Mr. Awesome and Red Baron
The Reincarnation of two Giants

Mr. Awesome: After noting (with much curiosity) that Jack Frost’s AT-6 "Frostbite"was sitting on the tarmac during the July Air Racing Seminar at Stead, I could only wonder about the progress of his unlimited racer "Mr. Awesome". Could he have been in attendance to get qualified for '98 in the unlimited class and his appearance a sign of things to come? Was this an indication that "Mr. Awesome" AKA "Red Heat" was ready to take to the pylons again? Sadly, no. "Frostbite" just had a few things done to it and Jack was just out there to fly a few laps to see if it made any improvements in performance.

Curiosity piqued, and very interested in the progress of "Mr. Awesome", I just had to find out what's going on. Terry Rogers of RB Airframes would be the man to see about this airplane... A quick call made, I soon discover that there still remains much work ahead. As Terry puts it, "You just got to do it right and take whatever time it takes. It’s not there yet. It'll make next year. The wing is finished up but we haven't gotten the fuselage here yet." The fuselage is scheduled to arrive on Monday, August 24th. Stay tuned as Terry will be keeping us informed of its progress. We'll soon have pictures and updates of how this project is taking shape.

Red Baron: The fuse is done for the Red Baron. This was done as a joint projectalongside Vern Peterson’s crashed P-51. "We're duplicating Mustangs, getting two of them done at the same time". Bruce Moorehouse found a wing in Australia with approximately 600 hours total flying time. Complete, and in pristine condition, this wing will be used on the ex-Peterson P-51 to rebuild it to a stock configuration. This "new" wing will be utilized to build a jig for the wing slated to be used on the Red Baron. This wing will the one that came off the ex-Peterson Mustang. Although the wing has been torn in half, Terry and company will make quick work of making it right. "That wing really hasn't been hurt that bad. I couldn't have drilled holes along the break line then tore it in half in a better location. It tore the spars in half but it didn't hurt the cuff. It tore the stress door in half but we have another one for it. The flaps and landing gear were undamaged. That'll give us a Mustang wing for the Baron without any trouble. We won't have to go with a jet "commode" or a Lear Jet wing on it, we got a stock wing for it so it'll be the Baron again. It's gettin’ there, it's just slow."

Terry’s work schedule is pretty well filled up at the moment. Currently repairing 2 DC-3s that were heavily damaged after a tornado blew them 250 feet from where they were tied down. Repairing the drive motors for the spoilers and flaps on an A-4 that was once flown by the Argentine Air Force (the airplane has 2 British kill markings, yes, this A-4 was the one that sunk the 2 British ships during the Falklands war!) All of this, along with a few other "paying" projects and it is not surprising that the progress on the Red Baron is a little slow right now.

AAFO.COM will be keeping on top of these as well as some other very interesting projects. Stay tuned for updates when information becomes available..

Story by: Mark Kallio
Photography Courtesy of: Wingman Photography