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Sept-Oct 2016
- Kiwi Kittyhawk
- Little Jeanne
- An Evening with Apollo 8
- Canadian Stearman, Eh?
- One Hot Ship
When Paul Redlich and his team at Tri-State Warbird Museum began work on their P-40M project, they agreed this Kittyhawk deserved to be restored to original condition. Eight years and 32,000 man hours after it arrived on a snowy February day in 2008, their goal was fully achieved. This is the story of how Tri-State Warbird Museum created a masterpiece that won top honors in Oshkosh during EAA’s AirVenture 2016.
Originally conceived by the late-Keith Shell, this heavily-modi fied North American T-6 features a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp turning a three-bladed propeller, and a bubble canopy. Since it first took to the sky in 2009, after the project was completed in his memory, “Keith’s Dream” has been enjoyed by the Shell family.
John Elliott fell in love with the Stearman when he was 9 years old. Growing up in England he became a dedicated Anglophile, and when the opportunity came for him to purchase a Stearman, he chose a rare PT-27 that had been built for the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was the perfect choice, eh?
French warbird collector Christian Amara’s search for a P-40 led to “Down Under” where he found the perfect example in a combat veteran P-40N. Originally destined for the Republic of China Air Force, this Warhawk ended up in combat with the 7th FS/49th FG in Papua New Guinea where it became the personal aircraft of Lt. Robert Warren, who named it Little Jeanne.
The Boeing P-26 Peashooter had a relatively short service career in the United States Army Air Corps. The example at the Planes of Fame Museum is the world’s last flying P-26. With its portly fuselage, fixed gear, and external bracing, it seems a bit archaic, but with a top speed of 227mph and a climb rate of over 2,200 feet/minute, in 1932 the Peashooter was the hottest ship in the sky