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[BUIZILLA]

JLerum, what chassis do you fly?

Jim

[PeteLeathersac]

For a few years now I've been following the restoration progress these lads in the States have been doing on a few Messerschmitt ME-262 jets! . They've recently got the second one up....check it out on the link below. . Lots of great warbird restoration going on in recent years w/ guys dragging stuff out of jungles and lake bottoms all over the world. . I'm hooked and can't fathom how anything like this is ever gonna' fit into the retirement budget? ~ Pete

http://www.stormbirds.com/project/general/updates.htm

[JLerum]

I fly s# 071 and 142 Learjet 60's Jim. Good airplanes for the most part. They really do like to perform. The LR-60 is the onlyaircraft I've flow that comes close to the 20 series Lears. That is not to say their isn't anything out their to do it but it goes a lot better than the MD-80's even when they're empty.

Jim

[Chevy454]

Pete: if I'm not mistaken, that is the ME-262 that our buddy Mark Timken owned, or at least was DEEPLY involved in...Mark, coincidently, had his 1970 Baldwin-Motion Camaro at SCR2...I'm kind of a warbird nut as well!

[427TJ]

I was up at the Boeing plant at Everett (WA) several months ago and while we were waiting to get on the Boeing factory tour bus one of the new Me-262s (the two-seater) came blazing down the runway at about 100 feet and 200-250 knots and pulled up into a graceful left-hand traffic pattern and landed. What a sight! My buddy and I just stood there in disbelief at seeing a WWII German jet in flight. It would have been perfect if a P-51 had dove on the 262 and made a firing pass the way they did in WWII! (Allied fighters would orbit near the German jet airfields and then pick them off when they tried to take off or land. The jets were at their most vulnerable at slow speeds and most of them were shot down that way.)

[PeteLeathersac]

Rob, I'm a warbird nut too....at least nuts for even thinking I could ever end up w/ one? . It's all grown from about 20 years ago when I had the luck and good fortune to meet and spend a bit of time with Bill Austin, one of the best Canadian Spitfire pilots. . He's gone now but met w/ me on a few occasions and shared the greatest stories also helped me understand how it sure wasn't all fun and pleasure flying.

Bill, cool encounter w/ the 262!!! . And we think these cars take a lot of time and money???

~ Pete

[427TJ]

Okay Pete, here's a photo I took from the back seat of a buddy's T-6 Texan back in 2002. We were over the Bay Area in California (SF in the distance) when Art Vance jumped us in his P-51 Mustang. We had gone up to his hangar at Santa Rosa for a visit and he bounced us as we flew home. He tucked it in tight and I shot this photo. Art was killed in early October ferrying a Grumman F6F Hellcat in poor weather. Hell of a nice guy.

[Xplantdad]

Hey Bill, Hell of a cool shot...sorry to hear about Mr. Vance.

Are you coming out to AZ any time soon?

[Chevy454]

Pete: my interest came from my late grandfather, who armed B-25s in the south Pacific for the 345th "Air Apaches". I read everything B-25 my grandfather had, and it kinda filtered over to B-17s, B-24s, and then on and on and on...no telling how many models of those old warbirds I built back in the day...but my kids love to play with 'em and ultimately demolish them, so I guess the work was worth it!

One heck of a picture, Bill...

[PeteLeathersac]

Great picture and stories!

Bill, thanks for sharing the picture and so sorry about your friend Art. . I had read about the accident also more recently how the warbirds are now averaging 10 fatals per year. . It's serious business but unbelievable machines and commitments to restore and fly them!

Rob, a salute to your grandfather and his bomber squadron! . Do you have any pics or anything you can share from his bomber command days? . Both my grandfathers were WW1 Canadian soldiers. . I'm fortunate to have saved one of their kit-bags from being tossed by my grandmother in the early 70's. . No firearms but his helmet and all are in it incl. diary and letters from Mother.