CAF

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

I'm a CAF member and a new-ish (maybe still the newest) member of the Southern California Wing, hangared out at Camarillo Airport. 

http://cafsocal.com/  (two new videos posted on it this week of our Zero and Stang)



Thanks for your continued and unfaultering support.    (and you wonder why we don't have or care for more B-38s )

Nothing personal, but "Scatterbrained Kid" the CAF P-38, sat in a hangar for nearly two decades after they cracked it up, and before they changed their name.

In all honesty, I find it very troubling how many of their aircraft have ended up in pieces at the bottom of a smoking hole in the ground for what often later turn out to be maintenance problems.

[2ADoc]

Scatterbrain kid was totally pilot error.  The original pilot for it, Jimmy Delahusey was killed in a 310 when he penetrated a level 3 at night.  The new pilot that they threw into the cockpit, lost an engine on takeoff, instead of aborting the takeoff he decided to pick it, below controllable airspeed and it went over on it's back and rolled up in a ball.  This was 4 air shows after my mom had flown with Jimmy Del, while he and Lefty were doing their thing.  My mom like flying with Jimmy Del because he did not do any real hard aerobatics in Scatterbrain.  Jimmys wife had told my mom that there was a roll of cotton under the jump set to plug her ears.  Mom had put it in but it was bugging her so she pulled it out, just as Jimmy cranked the left engine.  To this day my mom says that is the prettiest sound in the world.  My mom and dad crewed on Scatterbrain for years before Jimmy got killed.  On that note it was the new guys 2nd or 3rd flight in it.