The B-25 known as Executive Sweet began it’s journey from Camarillo, CA to Dayton, OH. The aircraft will be one of Twenty-five B-25 Mitchell bombers that plan to pay tribute to the Doolittle Raiders as they commemorate the 70th anniversary of their raid on Japan. The reunion will take place April 17-20 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton,OH.

On the way to Dayton, OH the B-25 will make several stops,providing an excellent opportunity for the public to see and fly in this wonderful aircraft . The first of the planed stops was today at Glendale, AZ.

The aircraft arrived about 10:00 AM, after a short flight over Sun City, AZ and the North Phoenix Valley. The plan to over fly the Sun City area was a good one, as many WWII veterans live in the area. The visit was hosted by, Glendale Areo Services FBO and the New Left Seat West Restaurant.

The aircraft was available for tours for about 6 hrs, providing wounderful photo opportunities against the blue sky of a wonderful AZ day. The aircraft will stay overnight and depart for Albuquerque ,NM at around 8:00 am on Tuesday 4-10-12. Executive Sweet is planing to return to Glendale ,AZ on 4-23-12 as it makes its way back to Camarillo airport.

For more info http://www.aafgroup.org/

The planed stops along the way are as follows.

On April 4, 2012 just after 2PM, Howard Pardue left us before his time had come.  He was 77 years young.  His XF8F-1 Bearcat NL14HP crashed shortly after takeoff from Breckenridge Texas.  We send our sincerest condolences from the staff here at PhotoRecon to his family and friends and we shall remember him in our prayers.

Howard was known and loved by the warbird community.   He raced at Reno for many years, performed aerobatics at airshows and participated in military “heritage flights”.  During the 70s and 80s, Howard and Nelson Ezell turned Breckenridge into the virtual center of the warbird universe with an airshow that became a legend in its own time.  Howard had a collection of warbirds over the years long before it was cool to have more than one warbird.  He owned several Corsairs, Sea Furys, a Wildcat, and the Bearcat, along with some more conventional aircraft.

Over the years he had a few close calls too.   There was lost engine in the Corsair many years ago and the 1999 Oshkosh incident where the Bearcat he was in was hit by a Corsair.  But he was a very skilled pilot and kept on flying.  I first met him in Kalamazoo Michigan at an airshow in 1983 or 1984.  He was standing on the wing of the freshly restored Bearcat smoking a cigar.  I asked him a fairly intelligent question (I was only 23 back then) about power settings and he growled something at me.   Honestly he scared me so badly at that time that I stayed away from him for 20+ years.   Maybe I got off to a bad start with him.  I finally talked to him many years later and found out he was a pretty cool guy.   Robert Nishimura who was on his crew at Reno really thought the world of Howard.   Everyone in the warbird community liked him.

His Bearcat was as rare as he was.  It was a prototype XF8F-1 and had an interesting history.  It was in storage at the Smithsonian in Silver Hill.   The Smithsonian wanted Darryl Greenamyer’s record setting racing Bearcat “Conquest 1” for their collection.   A trade was made and the government actually released the rare, stock, and very in need of restoration Bearcat to Greenamyer.   It went through another owner and Howard got it in early 1983.  He was well known for his aerobatic routines in the Wildcat, Corsair and he was at the top of his game in the Bearcat.  I watched him fly a great routine in the Bearcat at the Chino show in 2011.   It was an amazing and memorable performance for any pilot, let alone one that was 76 years old.

Howard was a successful businessman, family man, and pilot.  He will be missed by more people than one can realize; blue skies and Godspeed Mr. Pardue.

You can contact the author Mark Hrutkay at TNMark@Me.Com.

Grumman Duck, owned at the time by the late Bill Ross, Chicago industrialist

1977 EAA/OSHKOSH

P51D-25NA, Man O’ War  BuNo. 44-72739, N44727 Currently owned by BCT Mgmt. Co, LLC, Corona, CA

1978 CHICAGO AIR & WATER SHOW, North Avenue Beach of Lake Michigan

A.V.R.O. Vulcan B2/Hawker-Siddeley Bomber, XL390 of No. 617 Squadron

The day following the day this picture was taken this very airplane took off from the Glenview Naval Air Station and crashed in a land fill north of the when it stalled while attempting a low-altitude maneuver, killing all four crew-members aboard.

