Archive for July, 2006
Australian F-111 Makes Gear-Up Landing
July 19, 2006 7:44 pm
An Australian F-111 had to make an emergency landing after one of the wheels seperated from the landing gear after take-off. The incident has caused an audit of the Australian Air Forces F-111 fleet.
Link to article: The Courier Mail
Link to WIX Discussion: Warbird Information Exchange
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Stormbirds.com reports that one of the newly built Me 262 Jet fighters flew at a recent German airshow and some interesting video of the event appeared on Google Video.
Link To Video: Google Video
Link to WIX Discussion: Warbird Information Exchange
Cliff Robertson enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame
July 18, 2006 12:27 pm
On July 15th actor Cliff Robertson was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall Of Fame. Mr. Robertson has been a long time pilot and warbird enthusiast, being a former owner of Spitfire Mk. IX – MK923. Those of us at the Warbirds Resource Group would like to extend our congratulations to Mr. Robertson.
Article Link – Yahoo Entertainment
Remaining Greenland P-38 Lightnings Sought by New Expedition
July 17, 2006 6:24 pmAnother group is throwing their hat in the ring for the recover of the remaining Lockheed P-38 Lightnings left on the Greenland ice cap. The famed “Lost Squadron” was a group of six P-38s and two B-17s that were forced to crash land on the ice in easten Greenland in July 1942 after weather and fuel exhaustion limited their options. The crews were rescued 11 days after they landed, but the aircraft remained; subject to the harsh conditions of Greenland. An expedition in 1992 brought one of the P-38s back to the US after they uncovered it through 268 feet of ice. It has since been authentically restored as “Glacier Girl” and is kept in flying condition by the Lost Squadron Museum in Middlesboro, KY.
Operation Bolero Recovery & Restoration Group Ltd. of Silverdale, PA is the new group that is interested in recovering the remaining five P-38s and was recently written about in an article listed in PhillyBurbs.com. The ambitious plan to begin recovery next Spring is still in the fundraising stages and operations manager Joe Meyers believes it will take more than $3 Million dollars to accomplish the project. Meyers has been successful in aquiring support already and feels it is goal worth fighting for to “bring ‘em home.”
Hawker Hunter Down in Oregon
8:28 am
Sad news coming from the Hillsboro International Airshow near Portland, OR yesterday. Hawker Hunter J-4061, an F Mk. 58A crashed on takeoff as it was departing the show for its home base in California. The pilot was killed in the crash and several homes in the densely populated neighborhood that it went down in were destroyed as well. There were no fatalities on the ground.
The aircraft was owned and operated by Bob Guilford, an aviation attorney and well known pilot from Southern California. It is assumed that he was flying the aircraft.
Warbirds Online and the warbird community extend our heartfelt condolences to family and friends of Mr. Guilford in this time of loss.
Collings Foundation Wings Of Freedom Tour
July 16, 2006 9:08 pm
WIX Member and Collings Foundation Flight Crew member Jim Harley reports that the Wings Of Freedom Tour put on by the Collings Foundation is going along nicely and thought he’d share one of the perks of his job. The tour is currently in the Midwest, but still has several months to go and is currently heading east. Check their schedule to find if they are landing near you.
An interesting article from the Journal-Advocate in Sterling, CO
Local volunteers research a war-era crash of a B-24 Liberator near Padroni, CO that occured on July 1, 1944.
The Associated Press just posted a story this morning about Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection. It’s a lot of the same buzz that was released back when the collection opened its doors to pre-arranged tours two years ago. However, the nationwide coverage of AP should help get the word out.
For many years historic aviation enthusiasts have criticized the Smithsonian Institution and namely the National Air and Space Museum for lack of action in many of the restoration projects that fill the facilities of the Garber Annex in Silver Hill, Maryland. With the opening of the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles, many felt that the situation would change sooner than later, and in some cases it has indeed changed. Notable recent additions to the Udvar-Hazy display such as the Northrup P-61 Black Widow show that some progress is being made, but is it enough? Notable aircraft such as the Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress “The Swoose” continue to deteriorate, despite the fact the National Air & Space Museum lacks a B-17 in public display.
The General Accountability Office (GAO) released a report recently that uncovers “major structural deterioration” and “leaks” in many Smithsonian Museums and questions of cash flow and sustainability have come to light. With millions of people annually viewing the collections, the urgency of the situation is slowly coming to light in the media. Relative to the National Air & Space Museum, the GAO raised concerns 10 years ago in a report detailing the lack of space, lack of money, and continuing deterioration of the collection. One of the primary concerns; the restoration and storage space, still has yet to be addressed even with the building of the new Udvar-Hazy Center.
Tyler Green writes an opinion on the situation in the Los Angeles Times and notes the lack of action by Congress and the perils of allowing corporate sponsoring of certain exhibits to raise cash flow. Green notes, “One of the problems with corporate involvement is the appearance of influence in exhibition programming” as he describes a recent incident with a General Motors sponsored exhibit.
However, would corporate sponsorship help especially in the case of the aircraft that are at Garber? Where would the Boeing 307 Stratoliner be without the help of Boeing… at what point is the line crossed?
Your opinion counts and certainly the fate of many items of aviation history hang in the balance. Please make your representatives aware of your thoughts and let’s help the NASM come up with some way of keeping our aviation treasures safe.
Hanger 11 has recently acquired P-40M Kittyhawk 43-5802 from The Fighter Collection and will be based in North Weald, UK along with the rest of Hanger 11′s collection. It is to be maintained in airworthy condition and will hopefully continue to grace the skies over England.
