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Thread: two place Corsair

  1. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by wyoranch View Post
    I swear I remember seeing one at NAS Willow Groves annual show years and years ago. It was not really a two seater but it had a hatch right behind the right wing that one of the ground crew entered the plane. I may be crazy but that memory has stuck with me all these years. Feel free to tell me I am nuts, I have been called much worse...... Lol
    rick
    You're not crazy. The Corsair with the airstair door on the right hand side aft of the wing was Goodyear FG-1D BuNo 92436, ex N3470G, and currently N72NW. It's since been rebuilt and had the door removed. It was one of the tv "Blacksheep Squadron" Corsairs and belonged to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario but is now is in Olympia, Washington. There was a dual control F4U in Paris, Texas in the 'seventies that was available for checkouts but it burned up in a hangar fire in about 1979. It was a also a "Blacksheep Squadron" airplane, ex Frank Tallman, but apparently the dual controls were pretty crude. It belonged to a guy named Junior Burchinal who had a warbird "school". I don't know what the F4U checkout cost but you could get dual on a B-17 from him for $500/hr back then!
    Last edited by stearman456; 12-01-2015 at 03:17 AM.

  2. #12

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    The one that was owned by Jim Reed has the back seat added, and I believe the Kalamazoo Airzoo's Corsair has the rear seat as well.

  3. #13
    This one I recall ...


  4. #14
    crusty old aviator's Avatar
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    Okay, so maybe old Shmo (that was his nickname) wasn't full of it...just half full. He used to tell people that he had been Greg Boyington's wingman in the South Pacific. He didn't know I was a personal friend of Greg's...I asked Greg about the veracity of Shmo's claim and described him. Greg explained that he'd had over 80 wingmen during the war, so it was possible, but he didn't recall anyone named Shmo at all and he figured he was probably just full of it.

    One sunny day at Oshkosh '83, I was sitting in the EAA Commercial Exhibits HQ building (where I was a volunteer co-chair) and spotted old Shmo in a rumpled Nomex jumpsuit, standing in one spot and looking like he was waiting for someone. After about five minutes, I got an idea and ran into the smaller exhibit building to Greg's booth, where he and his lovely wife, Jo, were selling and signing books and prints. I told Greg about Shmo's proximity and Greg said, "Bring him here!" I went outside and there was old Shmo, still waiting. I went up to him and said "Hi Jack, how ya doin'?" He recognized me and seemed in good spirits so I asked, "Have you been in to see your old squadron-mate, Pappy?"
    "Oh yeah," he replied.
    "Great! Let's go see him now!"
    "Oh no, I can't now, I'm waiting for someone."
    "You've been waiting for them for over ten minutes, Jack. If they ever show up, they can wait for you!" With that I put my arm around his shoulders and herded him over to the building and into the crowd inside. Jack was about 5' 3" and weighed about 110 pounds, so I ended up partially carrying him through the crowd when he started to balk and proffer excuses. At 6', I was able to poke my head up through the crowd when we were about ten feet from Greg's booth. He just happened to look up then and we made eye contact. I arched my arm over my head and pointed down to Shmo in front of me and nodded with a smile.
    Greg smiled back and nodded, then started shouting, "Shmo, is that you?" He stood up behind his table. "Everybody make a path for my old wingman, Shmo!" They parted and I pushed Jack forward to the table where he was face to face with the man himself. Greg extended his hand and when Jack tentatively extended his, Greg grabbed it and started pumping it up and down, exclaiming, "This man saved my life I don't know how many times! He's ten times the pilot I could ever be, drunk or sober, and I thanked God he got us back to base every time we flew together. You should have him sign your books, not me! He's a true hero. Gosh it's good to see you again, Shmo! After all these years, I still recognized you. Well, I have to get back to business here to pay for my trip. Thanks for stopping by!" With that he sat down and winked at me. I grabbed Shmo by the shoulders and we dissolved into the crowd. I left him at one of the building openings and returned to my post.
    That evening, I had dinner with Greg and Jo and both were in a very good mood. "I've been waiting many a decade to do that," Greg explained. "Thank you for setting it up for me. It felt really good."
    "We'll have to buy you dinner tonight for that," Jo suggested. "Can you imagine how surreal and bewildering it must have been for that funny little man? He's been telling that lie about being Greg's wingman man for God-knows-how-long, knowing full well that it's all hogwash, and then when he finally meets Greg in person, Greg acts like it was the truth...my mind would have blown a fuse if it had been me!"

    None of this would have ever happened, if I hadn't have been a loyal EAA volunteer, way back when...

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by stearman456 View Post
    You're not crazy. The Corsair with the airstair door on the right hand side aft of the wing was Goodyear FG-1D BuNo 92436, ex N3470G, and currently N72NW. It's since been rebuilt and had the door removed. It was one of the tv "Blacksheep Squadron" Corsairs and belonged to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario but is now is in Olympia, Washington. There was a dual control F4U in Paris, Texas in the 'seventies that was available for checkouts but it burned up in a hangar fire in about 1979. It was a also a "Blacksheep Squadron" airplane, ex Frank Tallman, but apparently the dual controls were pretty crude. It belonged to a guy named Junior Burchinal who had a warbird "school". I don't know what the F4U checkout cost but you could get dual on a B-17 from him for $500/hr back then!
    I remember that FG-1 at Outlaw field. I used to drop in back in the seventies. It was parked in a ramshackle wood structure and was blocked in by the B-17 (nose art: Balls of Fire). Neither one moved much as the B-17's tail wheel seemed to be sinking deeper into the dirt after each rain.
    There were quite a few warbirds at the field. Wildcat, P-51 and a pile of scrap on a trailer that some one said was once a P-38. Interesting story on that one. There was an eclectic line up on the high ground to the SE that included F9Fs, etc and the entire cast of Catch 22.

    Bob

  6. #16
    crusty old aviator's Avatar
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    A couple goomers bought one of those B-25's, Berlin Express (nose art was a painting of Hitler's face with crosshairs over it), and donated her to EAA. I spent a LOT of time with Bud Labutski and a small crew restoring that old gal in EAA's hangar at Burlington, WI. I never did get a ride in her, as she first flew after I'd left the project for college. I think she's parked in the Eagle Hangar now. Small world...

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