gem.  This P-47 was pulled from a lake in Austria with markings and nose art still visible!  A large portion of the airframe and its components will be used in the restoration to flying condition.  Another restoration to watch as it progresses. 

Link - http://www.alliedfighters.com/flash.html

Waldo Wrights Travel Air on floats - On a smaller scale… The Travel Air will be exciting to see take to the skies.  What makes this Travel Air so unique?  It will be on floats!  What makes it even more unique?  You will be able to enjoy a ride in it!  Waldo Wrights Flying Service operates out of Florida at Fantasy of Flight giving rides to anyone who wants to experience the Golden Age of Aviation.  I have flown in the New Standard and a Stearman.  Sign me up for a ride in the Travel Air seaplane!

Links - http://www.waldowrights.com/ - http://www.aerocraftsman.com/

There are MANY more rare and historic aircraft being restored around the country and around the world.  Stay tuned here as we hope to cover more aircraft restoration news as the updates are made public!

New Years Eve Airport Day

Dan's 170 and his airport run-about

Spent the day out at NW Regional Airport on New Years Eve day.  It was a warm, sunny Texas winter day with temps in the 70s.  Perfect for cleaning up the 170 and catching up with friends around the airport.  The great weather brought out quite a few visitors to our airport.  Below are a few pictures from the day.

Don Pellegreno's Rearwin

Mark Todd's T6/SNJ 

T6/SNJ

Mark's passenger enjoying the ride!

Cockpit of Terry Wallace's Davis project

Terry's 165 Warner powered Davis

Davis

Happy New Year!  Looking forward to seeing more vintage aircraft flying in 2012!

F2G Corsair Formation Flight

From Scott Germain comes an outstanding photo of two rare F2G Corsairs in formation over Arizona just a few days ago.  These two rare Super Corsairs were highly sought after racing mounts in the post war racing era.  Today, thanks to dedicated owners and restorers, we see them flying together again!  They wear paint schemes and markings just as they raced in the late 1940s.

Thanks to Scott Germain of Images of Light and Lift for allowing us to post the photo.

Links - Images of Light and Lift, Warbird Aeropress, Odegaard Aviation

Cessna 170 Rides and 108th Anniversary of Flight

The 170 sits under the unique clouds on Dec 18, 2011

Yesterday marked the passage of 108 years of flight.  Hard to believe that manned flight has been possible for over 100 years.  When you stop and think about it from the first flight by the Wright brothers to walking on the moon... that was 66 years.  That is quite a leap in just 66 years!  In 2011 my interest still takes me back to the 1930s thru the 1950s.  Our Cessna 170 has been flying since October of 1955 and is still going strong.

Ginger, Tyler and Eric after a ride in the 170

Last weekend I gave a ride to some friends from church and explained to them that flying in a 1956 Cessna is like going back in time.  We cruised around the sky in a time machine that took us back to another time.  Tyler sat in the front with me and did a fine job of flying on his first flight in a small airplane.  Sharing our time machine is always fun!

This afternoon I made a quick flight over to Cowtown Aerocrafters to visit their T-6 project.  It is coming along nicely and the polished aluminum is really starting to shine.

T6s at Cowtown Aerocrafters

Tom polishing on the wing of the T6

Lanny starts the polishing on the other wing

So two good weekends of flying here in Texas.  Best wishes to all you vintage airplane enthusiasts, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all!

Vintage Flyers III - An Interview with Eric Presten

Dan and Eric Presten after making a flight in his Piper Clipper

When I am researching vintage aircraft out of personal interest, an article for this blog or to answer a friends question about a rare type I grab one of the books off my shelf published by Eric Presten.  Eric has traveled the globe to fill his self published books with quality photos of rare aircraft types.  His newest release, VINTAGE FLYERS III is a must have for the vintage aircraft enthusiast.

