AAH, the silky, throaty dound of a Merlin engine!... I haven't heard
one since I last went to Ezell Aviation in Breckinridge. Texas, to
collect a 1929 Potez Pratt& Wittney (PT6) powered replica ( from a
Grumman Ag-Cat airframe) for the IMAX film "Wings of Courage". At the
time Nelson Ezell and his team was delivering a P51D, as well as test
flying a Corsair F4U.. Thay also had started working on a Sea Fury,
and had a Junker tri-motor parked on their tarmac, and seemingly
abandoned for lack of funding... I took every chance I had to come
down to Texas and check personally on the work in progress!!
By the way, it is Tom Danaher from Wichita Falls, Texas, Ex-WWII Ace
Navy pilot, who flew our Potez replica for all the stunts in the film.
He even got the "chip light" to come up for flying inverted too long,
just to please the director. He landed without problem, but we had to
change the turbine and have our leased one repaired...Ouch! That was 6
years ago, and Tom was 70 years old then. Tom is well known for having
one of the first Volkswagen Dealerships in the US and also was one of
the founders of Radio London. He lives and owns at Lake Wichita
Airport. He is a very interesting person, who is reluctant to talk
about his WWII "kills" (he is famous for having shot down the last
Japanese aircraft of WWII at age 21) and is an "honorary" member of
the Zero pilots Association in Japan, which he visits regularly... He
also delivers/ferries Air Tractor crop-dusters in Europe, Asia and
Souith America for a friend of his...
Check out Tom's bio at:
http://www.bestaero.com/features/danaher/potm.htm
it is fascinating!
Anyway, here in Sherman Oaks, I only get to hear every week-end the
collective roar of seven or so radial engines on the T6 Texans from
the nearby Van Nuys Airport, as they pass low over my house on their
way to San Pedro. I think they do some mock attacks on a liberty ship
tour down there...
Antoine
Sherman Oaks, California
http://www.freehomepages.com/antoine
http://www.powow.com/harley42xa (Web site for the XA List)
http://www.egroups.com/group/HarleyDav42XA (To subscribe to the "XA
List")
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=991451&a=7588277
Harley-Davidson 42 WLA (in Normandy)
Harley-Davidson 42 XA 1474 (in Normandy)
Harley-Davidson 42 XA 1997 (in California)
Harley-Davidson 42 XA 1403 (project, in California)
MVPA #14803, MVCG France
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 24 2000 - 20:55:35 PDT