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Sun N Fun pics

VMO4

Well-Known Member
I can’t help it…I just love that chubby, can-do spirit in the Wildcat. Nice pictures!
My father had time in the NS2's, SNJ, F4U, SBD, among many others and his all time favorite was the FM-2. When I was little, we would go to the Naval Aviation Museum when it was located in its original location, in a house down by the seaplane ramps, (near where they eventually built the McDonalds.). We lived in the area so we would go often, and I would go inside and wonder, he would sit on a bench outside in front of the FM-2 they had on the lawn, and just stare at it. A few more pics...

IMG_2669.JPGIMG_2637.JPGIMG_2658.JPGIMG_2639.JPGIMG_2644.JPGIMG_2638.JPG
 
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zipmartin

Never been better
pilot
Contributor
I came very close to being a part-owner of a YAK. Local guy I met was a part-owner. After finding out my background, he put me in the front seat & we flew around for about an hour. I didn't realize he was basically giving me an interview because he was looking for somebody to buy out his partner who lived in the Houston area. After landing, he made the offer. I asked him if I could think about. About a week later he called me up and told me he and his Houston partner had decided just to sell it outright, since he was building an RV-6 in his shop. It had a brand new camouflage paint job and was a nice looking aircraft, complete with Russian gauges and markings in the cockpit.
 

Random8145

Registered User
Very nice. Note the shark mouth on the tug vehicle as well:) What is that big Air Force plane right under the F-14? Looks like a Douglas of some type?
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
Very nice. Note the shark mouth on the tug vehicle as well:) What is that big Air Force plane right under the F-14? Looks like a Douglas of some type?
That’s a navy aircraft, a Grumman TBM Avenger (type flown by George Bush), it appears to be painted in an Atlantic Campaign color scheme.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Paint scheme is VC-13, USS Core, here is an extract of their Atlantic duty…

“Early in the afternoon of 13 July, one of the Wildcat-Avenger teams from the Core’s VC-13 sighted the wake of U-487, a 1,600-ton Milch cow, cruising some 760 miles southwest of Santa Maria in the Azores. Although surprised by the sudden arrival of the two American aircraft, German gunners quickly recovered and managed to shoot down the Wildcat flown by Lieutenant (junior grade) Earl H. Steiger, even as the accompanying Avenger dropped charges that straddled the U-boat’s foredeck. A second team from the Core, with VC-13 CO Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Brewer flying the Wildcat, was soon overhead. While Brewer dove in for a strafing attack, his companion dropped four depth bombs that exploded close aboard the sub. Blasted into the air, Oberleutnant (Lieutenant [junior grade]) Helmut Metz’s U-487 then sank steeply by the bow.”
 
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