1979 CHICAGO AIR & WATER SHOW, North Avenue Beach of Lake Michigan

Convair F106 Delta Dart  Disposition unknown.  Probably scrapped as most were.

A.V.R.O. Vulcan B2

1979 EAA/OSHKOSH

B17G  Before chin turret and before EAA

Bell P63-C King Cobra, red, clipped wings, “What Price Speed”, N62822,  BuNo. 44-4393 

Destroyed in crash in France in 1990

B29A Superfortress “Fifi”  with original type R3350 engines.  Note oil-coated engine nacelles.

Grumman TBM Avenger

1930 WACO “CTO” Taperwing S/N 3225, NC845V

1981 EAA/OSHKOSH

1928 Cessna AW  NC4725 then owned by Gar Williams, Naperville, IL stands with Eldon Cessna, the late son of Clyde Cessna, front of oldest flying Cessna.  This airplane was donated in 2011 to The Eagles Mere Air Museum, near Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania.

1983 CHICAGO AIR & WATER SHOW,  North Avenue Beach of Lake Michigan

F16 Air Force Thunderbirds  First year flying F16s

1983 EAA/OSHKOSH

Pappy Boyington signs books

1937 Ryan STA  S/N 149, NC17346  Owned today by Wm. Rose of Barrington,, IL

Grumman TBM Avenger

2009 EAA/OSHKOSH

Airbus A380

Rutan White Knight II

DISCLAIMER/APOLOGY BY PHOTOGRAPHER OF THESE PHOTOGRAPHS:

            The Photos presented here are all digital scans of original 35mm Kodachrome color slides taken, without exception, by the preparer, Dale H. Moody of Illinois and Arizona.  They are compiled here as representative and minor historical record of over 50 years of interest in and photographing of vintage airplanes and other, mostly military, airplanes contemporary at the time the photos were made. 

            The quality of the majority of these photos mostly do not approach the high-resolution possible using the digital cameras available today.  This is not because previous technology using color-reversal (slide) film cameras was inferior, but is largely due to the inherent loss of quality resulting in scanning slides over, and approaching, 50 years old and their small size of 24mm x 36mm. 

            The equipment used in most cases here was either a 1954 vintage Leica IIIF system or various evolutionary Pentax 35mm cameras and lenses. 

            The photographer does not now, nor has he ever, considered himself anything more than an amateur photographer and took these images for his own personal enjoyment.  They are shared here for the same reason.  Please enjoy these photos for what they represent.

1948 P51D, Galloping Ghost, photographed at Chicago-Hammond airport in Lansing, IL.  Owned at the time by it’s original surplus owners (purchased for $3500), Steve Beville and Bruce Raymond who shared racing this airplane at the Cleveland Air Races in 1946, ’47, ’48 and 1949.  In the Thompson Trophy Race (equivalent to the “Gold” at the Reno Air Races) the Galloping ghost finished second once and fourth three times in a basically stock P51.

1946:  10 laps, 300 miles, 4th at 364 mph  Bruce Raymond, pilot

1947:  20 laps, 300 miles (new course layout below) 4th, at 360 mph, Steve Beville, pilot

1948:  20 laps, 300 miles, 2nd at 365 mph, Bruce Raymond, pilot

1949:  20 laps, 300 miles, 4th at 381 mph, Steve Beville, pilot

February 1959  Avalon, Catalina Island, CA

Sikorsky VS44A Flying Boat, Avalon Air Transport

between Long Beach, mainland and Avalon, Catalina Island

$5 each way.

