WIX Archives
thanks Kevin n/t
Posted by Pat Carry on Wed Jan 21, 2004 01:20:48 PM
In reply top The Story Behind P-38, N1208N, 44-26670 posted by Kevin Grantham on Wed Jan 21, 2004 09:38:22 AM
: Over the past few months many of you, who follow Warbirds
: or P-38s in particular, have wonder if the P-38/F-5G regis
: tered to Giorgi S. Moody (N1208N, 44-26670) still exists?
: In my opinion---it is not likely that it does, but here?s
: the story.
:
: Last night I spent a few hours with Mrs. Moody?s Grandson.
: In 1956, N1208N was purchased by Walter Moody (Giorgi?s h
: usband) and put in storage at an airport (which airport is
: unknown but it was probably near Vero Beach) in southern
: Florida. The photos I was showed clearly indicated that th
: at aircraft was more-or-less an unflyable derelict at the
: time of its purchase. Mr. Moody, a former B-17 combat pilo
: t, apparently didn?t have the time to dedicate to the plan
: e, so it remained in storage until it was purportedly dama
: ged by a hurricane in the 1960s. The airport manager infor
: med Mr. Moody, who now was working in northern Florida, of
: the aircraft?s condition and Moody, without actually view
: ing the wrecked Lightning, allowed to airport manager to d
: ispose of the airplane. In 1979 the FAA canceled N1208N?s
: registration.
:
: After Mr. Moody?s passing members of the Moody family ofte
: n wondered if N1208N had, in fact, met it end during the a
: forementioned hurricane. Then in 1996 Mrs. Giorgi Moody re
: ceived a letter from a man, who shall remain nameless, anx
: iously asking about disposition of N1208N. Mrs. Moody, rig
: htly or wrongly, became very suspicious, so she took steps
: to once again register N1208N with the FAA in case the ai
: rcraft was to suddenly reappear after assuming it had been
: destroyed in the 1960s. Mrs. Moody went as far as to hire
: a lawyer and a private investigator to look into situatio
: n. And this continued until her death in 1998. No evidence
: of N1208N was ever found, so it is very unlikely that Moo
: dy Lightning made it beyond the 1960s.