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Author Topic: Vintage photos  (Read 83697 times)

Barry Collman

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #210 on: January 27, 2021, 09:03:25 am »
Some time in the 70's we had a Turbo Commander.  I was around 12 or 13 years old.  I never flew it, but I washed it, waxed it, sat in the front and went "woooooooh" a lot.

N22LY.  Bruce traced it to Central America somewhere.

I think that airplane is why I own one now.

The last photo is from the internet somewhere.

The shot of N22LY, the 680T s/n 1563-19, converted to a 680V in November 1967, shows a fairly rare Little Rock Airmotive/Federal Express nose radome has been installed, under STC SA798SW. It was then converted to a Century Turbo, by June 1974.
As N400G, it was seemingly seized in Colombia by October 1980.
(The image is back on page 8 of this thread).


PapaPhil

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #211 on: March 16, 2021, 10:20:57 pm »
I noticed a comment about Dave Loomis who passed away this last October.  Here's a picture of David in the early 80's taking care of business at Aero Air, evidently right around Halloween.  I think I still have that little pumpkin full of little trick or treats.

JMA

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #212 on: June 23, 2022, 01:13:10 pm »
Perhaps not a vintage photo discussion, but curious anyway.  Anyone know what became of the Bethany OK factory? 
I believe from the old ads I have and see on ebay- it was located at 5001 Rockwell Av, Bethany OK?

JMA

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #213 on: June 23, 2022, 01:17:31 pm »
Pic here.

Bruce Byerly

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #214 on: June 24, 2022, 12:36:04 am »
It’s still standing but abandoned as is the Flightsaftey training facility with the signs still on the walls. Like a ghost town.  I have pics of the FSI facility but I’m sure you can see it on google earth.

Sergio Vega

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #215 on: June 24, 2022, 10:17:31 pm »
Don't know if it's the same place you are talking about Bruce, but one of the hangars is occupied by Valair Aviation. I stopped there on my flight back home from Chattanooga when I  bought the 685. Here are some pictures.

JMA

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #216 on: July 05, 2022, 03:10:22 pm »
Thanks guys.  Is it just me or does that seem like a really small building for a commander assembly line?
Attached is the original photo I posted a long time ago on this thread of the assembly line from 'flightware'

Bruce Byerly

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #217 on: July 05, 2022, 11:02:54 pm »
That’s the Flightsafety building. The production line was here:


JMA

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #218 on: July 06, 2022, 09:59:22 am »
Awesome stuff, thanks Bruce, this old stuff absolutely fascinates me.

I used your google map idea, looks like there is a commander on the tarmac- missing an engine (see pic attached).  Is there still some type of service center our there?

Also, how did it work at production time- completed plane comes out front (or back)?  and crosses the road?

Is there anyone who possibly has an old pic of the 'leftover' commanders in the 80's that were sitting in the grass?
« Last Edit: July 07, 2022, 09:40:40 am by JMA »

donv

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #219 on: November 28, 2022, 12:34:35 am »
I'm reading a biography of Jerrie Cobb and Jackie Cochran, and now I understand this picture. I always wondered why the panel looked so empty-- well, that airplane is a 680E she used to set both speed and altitude records, and it was as stripped down as it could be. I think maybe she had a handheld radio, and that was it.

Aero Commander Chief Test Pilot and later sales and demo pilot Jerrie Cobb... who also set a bunch of records in Commander 680Es and 680Fs...



kent4142

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #220 on: December 10, 2022, 07:24:46 pm »
Okay Commander Spotters - I found this tonight sifting through old slides from my Dad.  This photo was taken 2 years before I was born.  That is my Uncle and Grandfather.  What I don't know is - what model Commander this is.

Kent

Also, thank you Barry Collman for the info on N22LY.  That was very kind.

donv

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #221 on: December 11, 2022, 11:51:19 am »
If we knew what year you were born, that would help!

I'm not good enough to tell the difference between a 520, a 560, and a straight 680, but I'm guessing one of those.

appleseed

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #222 on: December 11, 2022, 01:10:51 pm »
Good Challenge.
I feel like the intake scoop on bottom of nacelles, and the blister for ejector pipes are clues.

donv

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #223 on: December 11, 2022, 03:25:29 pm »
680 Super?

appleseed

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Re: Vintage photos
« Reply #224 on: December 12, 2022, 12:18:41 am »
It's a great picture. You can't quite tell if the tail is swept. Which would be a dead give away. It has three blade props, makes you think 560 or later.

I went through "Stars & Commanders" tonight. Couldn't find any 520s with 3 blade props. But, even so, the cowl inlets, the undercowl inlet scoop... it's a 520.