Lockheed Vega Restoration

Brent Taylor visited the Lockheed Vega restoration making progress in Arizona and posted an update over on the Antique Airfield web site earlier this month.  Wow!  What an amazing airplane!

Click on this link to read the update - Lockheed Vega Restoration Update

Links - Antique Airfield

Flying Heritage Collection F6F Hellcat First Flight Video

The Flying Heritage Collection's Grumman F6F Hellcat made its first flight following its recent restoration.  Steve Hinton made the flight at FHC's base at Paine Field in Everett, Washington.  Watch the  video below captured by Jason Fortenbacher.  Thanks Jason for the video!



Links - Flying Heritage Collection - Fight To Fly Photography on Facebook

Sky Siren - Travel Air Restoration

In California at the restoration shop called Aerocraftsman they are putting the finishing touches on a beautiful Travel Air.  A Travel Air biplane they are calling Sky Siren.  Check out this awesome art deco paint scheme on this ship!

More photos can be seen by clicking on this link.  Hats off to the crew at Aerocraftsman!

Links - Aerocraftsman

Aviation Collectibles - Greatest Generation Aircraft Auction

B-25 Pacific Prowler

Collecting, it is what we do when we gather things of meaning and importance to us. Some like to gather memorabilia to bring back memories from times gone by. In this day and age we see numerous TV shows filling the cable channels that highlight people hunting, searching and digging for collectibles all over the country. Cars, airplanes, toys, antiques and all manner of items!  Maybe to add that specific item to their personal collection, turn it into a decorator piece, show off in their "man cave" or to sell for a profit to perpetuate the collecting addiction!  To feed my curiosity... ok... and my own addiction I found a local auction to attend.

It was a cold morning inside the Vintage Flying Museum hangar at Meacham Field in Fort Worth.  Too cold for me to be out early on a Saturday morning but I sure did want to see the aviation collectibles, memorabilia, military gear and vintage aircraft parts that were to be sold at the charity auction.  The Greatest Generation Aircraft collection  was looking to attract bidders to raise funds to pour back into their collection of vintage aircraft. Jim Terry and his crew operate the B-25 "Pacific Prowler" and the C47 "Southern Cross." Also a part of the collection, waiting in the back of the hangar, was the B-26K "Special K" receiving attention from the volunteer restoration crew.

Jim Terry

The hangar opened early for bidders to preview the auction items. I arrived about 8:30 am to look around.  The museum hangar had several areas set up to showcase the auction items. The heated side room was most popular on this cold morning.  Aircraft parts, flying helmets, engines, military gear and artwork had collectors scribbling notes in their auction catalogs.  Aviation enthusiasts could hardly contain their excitement at the prospects of owning these unique offerings and in knowing that the funds would be used to maintain vintage aircraft.

About forty people gathered in the hangar before auction start time at 9:00 am, but it quickly swelled to seventy as the auctioneer started the opening bids. A few bidders established themselves as serious buyers and most items sold well.

Highlights...

Bartlett Hayward wooden propeller - $1700

Cowtown Cyclone tribute art cowling - $600

F-86 drop tank shark art - $2000

Beechcraft Bonanza wing section - $500

Remote control glider with 14ft. Wingspan - $225

T-28A Trojan - $7000

Other highlights...

Customized KC 135 crew seat - $600

Wright Cyclone R-2600 - unsold as it did not meet reserve - this R2600-3 would have been installed on a Boeing Clipper or an A-20 Havoc.

B-25 cowling nose ring - $1300

B-17 cowling - $1500

The auction wrapped up at about noon.  Hats off to the Greatest Generation Aircraft and the Vintage Flying Museum for a smooth auction.

My personal aviation memorabilia collection includes autobiographical books of famous aviators, vintage magazines, aircraft manuals and aircraft models.  (I do offer some items for sale on occasion using eBay - Link to eBay items.)

What do you collect?  What are some of your prized possessions?