AUGUST 1963

Pan American Airways B727

Seattle to Fairbanks via Annette Island (Juneau), AK

Unscheduled stop-over at Annette Island enroute to Fairbanks because US Air Force

called an air alert grounding all commercial flights for the day.  The Pan Am terminal at Annette Island consisted of a Quonset hut where the men’s toilet had only one urinal.  Pan Am rented taxi cabs for every passenger and groups of three were given a tour of Juneau, nearby Mendenhall Glacier and lunch while waiting for the alert to be lifted.  What had been scheduled as a non-stop flight from (Old) SeaTac to Fairbanks was continued late that afternoon when we flew in a DC4 to Fairbanks with another stop over at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada.

1965 EAA/ROCKFORD, IL  before annual convention was moved to Oshkosh, WI

Naval Aircraft Factory N3N Wright Whirlwind

1967 USAF MUSEUM, DAYTON, OH

Curtiss P6E Hawk  painted in snow hawk colors

1969 MENOMONEE FALLS, WI

P51D-20NA BuNo. 44-63634 (44-85634a)

Now “Big Beautiful Doll” Tail No. 472218  Reg. # NL351BD

 1973 CHICAGO AIR & WATER SHOW, North Avenue Beach of Lake Michigan

Air Force Thunderbirds when still flying F4 Phantoms

1973 EAA/OSHKOSH

P38 “Der Gabelshwantz Teuffel” (German for Split Tailed Devil) then owned by Chicago industrialist, Bill Ross.  BuNo. 44-53095  Last known to be in Texas in 2009 as “Putt Putt Maru” and being restored.  The other P38 is BuNo. 44-53087 belonged to Peter Kahn of Danville, IL at the time.  It is currently owned by EAA Aviation Foundation and displayed at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh in flying condition as Richard Bong’s “Marge”    The P47 is one of the first restored “N”models to make the air show circuit at the time.

1975  ESTRELLA  GLIDER  SCHOOL, AZ

Air to Air from Schweizer 2-32 (high performance, 2 place & aspect ratio of 18:1) to a Schweizer single place (probably one of the various SGU models in use at the time) and me standing in front of the 2-32.  The 2-32 was being flown by Les Horvath, one of the two brothers who owned the glider school at the time and who both defected from Hungary by stealing a sailplane and flying over the “Iron Curtain” to the west and freedom.  They came to the United States and traveled the country looking for an ideal place to open a glider school.  They settled on Estrella on and Indian Reservation between Phoenix and Tucson.  The school is still there today but the brothers have both retired and may even be deceased.  When I asked Les if my 135mm telephoto lens would be sufficient for air-to-air photos of other gliders, he replied that if I had a 50mm lens it would be adequate because he “would get me close enough”.

1975 EAA/OSHKOSH

Bell P63-F King Cobra, silver, N6763, BuNo. 43-11719  Probably incorrectly referred to as having raced as No. 28 on website:  http://warbirdregistry.org/p39-p63registry/p39-p63registry.html  Currently owned and flown by Commemorative Air Force as 411719

The Taylorcraft shows Duane Cole getting ready to do his performance.

The white Monocoupe 90A, designed in 1930 and built by Donald Luscombe, later founder of Luscombe Aircraft, belonged to the late Harold Neuman, winner of the 1935 Thompson Trophy Race at the Cleveland Air Races in the Mister Mulligan, designed and built by Benny Howard.  Neuman named the Monocoupe “Little Mulligan”.

The white biplane is a home-built “Knight Twister” replica of the original 1932 home-built version of the same name.

P47D Thunderbolt, tail No. 226422:  Current status of this airplane reveals conflicting information.  It could be the same airplane as that owned by the Commemorative Air Force and displayed at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum.   This airplane is listed as a P47D-20-RE (built by Republic at Farmingdale, NY) with S/N 45-53436 although the actual S/N is probably 44-89136.  HOWEVER the “N” number shown under the horizontal stabilzer in thIs photo, N47DB, is actually a P47D-40-RA (built in Evansville, IN), the S/N of which doesn’t match any of the P47D-40-RAs built there (44-90284-90483 and 44-49090-49554).

