Confederate Air Force - Whatever Happened to them?

[Agaricus bisporus]

In 1977 I spent a memorable month as an 18yr old volunteer in Harlingen Tx at the world's 10th largest Air Force (or some similar stastic) and got to crawl all over every one of the 50 or so machines there, including an eye-watering 40 mins in the back seat behind the legendary Lefty Gardner in his P51 as we hurtled between the garage and house at his ranch at 400Kts, 20feet and 90deg of bank looking up at the roofs!

How then did the CAF become so reduced to the small organization it seems today - does anyone know the politics and reasons behind it?

Whatever happened to the Buchons and He 111s? They seem to have left the inventory.

Does the Mossie that was bought by Roger Tallichet (speling?) (Planes of Fame / Yesterday's Air Force??) and ferried out of Harlingen in spring 77 by said Tallichet still survive? I have a spectacular pic of it blowing its coolant during taxi for departure from Harlingen before they hard-wired the pressure relief valve shut...I almost wept for that poor aeroplane, they seemed so clumsy and careless with it.

CAF memoirs anyone?

I've got loads of good 35mm slides of that visit, one day if I can find a slide scanner I would like to post them - the B23 Dragon blowing 3 yards of flame is a cracker! And inside Fifi - flight deck, waist position, tunnel....

[seacue]

The name has been changed to http://www.commemorativeairforce.org/ and they have moved the museum to Midland, TX. The move was partly to get away from the salt air at Harlingen.

I visited Harlingen a number of years ago about a week after the museum had closed there. People were busily cutting up a C-54 with chain saws.....

[PLovett]

I think they also have a number of affiliate organisations around the country. There is a columnist on the AVWEB site called John Deakin who flies a number of their aircraft in California.
This is a link to his columns, a number of which describe flying CAF aircraft.
http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/182146-1.html

[Onan the Clumsy]

They have a wing in Lancaster just south of Dallas. A Tornado (of the meteriological kind) blew through some years back, but it could have done a lot more damage. I think they lost a Zero.

[ehwatezedoing]

Their He-111 (Casa 2111) was lost in 2003.
http://www.commemorativeairforce.org/news/2003/nr-03-0710.html

[ImageGear]

Did the Mossie that was bought by Roger Tallichet, pass through the "Red Chippy" Hangar at RAF Benson circa 1972? (If so it was beautiful then.)

[treadigraph]

I think the (Dave?) Tallichet Mossie is now the USAF Museum - think it was with Doug Arnold at Blackbushe in the 1980s for a while. The Confeds certainly had the remains of another one, but I think it was recovered from Mexico or somewhere and has never flown.

I believe Connie Edwards still has a hangar at Big Spring with several Buchons, Spitfires and P-51Ds stacked in it - his collection has been gradually whittled down over the years.

Went to Airsho 2000 - boy was it cold! Went equipped for summer and had to acquire sweaters! Good fun though, some fantastic types - best of all was the B-29, particularly its controversial Hiroshima re-enactment - the fireball warmed us all up! Though describing the Shackleton as a Lancaster grated a bit!

[Mike51]

David, not Roger, Tallichet.

The Mossie came to Doug Arnold at Blackbushe for a while, and is now in the USAF Museum at Dayton, Ohio.

[bolmas]

does anyone know what happened to their twin mustang?it is not listed on the website.is it being restored to flying condition?

[treadigraph]

Bolmas, according to WIX, the F-82's now owned by Museum of Flight at Santa Monica - which collection I thought had been dispersed... It was being restored to fly.

[PaperTiger]

Bolmas, according to WIX, the F-82's now owned by Museum of Flight at Santa Monica - which collection I thought had been dispersed... It was being restored to fly.I believe the trade between the CAF and MOF has not been finalised, mainly because the USAF claims to retain title to the F-82 under the conditions of the 1966 'donation'. The plane itself hasn't flown since getting bent at HRL in 1987, and I have no idea where it currently is, if indeed it is in just one piece/place.

[Moose47]

They were a victim of politcial correctness as much as anything else. The 'Confederate' part of their name according to a friend and former member, was equated to racism. Seems it stirs up too many bad memories for Blacks in America. They should have stood firm and said piss off!

[JDK]

They should have stood firm and said piss off!

...and lost their major sponsor, the gas (US English) company, that funded the annual 'Airsho' with, you guessed it, the go juice.

Sad, perhaps, but sometimes it ain't acceptable to carry on regardless. I remember that the 1970s BBC Doco on them "Colonel Culpeper's Flying Circus" said with everyone being a Colonel, it was the most communist organisation the reporter had ever seen. :hmm:

Even good ol Texans need to square the circle sometimes.

The F-82 is complete, in one place and IIRC there was a discussion about it coming out of the typically US legal mess it was in recently. A certain forum supported by a certain flypaper in the UK had the Gen if you want to check.

[foxmoth]

I remember that the 1970s BBC Doco on them "Colonel Culpeper's Flying Circus"
I remember the opening shots of the sunrising behind the aircraft to the intro of PFs "crazy diamonds" - fantastic:ok: