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Panther Paint Job
Watch a 57-year-old warbird go from Winona rags to Blue Angel royalty.
By Michael Klesius
airspacemag.com, November 17, 2009
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It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for an airplane. That’s especially true for this Grumman F9F Panther, shown here going through a wing-folding test in the late summer of 2009. The airplane will go on permanent display with its wings level at the Aviation Heritage Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in the summer of 2010, but they’ll need to fold for the three-mile trip from the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, where the restoration took place, to the Aviation Heritage Park.
Dan Cherry, Director of the Park, has shepherded the restoration in honor of the late U.S. Navy Cdr. John Magda, who flew an F9F as flight leader of the Blue Angels in 1950. Though Magda never flew this specific Panther, which Grumman delivered in April 1952, he died in Korea in March 1951 trying to ditch a Panther damaged in combat.
The sequence of pictures at right, by photographer John Fleck, shows the Panther, retrieved after decades in a park in Winona, Minnesota, in its final stages of a restoration to Blue Angel number one, with Magda’s name on the cockpit.
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I am looking for a color photo of the U.S. Navy EC-121-K Super Constellation. My last squadron was VQ-1, the "spooks. I also flew with VW-11 and VW-1. The aircraft was equipped with upper and lower radomes. It was a beautiful aircraft to fly and stately to see in flight. Can you help? Sincerely, CDR Frank Harding USNR-RET EDITORS' REPLY: We don't furnish photographs. Try a Google Image search: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=%22EC-121-K+Super+Constellation%22&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=&safe=active
Posted by Frank Harding on December 3,2009 | 12:13AM
I was a captain on the F9F-4 Panther Jet at NAS Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1955-56. I was attached to FAS-812 at that time. I went to NAS Pensacola, Florida in September 1956 and began flight training. I flew the F9F-5 Panther jet as an Naval Aviation Cadet (NavCad) in 1958 at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. I received my wings as a Naval Aviator on 22 April 1958. In 1963 I was assigned to NAS Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota as the VA Flight Training Officer for VA-811 and VA-813. We had 15 A-4B and 3 T-1A aircraft assigned. The A-4's would fly in excess of 600 hours per month. RE Dellwo CDR USN (Ret.)
Posted by Richard E Dellwo on December 15,2009 | 05:19PM
The "Navy Plane" had been a part of Winona, Minnesota for 49 years. A couple generations of kids grew up pretending to serve their country as a navy pilot. She will be missed in Winona, but without any doubt is now in a great place of honor, both to the machinery as well as those that truely served our country and helped preserve our freedoms. Well done by the fine folks of the Aviation Heritage Park of Kentucky. Keith Nelson Assistant City Manager Winona, Minnesota
Posted by Keith Nelson on December 17,2009 | 07:41AM