 The P63E King Cobra, N6763, BuNo. 43-11719 is currently flying & owned by the Commemorative Air Force of Midland, TX as 411719.  It was owned at the time by Jack Flaherty of Hollistreet, Ca.  Warbirds Registry may have incorrectly credited as flying as race #28, #4 & #6.

The orange biplane is a 1929 Travel Air E4000

The Cessna AT-17 Bobcat is a twin-engine advanced trainer aircraft designed and made in the United States, and used during World War II to bridge the gap between single-engine trainers and twin-engine combat aircraft. The AT-17 was powered by two Jacobs R-755-9 radial piston engines. The commercial version was the Model T-50, from which the AT-17 was developed.

The AT-17 was a military version of the commercial Cessna T-50 light transport. The Cessna Airplane Company first produced the wood and tubular steel, fabric-covered T-50 in 1939 for the civilian market, as a lightweight and low cost twin for personal use where larger aircraft such as the Beech 18 would be too expensive. A low-wing cantilever monoplane, it featured retractable main landing gear and wing trailing-edge flaps, both electrically actuated. The wing structure was built up of laminated spruce spar beams with spruce and plywood ribs. The fixed tail wheel is non-steerable and full-swiveling. The prototype T-50 made its maiden flight on 26 March 1939

This wonderful example is owned and flown by EDGAR  T. NEWBERG and is currently based at the Arizona  Wing of the CAF  Falcon Field Mesa ,AZ .

Variants include:

T-50 Company design number. Five-seat twin-engined commercial transport aircraft, fitted with Jacobs

L-4 MB radial piston engines

AT-8

Military trainer version of the T-50 with two 295 hp (220-kW) Lycoming R-680-9 radial piston engines, 33 built.

AT-17

As the AT-8 but powered by 245 hp (183 kW) Jacobs R-775-9 engines, 450 built some later converted to AT-17E.

AT-17A

As the AT-17 but with metal propellers and reduced weight, 223 built. 182 to Canada as Crane IAs and later conversion to AT-17Fs.

AT-17B

As the AT-17A but with equipment changes, 466 built. Subsequent aircraft were built as UC-78Bs.

AT-17C

As the AT-17A but different radio equipment, 60 built.

AT-17D

As the AT-C with equipment changes, 131 built.

AT-17E

AT-17 with gross weight limited to 5,300 lb (2,400 kg).

AT-17F

AT-17A with gross weight limited to 5,300 lb (2,400 kg).

AT-17G

AT-17B with gross weight limited to 5,300 lb (2,400 kg).

C-78

Military transport version for the United States Army Air Forces, redesignated UC-78 in 1943, 1354 built.

UC-78

C-78 redesignated  in 1943; variable-pitch propellers.

UC-78A

17 impressed civilian T-50s

UC-78B

Originally the AT-17B, wooden propellers and reduced weight, 1806 built.

UC-78C

Originally the AT-17D, same as UC-78B with equipment changes, 196 built and 131 AT-17Ds redesignated.

JRC-1

Navy light transport version of the UC-78 with two Jacobs R-775-9 engines, 67 delivered.

Crane I

Royal Canadian Air Force designation for T-50s with minor equipment changes, 640 delivered as light transports.

Crane 1A

182 AT-17As delivered to Canada under lend-lease.

T-50 info provided by Wikipedia®  available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In a press conference to discuss the future of the National Championship Air Races, the

Reno Air Racing Association (RARA) announced on Wednesday the formation of a Blue Ribbon ReviewPanel to study the event. The panel will examine any possible changes or modifications that could bemade to enhance the already high level of safety established by the FAA and existing RARA procedures.