Links - Great Generation Aircraft - Flying Cowboys - Vintage Flying Museum

Red Bull P-38 and Corsair Video

Wow... you must take the time to watch this video showing The Flying Bulls collection P-38 Lightning and F4U Corsair flying in the skies over Austria!

When I was young I saw these two Warbirds flying in the skies over Texas.  Now years later they fly together again!  Red Bull campaigns these two vintage fighters, as well as a large fleet of other cool airplanes around Europe from their base in Salzburg, Austria.

Enjoy the video and then click thru to their web site - Hangar 7 "The Flying Bulls"

Be sure to check out the awesome architecture of their two cool hangars!  One day I will go visit!

Golden Age Air Racers

Roscoe Turner's Bendix trophy and racer at the Smithsonian

My aviation interest does cover a broad range of aircraft.  Mainly types between 1920s and 1950s.  For a few years I studied almost exclusively 1930s Golden Age air racers.  Delmar Benjamin burst on the airshow scene back in the 1990s with his Gee Bee R-2 replica and that really brought out the interest in the racers amongst the aviation minded public.  Few original racers exist so most of the Golden Age aircraft seen today are replicas.  Gee Bee's of various models, Travel Air Mystery Ship, Roscoe Turner's racers, de Haviland Comet racer and more are so unique that to see them in any form today is worth the effort from the owners to showcase an awesome time in aviation history.

Comet

Where would you see them today?  Well, some are shown in museums, others in private owners hangars and a few that are currently being built will hopefully make it to local and national airshows.

Pete Groves and I have corresponded over the last couple years from our mutual interest in the Ryan STA.  Pete also has an interest in Golden Age air racers.  So much so that he is building up a Laird Super Solution.  Take a few minutes to check out the build progress on his Super Solution at his blog...

http://supersolutionproject.blogspot.com

To catch up on the latest progress of other air racer projects you MUST see the photos included in one of Pete's most recent blog posts!

http://supersolutionproject.blogspot.com/2013/01/golden-age-projects.html

The photos that have me captivated are the ones of Jim Moss's Gee Bee "Super" QED.  WOW!

I can't wait to see more photos of when these awesome ships take to the air!

Eicher/Kimball Gee Bee Z

Still my favorite Gee Bee replica is the model Z built by Jeff Eicher and Kevin Kimball.  It now lives at Kermit Weeks Fantasy of Flight.  The yellow and black racer is just powerfully cool!

What are your favorite Golden Age Air Racers?

Sikorsky S-43 To Kermit Weeks

I have long had an interest in the aircraft of Howard Hughes.  The H-1 "Racer" being one of my favorites.  In a time when biplanes ruled the skies he built the slick monoplane and broke speed and distance records.  Most people remember his Flying Boat nicknamed the "Spruce Goose."  But there were also quite a few other aircraft that he owned like a Boeing Model 100, a Sikorsky S-38, a Lockheed 14, a Douglas B-23, a Douglas A-20, a North American B-25, a Boeing 307 and the Sikorsky S-43 that is the subject of this posted video.  Collector Kermit Weeks has purchased the Sikorsky S-43 once owned and flown by Hughes and is in the process of disassembling the aircraft to take to his Florida aviation attraction Fantasy of Flight.  Take 20 minutes and watch the story unfold as Kermit visits, inspects and decides to have the aircraft shipped to his facility.  Hopefully we will see it take to the skies in a few years after the restoration is complete.

Hughes Flying Boat

Hughes Racer

An S-38

The Vanderbilt family S-43 very much like Hughes S-43

Hughes flying his Lockheed 14 over New York

Links - Fantasy of Flight - Evergreen Aviation Museum - Hughes Racer - Aerofiles

Howard 500

The Mighty Howard 500 was a conversion from a Lockheed twin that makes a ramp presence like very few airplanes today.  If you were to see a Howard 500 on a ramp full of Challengers, Gulfstreams and Falcons... which do you think YOU would be drawn to?  Watch the video above and tell me you wouldn't skip the others and walk around the Howard!  Thanks to collector Toni Phillippi in Minnesota there are now two preserved Howard 500's in flying condition.  I first saw the Howard 500 at Oshkosh and walked by it several times a day for the week that I was there.  The powerful twin just draws you in.  If I were assembling a dream fleet of airplanes for my personal collection, A Howard 500 would be my traveling machine!  The video above shows that Mr. Phillippi flies his Howard's all over the country and even went to great lengths to return one from Europe to the United States.

