 |
| A T-33 Shooting Star in front of a B-47 Stratojet bide their time at Davis-Monthan AFB |
The USAF’s 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group is charged with looking after more than 4,000 aircraft. AMARG does restoration – actually making airplanes fly again – and parts reclamation besides its storage and disposal responsibilities. I wonder what they would have thought about attempting the restoration of the Squadron’s P-51C after it crashed in 2004?
 |
| The late Gerry Beck looks over the Squadron’s Mustang after it was trucked to his company, Tri-State Aviation in 2004 after crashing at an air show in May of that year. |
It is quite amazing that a group of volunteers raised the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to rebuild it while at the same time, many of those same volunteers spent dozens of weekends at the restoration company, Tri-State Aviation, in North Dakota riveting, stringing miles of wiring, sanding, etc.
In 2009, when the restored and flying Mustang was introduced to the public at EAA AirVenture, it won the Phoenix Award.
 |
| A recent photo of the Mustang, taken when it made its historic visit to Tuskegee this spring. |
The next AirVenture will be held July 23-29, just a few weeks from now. The Tuskegee Airmen will be honored twice during that time – on Wednesday, the 25th as part of “Greatest Generation In The Air Day” and on Friday, the 27th, as part of “Salute To Veterans Day.” The Squadron’s RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit and the Mustang will both be there for the entire event. (By the way, if you go to the AirVenture website, guess whose Mustang is the featured aircraft for the July 25th event list?)
Hello, Angola!
