WIX Archives

Re: many neat things

Posted by Rob Mears on Wed Feb 05, 2003 03:46:04 PM

In reply top Re: If you won the lottery what five aircraft???? posted by Steve T on Tue Feb 04, 2003 09:58:06 PM

: Re U-birds, howzabout the stuff Walt Soplata still has?
: Or the one that got away...or the rumoured buried bits of
: that other Cleland F2G at Cleveland...

Soplata's FG-1D is definately some of the best unrestored warbird material out there IMO. Perfect candidate for a ground-up stock restoration.

I wish I could say as much for FG-1A "Lucky Gallon". Heck of a rare airplane, but no center wing section to hang the rest of the pieces on :) He has the cockpit section and the firewall forward components, as well as the landing gear, flaps, and a couple of other bits. If ever you could find some salvagable outer wing panels and a main spar, you might have the makings for a proper resurrection. I can think of another project floating around out there that someone could pair up with "Lucky Gallon" to bring her back to life. All it would take is 24/7 & $ :)

There are some buried bit of Cleland's white F2G racer, but they are now underneath the extended runway at that location. On top of that, this airframe served for fire training with the Cleveland Fire Department for a while. Thin aluminum and fire don't mix well, and if it was used for more than a few burns I'll bet there's not much left but a main spar, main gear, and maybe the engine (if it was still attached by then). It was also rumored as buried along with some possible toxic waste materials. You never know though. Just the existence of the main spar itself might warrant digging up the runway aftre another 20 or 30 years of appreciation. The toxic waste factor itself might stand as a good excuse for digging up the stuff and disposing of it in proper fashion.

Of course, if all it took was a main spar to warrant the reconstruction of a new F2G, you might could justify the use of the main spar from Dave Etchell's FG-1D project. During disassembly he discovered an "F2G" identifier had been stamped into the spar. Apparently it was surplus material from Super Corsair production that was redirected to the FG-1D line. Not really a main spar from an actual flying F2G, but a curious find none the less!

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