[Shawn 507]

As I was gazing upon my Gabreski collection, I thought why doesn't Corgi make a F-80 so we could have two Bong aircraft. Granted the plane killed him, but the line can continue with other Korean War era birds. Heck even Robin Olds gets three birds, P-38/51 and F4. And I'd even go for a Boyington P-40 in 1/72nd scale.
- Shawn

[mhackl]

I don't know about that one. I love the Shooting Star and would like to see it in diecast, but Bong was killed during an acceptance flight of the P-80, but worse he was killed by ejecting while inverted and too low to the ground thus making it to the ground before his parachute could deploy. I don't know if that would be a good one to memorialize in diecast.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Originally Posted by mhackl

I don't know about that one. I love the Shooting Star and would like to see it in diecast, but Bong was killed during an acceptance flight of the P-80, but worse he was killed by ejecting while inverted and too low to the ground thus making it to the ground before his parachute could deploy. I don't know if that would be a good one to memorialize in diecast.

Bong crashed as a result of main fuel pump failure..... the investigation of Bong's crash found that he had apparently forgotten to switch on the emergency fuel pump that could have prevented the accident. He successfully bailed out when the aircraft rolled inverted but was too close to the ground for his parachute to deploy.
Only if he remembered about the emergency fuel pump he might still be alive today....
JP

[flyXwire]

Didn't Don Gentile met the same fate on the P-80 Shooting Star? Anyway, I would definitely grab one or two if they made one.

Edit: Don Gentile was actually killed in a Lockheed T-33 jet trainer which is a development from the P-80/F-80 airframe.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by mhackl

I don't know about that one. I love the Shooting Star and would like to see it in diecast, but Bong was killed during an acceptance flight of the P-80, but worse he was killed by ejecting while inverted and too low to the ground thus making it to the ground before his parachute could deploy. I don't know if that would be a good one to memorialize in diecast.

I would have thought you'd make the diecast out of respect for the pilot rather than how it ended its last flight

[SKUNKY]

Nah...I remember a while back somebody wanted the first diecast A-7 to be of the one that crashed in to the Ramada Inn in Indianapolis......too macabre.

[TopHat]

I don't think I'd want a model made of a bird that augered in and took me with it. Especially if the purported cause was pilot error. Not much of a memorial, IMO....

[STARMAN 352ND]

Originally Posted by flyXwire

Didn't Don Gentile met the same fate on the P-80 Shooting Star? Anyway, I would definitely grab one or two if they made one.

In this case Fly....Don was killed in a T-33 two seat trainer a version of a P-80 Shooting star in 1951 at the age of 30.
JP

[mustangdriver]

Originally Posted by TopHat

I don't think I'd want a model made of a bird that augered in and took me with it. Especially if the purported cause was pilot error. Not much of a memorial, IMO....

Tell that to the model makers that make those wooden models of Earharts plane.

[TopHat]

Originally Posted by mustangdriver

Tell that to the model makers that make those wooden models of Earharts plane.

Like I said, that's my opinion. Your mileage may vary.


However, I imagine that Ms. Earhart would prefer one of the birds that she used to break a record such as her Avro Avian 594 ....