bp4rc
New arrival
Posts: 6
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Post by bp4rc on Sept 27, 2004 5:23:32 GMT -7
My wife probably thinks I should be in the loony bin. We were watching the weather report and status of Jeanne last night. They showed some "aftermath" footage from one of the local airports. There it was, a once beautiful P51 laid on its back, destroyed, or at least very badly damaged. I let out a very loud gasp! How in the world could an owner leave such a valuable, irreplaceable aircraft in the path of a violent storm??? OK, your $2.5M house is in the way. You board it up and seek higher ground or ride it out. But, that P51 is mobile and can be out of harms way very easily. Certainly, the aircraft damage that resulted from the earlier storm should have awakened even the most complacent to the potential hazards. What are these people thinking?!
It killed me to see that. What a stupid loss.
Back in my hole.
Bedford
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Post by Grug - American Neanderthal on Sept 27, 2004 6:17:40 GMT -7
That is a shame, and your right it was preventable, unless it wasn't air worthy, then it makes it a lot harder to move on short notice during evacuations. Still its a shame.
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Post by Britbrat on Sept 27, 2004 7:22:57 GMT -7
What a shame. The only saving grace is that there are still a reasonable number of P-51s left. Had it been a P-38 -- !!!!!!
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Post by jetmex on Sept 27, 2004 12:34:31 GMT -7
There have been sveral Warbirds damaged or destroyed in the last batch of hurricanes in Florida. Fortunately, the Naval Air Museum (Pensacola) collection survived mostly intact, except for a few aircraft that were parked outside and were damaged. I understand the Kermit Week's collection also escaped pretty much unscathed. There are some irreplaceable machines at both museums--it was good news to hear they were all ok.
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Post by Galvin on Nov 6, 2004 19:21:42 GMT -7
Kermit Weeks' collection did OK in the last blow but the big one previous to the time when I visited his musems in 2000 destroyed and heavily damaged a significant number of his aircraft. I remember seeing a Chinese marked Tupelov Tu-2 bomber that had been intact prior to the hurricane but in several pieces afterward. Only the cockpit was on display at the restoration facility south of Miami in 2000.
I also remember the original San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park before it was burned down by a loony transient. Lost were an original Zero recovered from Rabaul Harbor, a magnificently restored Ryan FR-1 Fireball fighter, one of only two in existence at the time, a gorgeous Ryan STA built new from microfilmed plans by Jim Dewey, and many other totally irreplacable exhibits. The only good thing that came from it was that the destroyed collection was replaced by the current Rueben Fleet Museum which is an outstanding facility.
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