RARA also announced that, despite many challenges in the near and long term future, they are planningto hold the 49th Annual National Championship Air Races at the Reno‐Stead Airfield, Sept. 12 – 16, 2012.“Buoyed by the overwhelming support of the victims and families of last year’s terrible tragedy, our sponsors, air race participants and fans and aviation enthusiasts all over the world, we are absolutely committed to doing everything we can to hold this historic event in 2012,” said Mike Houghton,president and CEO of RARA. “The safety of our fans and pilots has always been our foremost andprimary concern, which is why we feel so strongly about a blue ribbon review. This effort is not designed to interfere or duplicate the efforts of the National Transportation Safety Board and we will continue to cooperate with them to the fullest extent.”

The panel conducted its first meeting shortly after the press conference and will release its preliminaryresults and recommendations to RARA within the next 90 days, allowing race officials to study them before the event’s annual Pylon Racing Seminar (PRS) in June. Headed by former Chairman of the (NTSB), Jim Hall, and formerAssociate Administrator for Aviation Safety for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Nick Sabatini,the four members of the panel bring a wide breadth and depth of experience. The panel is rounded out with two aviation legends, Steve Hinton, a highlyacclaimed movie stunt pilot, aviation choreographer,two-time national Unlimited Air Race champion and current pace plane pilot in the Unlimited Class, and John Sharp, an aeronautical engineer and the winningest pilot in the history of air racing.“In addition to the blue ribbon panel, as is an annual matter of course, we will work with the race classes and emergency responders to conduct an internal review, in the very near future, of all of the event’s operations and procedures,” said Houghton. “Until we get further down the road, we will not speculate on possible changes to the event or the results of either of these reviews or the NTSB investigation.

As has been the case, the NTSB has asked that they remain the point for all communications related to the accident.”The not‐for‐profit event is a year‐round effort that regularly attracts more than 200,000 spectators and generates an estimated $85 million annually to northern Nevada’s economy. It was also announced that, RARA had a loss of up to $1.5 million for 2011. Race officials wanted to make it very clear that, while this financial loss presents a significant hurdle, thanks to the continued generosity, sympathy and support of the event’s fans and sponsors, the loss could be overcome.

“We know there are many people in our organization, our community and all over the world who havebeen significantly impacted by last year’s tragedy and our thoughts and prayers remain with them,” said Houghton. “However, we have heard from a vast majority of these people that this event must continue on and many of our fans and sponsors have volunteered to do whatever they can in order to help ensure the successful continuation of the National Championship Air Races. It’s in this spirit that we’re working towards holding a poignant and successful event in 2012.”

In order for the 2012 event to occur, RARA must receive permits from the City of Reno, Reno Tahoe Airport Authority and the FAA. RARA has already begun to initiate conversations with each of these entities regarding permitting for 2012 and these conversations are ongoing.“For planning purposes, we have to receive our waiver from the FAA for PRS by the end of February or March, at the latest,” said Houghton. “This will provide a pretty good indication of our ability to get permits and waivers for September’s event. Regardless, many people, including victims of the accident, have told us they are coming to Reno in September, one way or another. We’ll do whatever we have to do in order to memorialize and celebrate courage, passion and indomitable spirit that is so often associated with aviation but, more importantly, was so vividly exhibited during the accident and the weeks and months since, even if that means just holding a memorial air show.”

For more information on the National Championship Air Races, visit  www.airrace.org

Dave arrived last Saturday and spent a lot of time around the unlimited pits, at times speaking with the crew of the ghost. We have gathered lots of images and video footage which we still need to edit.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families who lost loved ones and the many injured who are still being treated at this time.

A very special thank you to all the first responders both civilian and uniformed, who selflessly braved danger to assist the injured.

You are the true HEROES of the day.

For now we have posted a few links until we can get back home on Monday.

http://www.facebook.com/JimmyLeeward

http://www2.leewardairranch.com/racing

http://www2.leewardairranch.com/racing/galloping-ghost-specs

http://www2.leewardairranch.com/racing/history/cleveland

Taken from the website. http://www2.leewardairranch.com/about-us

Leeward Family

The County of San Bernardino Planes of Fame Airshow is an annual event and one NEVER to be missed. Joe and I have been making this trip for the past three years and it just keeps getting better. This year was special as it was celebrating the “100th Anniversary of  U.S. Naval Aviation”. Planes of Fame in conjunction with the County of San Bernardino, did another great job bringing to the skies 40 historic aircraft.

