It's a Go!
Hey folks! We are going to Sun N Fun ‘23 after all! We have a booth space reserved - not the same spot unfortunately. We gave that up earlier when we were not planning to go. Verner Motor needed to have representation at the show and we need to help them out. So now we are in North exhibits - booth 21. It is straight out between building C and D almost to the main avenue and one spot in from the end cap.
We will have Steve Wolf’s 60% scale replica P-47D fuselage and tail on display. The wings are not done yet. He just finished the cowling and has the Verner 9S mounted. If you can make it to the show, you will not want to miss checking this out. Steve is a Master Craftsman and is not holding back. It is a tribute to his friend Jack Hallet who flew P-38s and P-47s during WW2 in Europe. Jack’s P-47D was nicknamed “Frigid Midgit” - the painter misspelled it and Jack didn’t have the heart to bother him about it. On the cowl, it had a large Snow White character - Dopey giving Hitler the middle finger. This replica has a real gun-sight, throttle quadrant and stick grip. Jack helped on the project while he still could and donated his actual flight helmet and goggles as well as a bunch of pictures and memorabilia.
Jack’s P-47 had a unique paint job. One of the plastic model companies even made a model of it with decals to match Jack’s plane. It was an olive drab painted early D model without the dorsal fin. That fin along the top of the tail fuselage was added in the field and left unpainted. Jack had made contact with some trees during a low-level prank during one of his first flights in the P-47 and the wings were replaced - they were un-painted too except for the US roundel. Jack said: “The P-47 didn’t pull out of a dive like the P-38 did”. “Pulled the nose up and it just kept going the angle it was!” Their transition to P-47 was - none. Just jump in and fly it - no manuals, instruction, nothing. The very first plane their squadron flew was damaged on landing. Jack was second or third to fly their new mounts.
Jack was a real fun guy and thanks to Steve and Kathy, I am proud that my wife Karen and I were able to meet him several times. He told us many stories and always had a good laugh. A very humble and genteel guy. One interesting thing is that General George Patton had given him a pistol for bravery. Jack was almost embarrassed to talk about it. A real Patton Pistol. He was that kind of a guy. Best generation.
Along with Steve’s Frigid Midgit, we are going to have Terry Allred’s Verner 3VL engine on display. We could not in good concience tear apart the P-36 even more and trailer it again. We need to jump right into completing it after the show. Not bringing it was the only way we could attend. Steve and Terry stepped-up big time for us. Thank You! We have the best friends!
Flap work continues and the landing gear modification to Oleo struts is waiting on a few machined parts to get made. We are going to be ready to fly in April - early May at the latest. So testing in May/June. Then, get ready for a long cross country for AirVenture ‘23 late July. That will be fun- or at least a great adventure!