For more on Mr. Phillippi's aircraft visit his web site - http://www.tpaero.com/

For more on Lockheed's Twins - http://www.burbanksbest.com/

Flying Heritage Collection Grumman F6F Hellcat

The Flying Heritage Collection in Washington State is making great progress on the in house restoration of their Grumman F6F Hellcat.  Jason Fortenbacker was kind enough to grant permission to post his photo taken on December 28, 2012.  This looks to be another jaw dropping restoration to add another rare fighter type to the flying line up in the collection.  Hopefully we will see first flight photos in the next month or so!  Thank you for the photo, Jason.

Links - Flying Heritage Collection - Jason's Fight to Fly Photography

New Year - New Aircraft Restorations for 2013

Happy New Year!  It is 2013 and as I look back on 2012 I think back on the Warbird and vintage aircraft restorations that returned to the air this year.  The highlights for me were...

The de Havilland Mosquito completed for Jerry Yagen from the shops at AvSpecs.  The photos that are being posted and printed just makes your heart skip.

AvSpecs home page - http://www.warbirdrestoration.co.nz

http://forum.planetalk.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11019

The Fighter Collection flew their in house restoration of the Razorback P-47.

http://flytoanothertime.blogspot.com/2012/05/p-47-snafu-first-flight.html

The Spokane based Pemberton family flew their Waco Cabin.  The custom cabin Waco's are one of my favorites and the Pemberton's turned out a beautifully restored example.

http://www.antiqueairfield.com/articles/show/1323-pemberton-waco-photo-shoot

A rare, little know type is the Davis D-1 that rolled out of Terry Wallace's hangar.  This orange parasol sure has slick lines.  

http://flytoanothertime.blogspot.com/2012/08/davis-d-1-restoration.html

 

For the new year in 2013 I am excited about...

 

This Curtiss Jenny that is shaping up for the Candler Field Museum in Georgia.

Check in on the Jenny project here...

http://curtissjennyrestoration.blogspot.com/

The P-82 in Georgia also continues to make good progress.  Will we see major components mated soon?

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

At Midwest Aero we could see another Mustang take to the skies as well as the challenge of a new aircraft type in the shop.  A bf-109 to be restored to flight!

http://midwestaero.com

So... stay tuned here as I hope to keep posting on the latest news in Warbird and vintage aircraft restorations.

Flying de Havilland Mosquito - KA114

September 27th of this year a de Havilland Mosquito took to the skies again.  Owner Jerry Yegan and the restoration team at AvSpecs (based in New Zealand) poured their money and efforts into an amazing and what some said to be impossible restoration.  The mostly wooden construction was designed and built to fight a war and not last much past its wartime service. This team made Mosquito KA114 new... to fly again.

In my opinion this is THE restoration of 2012 and to see it flying this year is a major highlight.  Watch the newstand at your local book store as most major aviation magazines will feature this awesome restoration.  Be sure to check out Classic Wings magazine Issue 87 and Warbird Digest Issue 46.

To fly IN the Mosquito watch this outstanding video by Scott Slocum.  The video will surely bring a smile to your face as the sound of two Merlins ring out!




To see some additional heart stopping air to air photos click on this link...
http://forum.planetalk.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11019

Now I just hope I can see it fly in person sometime next year when it makes it to the United States!

Links - Military Aviation Museum - AvSpecs - Classic Wings - Warbird Digest - Aero Media Group - Vintage Aero Writer