Brian E. Boyer, chairman of the museum’s Board of Directors, estimated they might have attracted more visitors than in previous years. “It looked like a record crowd,” he said. “The pilots reported seeing all the parking lots filled and people going into the overflow” lots. Some of the flying demonstrations  performed were a mock dog fight between a Japanese Zero and a P-38 Lightening. A second mock dog fight included a German FW-190 and a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.  There was a Douglas demo with the Dauntless SBD, an A-4 Sky Hawk and a Vietnam era Sky Raider flown by our good friends Bill Muzsala and Mike “Buick” Eberhardt. The last demo was a combination of Sabre Jet, Mig and Shooting Star.

The birth of naval aviation is generally pegged at May 8, 1911, which was the day that the Navy signed a contract to purchase aircraft.This happened just months after pilot Eugene Ely, working for Glenn Curtiss, and flying a Curtiss pusher biplane made the first take off from a ship, the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay. Curtiss immediately offered free training to any Navy pilot and chose North Island in San Diego Bay for that work. Just 100 years and days after the Navy signed that first contract, the Chino Airport skies will be filled with generations of Navy and other services airplanes. Some 40 aircraft are scheduled to fly in the 2011 show and many more will be available in close up static displays.

Some of the aircraft that flew were the Grumman Wildcat, Hellcat and Avenger, the Douglas Dauntless and Skyraider, and the Vought Corsair. An authentic Japanese A6M5 Zero from World War II. Aircraft on static display were a C-17A Globemaster from March ARB, Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer from Casa Grande Az,  Navy F-18F Super Hornet from VFA-122, the B-17 “Fuddy Duddy” from Lyons Air Museum and scores of other restored aircraft.

The USAF Strike Eagle F-15E Demo team also did a wonderful routine over the thrilled fans. Thanks “Cash” and “Buda”. You guys did not let us down!!

One of the cool static displays was a ME-109 under restoration. The POF had set it up down by the Living History Actors area and it was a perfect place seeing that some of the actors were of German Military. The Spanish built ME-109(N700E) was featured in the 1969 film ‘Battle of Britain”.

I’d like to recognize  Jerry Wilkins for his hard work and dedication as Air Show Coordinator on this year’s air show and thank him for his “30″ year career as volunteer at Planes of Fame. And to all the volunteers that came together this year to make it a great success!! A job WELL DONE!!

A big shout-out to the Planes of Fame Board of Directors. Tom Nightingale(Chairman), Brian Boyer, Karen Hinton, Steve Hinton, Ed Maloney, John Maloney and Bill Schanz. And a big round of applause to Kevin and Andrea Eldridge, Bob Forbes, Mike McDougal, Bill Muszala.

Special thanks to the pilots who volunteered their time. Pat McGarry, Bob Forbes. John Muszala Jr., Bill Muszala, Mike Eberhardt, Seth Chandler, Ashley Baker, Don Keating, Mike “Maj” Mc Dougal,

Joe Kates  aircraftinc@yahoo.com

Dave Budd  dave_budd@yahoo.com

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The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning named “23 skidoo” was the focus of our February’s Living History event held the first Saturday of each month. This is one of many outstanding flying warbirds on display at the Planes of Fame Air Museum located in Chino, CA.

Enjoy!

WarbirdsOnTheNet

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Have you ever dreamed of becoming part of a bomber crew and flying your very own mission? The Collings Foundation will be offering a very unique two-day training program in which you train for and fly a simulated WWII bombing mission aboard the B-24 Liberator “Witchcraft”. No doubt, this will be one of the most amazing living history programs you will ever experience! Space is limited. We are now accepting reservations. Dates have not been confirmed yet. But, we anticipate a time near beginining of June. Should have dates confirmed within the next month.

More Info http://twinbeech.com/