P51 that is. I brought the truck to work today fora photo op. We had just finished swapping out the Rolls Royce engine in this 1944 P51 and I had a chance for some pictures before the Pilot took it for a test flight.
Wow! No, double wow! Awesome man! Hands down, my favorite fighter of all time! The panel and the plane just seem to go together. Thanks for sharing these pictures of true Americana!
planning I had been planning this photo shoot for awhile and would like to thank the owner for allowing me access to his plane and for staying out of the way while he did his preflight. He hada smal window to do his test flight in this day weather was everywhere around us with thunder and lightening visible in the distance and closing in. If you look close at the shot of the reflexion of the plane in the side of hte truck you can just about make out the line of clouds Also I just took these pics witha simple Kodak easyshare camera, Im waiting for pics from one of the guys I work with who has some serious Camera also took a bunch of pics so well see how they turn out Bill
I enjoyed those pics. I doubt the "serious camera" can improve things much. If you had the reflection shot airbrushed on the side of the HHR no one would ever notice the smoke from the tailpipe. Harold
Re:51 I remember watching Bob Hoover fly this P-51 at a Marysville Ohio airshow years ago. The guy was amazing. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2226/2099817102_de506a4aaa_z.jpg
Those are some terrific shots, 51. Something about classic cars and vintage planes just makes an awesome photo shoot! Do you work in a aviation rebuild facility there?
Work I work at a certified repair station, in FAA jargon. I work for a mom and Pop family owned business that employs about 20 people between Mechanics, Avionics, Flight school, Fueling and secretarial persons. We have clients who fly everything form Piper Cubs, Cennas, light corporate, Helicopters and War Birds from two flying museums (www.americanairpowermuseum.com) Along with a number of privately owned WarBirds. The owner cut his teeth working on these aircrafdt with his Father when he was still in school (and has been condemed to work on them for the rest of his life if you ask him) he has earned a reputation in the group of people that owns these aircraft and maintains it through his diligence and ours when we work on them through his guidance. When owners sell thier planes they often bring a more fair price when the buyer knows who has done the last inspection and work on it. But we do not do the actual restoration of these aircraft, this requires more manpower, equipment and time then we have to offer, and when they come to us we work the bugs out that occur during the restoration. A recent example is a beautifully restored stock authentic P40. The owner flew it from the restoration facility to his base on Long Island, all went fine, the following day he took it up for practice and the controls jammed for the ailerons and elevator. He managed a landing in a potato field which was about a foot of mud this caused the left langing gear to sink in and eventually snap causing the plane to smash its wing tip and spin around and stop. Id say the pilot walked away from this but it was more of a crawl due to the mud he just could not stand up in it but he was safe. He called us to recover the aircraft from the field, and after laying out severl sheets of plywood so we could get to it we disassembled the aircrafdt and found once lifting the fuselage off the wing that the bellcrank atop of the wing had a tool jammed in it ( the tool is a Dzus tool commonly called a Snoopy) We rapaired the plane at out facility including an overhauled engine new wing tip, new landing gear components(custom made none were available to buy) Got him up and flying again. Bill
Great pictures, Bill. I've loved all the old warbirds since my Dad got me interested as a small child. I have an F6F Hellcat, but before you get all excited, it's Radio Control. I go to airshows fairly often, and have great respect and admiration for the guys who Fly, and Maintain these works of art.
Quite interesting, Bill. I don't fly myself, but seem to hang around with an awful lot that do. My business is designing and manufacturing aviation maintenance stands and platforms for both general av and military, so that puts me into that community too. Hoping to get up to that corner of the country sometime later on this summer to pay a visit to the Sikorky folks...maybe I could swing over and see what you're up to then too! Tom
Model Planes I have been flying model planes since the mid 70s, once again my Father got me into it. Some time after a breif bit as a plumber I was out of work and after a day of job hunting ended up at teh model flying field, and there were always these three guys there. I asked them what they did fora living and they told me they were airplane mechanics and that i could be one to and live the good life. So now I can call them liars But I still have a large collection of RC model planes including a Mustang P51 "Cadillac of the skies" Bill
Beautiful pair! My grandpa was up from the cities, and I showed him the pics. He's big into airplanes, and chevy trucks. Love them both! Awesome!
