Jerry Yagen took delivery of his North American P-64 replica at the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo, Virginia. Just in time to take part in the this weekend’s Warbirds Over the Beach air show, the aircraft flew in from her previous owner’s home in Louise, Texas. She made two spirited low passes down the runway before landing, and taxiing up to a very appreciative Yagen. Today was the first time he’d actually seen the replica in the flesh. It is actually a highly modified former Portuguese Air Force SNJ-4 Texan, Bu.10288. The late Lt.Col. Art Medore (founder of the now defunct Banaire) modified the Texan into the design’s fighter variant which was only made in small numbers for export. Just one original P-64 is known to exist, and this currently resides in the EAA museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Regardless, it looks and sounds amazing in the air. Warbirds Over the Beach is going to be a fabulous show, so come on down if you get the chance this weekend! Please click HERE for details.
Richard Mallory Allnutt's aviation passion ignited at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow. Raised in 1970s Britain, he was immersed in WWII aviation lore. Moving to Washington DC, he frequented the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, meeting aviation legends.
After grad school, Richard worked for Lockheed-Martin but stayed devoted to aviation, volunteering at museums and honing his photography skills. In 2013, he became the founding editor of Warbirds News, now Vintage Aviation News. With around 800 articles written, he focuses on supporting grassroots aviation groups.
Richard values the connections made in the aviation community and is proud to help grow Vintage Aviation News.
What else can we make out of the great SNJ?
Kates, Zeros, P-64…what else?
Wirraways too, but I don’t think anyone has.
You could make an F-14 out of a T-6 but you are going to need a lot of custom parts….