This past summer my wife and I traveled to Sonoma, California on vacation.  We made a point to spend some time with the Presten's and Eric was kind enough to give us a preview of his new book.  VINTAGE FLYERS III is now available for purchase.  For the readers of this blog I interviewed Eric so that you could get a glimpse behind the scenes of his newest release.

Dan: Vintage Flyers III is your newest release, What sets this book apart from your previous projects?

Eric: We have covered 144 new types that have not been covered in previous volumes in the series.  There are over 660 pictures that I have never published before, and I have changed the layout a bit so that I can include more vertical type pictures that are usually shot for magazine and book covers only.  It is also much larger.  It has more pictures at 1015 color images (the last book only had 795) and is 48 pages longer.  We also used a much higher quality gloss paper stock for this book, as the paper industry has improved in the last six years. 

Dan: What was the most unique photo shoot location featured in this book?

Eric: We have done many sessions in the UK since the last book was released.  It is much harder to do air-to-airs over there as photo planes are much harder to come by, the weather is very unpredictable and the costs are much higher in every category.  On the plus side the citizens of the UK are much more aware of the pictorial beauty of their country, and strive to control the building of ugly, cluttering buildings like we build over here.  It's therefore much easier to get a nice background "over there" then it is in the US.

Dan: Many of your photos are air to air, what is one of your most memorable shots in this book?

Eric: Well, even just centralizing on some of the air-to-airs that are new to this volume, there are still many to think about.  Seeing one of the last two flyable Douglas DC-2s form up alongside the photo ship was a big thrill as was flying with the last flying Boeing 40.  These are icon airplanes no matter how you look at them.  On the other hand, we try to cover the airplanes that are mostly forgotten as unimportant types by other publications.  Some of the airplanes that might fit into this category that we were able to get next to in the air are a Heath Parasol on a set of wooden floats (shot from the Curtiss JN-4H Jenny that I was flying into Oshkosh), the original one-off Kadiak Speedster racer and the Bucker Bestmann monoplane.  Replicas are also a great source of air-to-airs such as the Caudron C.460 Thompson Trophy winner, and the Stinson Model O open-cockpit parasol.  Some of my own favorites involve the nice places where they were photographed.  The Alexander Eaglerock over the very flat plains of Great Bend, Kansas (shot from a Travel Air 6000 cabin monoplane with a passenger window rolled down), the last two flying Pobjoy-powered B.A. Swallows in formation over the very picturesque English countryside of Compton Abbas, and the all-wood Miles Gemini twin over the hallowed ground of Old Warden Aerodrome where the Shuttleworth Collection is housed.  Many great memories saved for all through the medium of air-to-air photography.

Dan: Tell us about a few of the new aircraft types that are featured in this book.

Eric: Some of the great ones, like the Art Chester "Jeep" racer, the Boeing P-26 Peashooter, and the Curtiss P-36 Hawk.  Some of the really rare types, like the Anderson Bi-Wing, the Bristol Boxkite, and the Corben Cabin Ace, and some of the just plain interesting ones, like the Annec II, the B.A.C. Drone (that is not really a pilotless airplane), and the Curtiss Pusher on floats step taxing in the San Diego Harbor.  All of these are found just in the A, B, and C sections of the books index. 

Dan: How do you choose from your expansive photo collection what aircraft types make the cut?

Eric: We tend to concentrate these days on chasing down and photographing (all over the world) types that qualify for the Vintage Flyers Series in the first place, so the photo collection is now becoming tailored to these types. These books are intended for vintage airplane people so the types included are limited to piston-powered airplanes that were first flown in prototype form before the last day of 1955.

Dan: Give us a full description of the book and tell us how we can place an order.

Eric: Vintage Flyers III features 1015 color pictures of 1047 pre-1956 restored vintage airplanes. 528 pages hardbound all done on a new very high gloss paper stock. There are 695 different piston-powered types covered (144 new types since our last book) from all over the world (20% of these pictures were taken at events and private collections that are in foreign countries). There are 430 air-to-air pictures covering over 300 different types. Over half of the pictures are in flight shots, and 219 of them are large format pictures that measure at least 10 inches in frame size.

Over 60% of the pictures included have never been published before, and they are accompanied by 136.000 words of text. There are photos from thirty US states, six countries, and three continents! There are 87 seaplanes, 156 multi-engine airplanes, 270 biplanes, 331 military marked examples, 363 open cockpit airplanes, and 507 radial powered machines. There are even eight types of tri-motor airplanes. A dozen types are shown on wheels, floats and skis. Airplanes covered span the pioneer, the WWI, the golden age, the WWII, and the classic eras.

The book is an 8.5 x 11 horizontal format and each copy is $89.95 plus $5.00 postage and handling (to U.S. customers). California residents will need to include 8% sales tax as well. To get more information or get a copy, you can see my listing on E-bay (Click here to see "Vintage Flyers III" on Ebay), send a check (or V/MC/Dis number and expiration date) and mailing address to Prewar Publications P.O. Box 660 Vineburg, California 95487 or just call me at (707) 939-8913 and I will process a credit card order for you and send it out immediately.  Web site - http://prewarpublications.com/Home.html

Thanks for the interview, Eric!

Dan

Veterans Day 11-11-11

Thank you to all the Veterans for your service to your country!

Todd giving his Veterans Day Fly-by

Last Friday was Veteran's Day and I took the day off to spend the day with friends and family.  The first activity for the day was breakfast out at my buddy Stan's hangar.  Stan and friends were flying a formation flight and then cooking up a pancake breakfast.  I played photographer and enjoyed the action from the ground.

Stan's Swift

The formation flight was Stan in his Swift and Ross, Danny, Randy and Bob in their RVs.

Formation

As the gaggle taxied back in Lynn got the pancakes cooking.  Good times, good food, good friends!

Lynn focusing on cooking

The photo gallery page from the airport is here - https://picasaweb.google.com/dtlinn/VeteransDay111111

I spent the rest of the day with the family around the barn.  A great way to make 11-11-11 a memorable day!

Beaver flying at Kenmore Air

Float flying is some of the most fun I have had while flying.  Low, slow and behind a radial engine.  That is some really cool flying!  Ride along with AOPA in this video on Kenmore's Beavers that they fly in and around Seattle.

Custom Stearman at Rare Air

Check out the custom 450 Stearman that is coming together at Rare Air!  Bright colors, custom paint scheme and a growling 450.  Should be a show stopper!

Updates on their blog here - http://primoresto.blogspot.com/ (post from November 2, 2011)

Flying Heritage Collection Adds a Shturmovik

The internet forums were all a buzz a couple weeks ago when the pictures and videos hit the world wide web.  An Ilyushin Il-2 "Shturmovik" was seen in the videos to be flying over Russia!  Where did it come from and who's was it!  The Flying Heritage Collection posted a news release that answered those questions.  The Il-2 is on a ship and headed for Everett, Washington to join Paul Allen's growing collection of historic aircraft.  Hats off to Mr. Allen for restoring such a rare ship.

Click here for the FHC press release - http://www.flyingheritage.com/TemplateMain.aspx?contentId=93

Links - Flying Heritage Collection - Ilyushin Il-2 History

Stinson Reflection

Here is another shot from the Texas Antique Fly-In.  I did a little editing and effects in iPhoto to create a small piece of art.  The vintage car hub cap gave off a cool reflection of the Stinson SR-10.  The shot below that is the vintage setting that set up the inspiration. Fun car and a GORGEOUS Stinson!

Rearwin Cloudster

This weekend I can hear the jets powering through the skies over Alliance Airport for the Fort Worth Airshow but my mind is back in time at last weekends antique fly-in.  Radial engines, biplanes and fabric are more to my liking!  One of the highlights from last weekend was Don Pellegreno's Rearwin Cloudster.  Don did a very nice job restoring this red beauty.  A few photos featured below.