Aircraft N16099 Data

In the early 70s I was stationed at Ft. Carson Colorado and was a memger of the Colorado Springs Parachute Club. I had a friend by the name of Arnold Morcheski(spelling may be off) who was a friend of Harlod Johnson. Arnold arranged for us to make a parachute jump from this Vultee. I there were, I believe, 5 of us and we jumped from an altitude of 10,500 AGL near the Pueblo Airport. I was in awe of the airplane then and now. I still remember the seats and the individual air vents for the seats. I also remember the cockpit lay out and the sound of the engine. It truely was a time to remember. I fly for a living now and still believe this is a most unique and wonderful airplane.

I flew for the Shannon Air Museum from early 1977 to 1981 and was more than a wee bit excited to learn that Mr. Shannon had purchased the Vultee from Harold Johnston of Pueblo, Colorado. The ship was flown from Colorady by Harold and my good friend the late Tom Selby with Captain Dick Merrill as passenger. Captain Merrill flew a similar Vultee, Serial #8, across the Atlantic and back in 1936 with entertainer Harry Richman. Since Captain Merril was the Curator of the Shannon Air Museum, Mr. Shannon thought the Vultee..which happened to be be the only one still existing (and had been since 1953) would be an excellent addition to the collection. When we heard Tom Selby's voice on the Unicom frequency announcing they were arriving, I jumped in the Museum's Pitcairn Mailwing and took off to meet them....thinking it would be appropriate for two of the aeroplanes which were so important to Captain Merrill's career to fly together. As it happened, the engine on the Vultee began overheating rather badly and, since the crankcase breather on that particular dash number 1820 engine is the propeller hub, vast quanties of oil blew out and covered the windscreen. Having later had the very same thing happen to me whilst landing at PAX River Naval Air Station, I now know the problem Harold had landing the Vultee on Shannon's much shorter, much narrower runway. He was up to the task, however, and got the machine on the ground safely. After having Mr. Foy Owen, then of Piedmont Airlines in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, examine the aeroplane and trouble-shoot the overheating problem, I flew the machine some 130 hours over the next few years. One trip to Blakesburg, Iowa with the late General Ben Kelsey, P-38 test pilot and Jimmy Doolittle's safety pilot when Doolittle made the first instrument take off and landing, in the right seat, was one of the most interesting. A complicated aeroplane to fly, the Vultee entries have a rather special place in my logbook.