Here are some recent pics of the FW-190. We finally started tearing into it. The tail cone is removed to repair some damage recieved during shipping. It looks like it will not fly until spring of 09, the more we dig into it the more we find that just aint right! Also here are some pics of our Curtiss P-40 just arrived last week from New Zealand! We are hoping to have this one flying in 09 also. I have to repaint the interior of the fuselage then we can start outfitting it with all it's systems. This one is going to be just like it rolled off of the ***embly line, all original equipment and everything! Anyway enjoy the pics! Chad
Please tell us you're gonna fly them, not just let them sit in a hanger.... Anyway what a cool job. VonDad
DO you have any idea how jealous you make me? I wouldn't be able to get anything done, I'd be too busy wandering around with a hard-on ans a silly smile all day.
i agree,it would be great to go to an airshow and see those flying. there are a couple of shows around here that feature cars AND planes,always a lot of fun.
Yes they will fly! We have a fleet of five flyers, plus three restoration projects including these two.
Two Words BEEEEE utiful! Thanks for posting them. I'll have to get down there one day and see these babies up close.
Thanks for the insperation! Kermits collection is awesome. The one's I posted belong to the Tri-State Warbird Museum where I work as a mechanic.
I like the CAF's Tex Hill relica. The Butcher Bird is my most favo-rite, along with the Jug. Radials Rule!
cool, the 190 is by far my favourite bird. I live not far from the Warplane Heritage museum in Hamilton. A couple years ago i got to see the Me109 that now resides in Niagara Falls. Waited my whole life (litteraly) to see a real 109 fly. now i just need to see a real 190 fly. I can hardly wait to come see it!! Beecher
I miss wrenching on birds for 20 yrs. now. Still have my ticket but no time. The real ***** was Kermit showing up a few yrs later and building warbird heaven right next door. Temptation for sure. Back when I was wrenching for a paycheck.
Its really cool that some guys on the HAMB are into these planes, please keep giving us updates on your progress..I miss it too, in the 80s my Dad and I found,restored and flew the complete WWII Liaison Warbirds from Stinson Vultee L-1 to Interstate L-6..we also had and flew a Heath Parasol, several Aeronca C-3s, a Tigermoth and owned a Beech Staggerwing basket-case,,Kermit Weeks now owns our L-1..we found ours as a wreck in Tin City Alaska, at the time we owned three L-1s and really had the market cornered as there were only about five known to exsist and for a time ours was the only one flying..look up the airplane, it has a 53 ft. wingspan and big Lycoming? radial, flaps and forward spoilers, had a stall speed of 23 mph. you could come in for a landing in a big headwind and roll-out about 30 ft.!..I miss it alot, it is very very expensive..the greatest danger in Flying old airplanes is starving to Death!....
Oh man Saweet! I can't wait to see that P-40 all together....p-40's and Bearcats are my alltime favorite warbirds. I used to build those models over and over when I was a kid.
Beecher, I saw that 109 at michigan a coupla years ago probably the baddest sounding airplane I have ever heard! Ramblur, awesome pic I hear kermit is looking for another mechanic!!!!
Really is a small world. I got to fly in Kermits L-1 back before Hurricane Andrew tore it up. Makes a Cub look like a model sitting next to it. My first experience in such a STOL aircraft. Coulda swore we were gonna fall right outta the sky any second as he floated over treetops,chased some cows and set back down in the pasture with less than a 50 foot roll out. I was checking yours out last year. Pretty amazed at the condition considering it came from Alaska. The plexi is in amazing condition and the spotwelded stainless control surfaces pure art. Iirc, some original fabric too? Was there a tree or something growing through the fuselage? Kinda spoiled now cause they fly the Fieschler Storch all the time now and I'm so used too watching it.
Dig it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyKYvs5XE3k Pretty much the same things we enjoy on the Hamb,albiet with maybe a tad more budget. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjHjAiLT9ug PARTY! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBy_60V9wow
Oh man...thats is krazy. You my friend are so very lucky to be able to work on these aircraft. Is that Grumman Hellcat fold away wing I spy in the background of the first pic with the FW 190 fuselage? Is that also a Daimler Benz Radial in that engine pic? Rat
Hey Rat, That is a TBM Avenger you see in the back ground. Unfortunately our 190 is not fitted with an original engine, it is a chinese/russian radial that is supposed to be similar in performance to the original. I dont know anything about it we are still waiting on engine manuals to show up. We will see!! Chad
yeah, i cant remember the specifics of that 109 exactly, but its one of only 5 real Messerschmidt 109s flying. the only 3 Me engined one flying, the only E type flying, and the only One flying that ACTUALLY fought in the war. its a Battle of Brittain survivor. I was the the first airshow the guy who owns it put on. He bought himself that 109, a hurricane, a spitfire, and a harvard that year! (he won a lawsuit against microsoft that year, settelment was in the 10s of millions, 80 or so rings a bell). If I ever win the lottery, i will buy myself a spitfire i think. best bird ever built i think, 190s my fav, but the spit is a better bird. and i dont even want to think about what that 190 is worth!
Ahh yeah the Avenger...torpedo bomber with a crew of two. Like the ones that famously went AWOL in the Bermuda Triangle from Ft. Lauderdale shorlty after the war right? Shame about that Russian radial hehe... As far as fav warbirds go...my prob is I love em all, P38 Lightnings, Warhawks, P47 Thunderolts, P51 Mustangs, Hellcats, Corsairs, Me 109s,110s & 262s, Stukas, Spitfires,Mossies, Hurricanes, Zeros, Yaks etc...ALL were interesting different but unique. Keep the progress pix comin mate ! Rat
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