WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

[AirDOGGe]

Anyone know of a warbird (P-51, P-40) stored in a "junkyard" maybe about a mile north of the San Martin South County airport?


I was passing down a country road in San Martin as a passenger when I glimpsed up a driveway and saw what looked like the nose of one of the above aircraft sticking out from some canvas-type covering. I only saw it for a second or so (curse my hurried friend/driver who refused to double-back so I could take a better look and maybe shoot a photo).


All I could see was the right side of the aircraft's nose forward of the windshield, the rest hidden behind a building, tree or some other obstruction. A black, 4-bladed propeller and red spinner were visible and uncovered, sitting high in the air as it would on a tail-dragger. The canvas was draped low over the cowling so I was not able see any details to identify the aircraft type, or whether it was real or a full-size fake.

Here's a couple of aerial pics showing the location. I hope to get down there next week , where I will try to get a better look. If any AAFO readers live in that area, maybe they can check or already have knowledge of the plane.


The first photo shows the sighting location in relation to South County Airport. The second shows a close-up of the possible storage site, it's street and the nearest cross street.

The third image is a rough sketch I drew from memory of what I saw up the driveway (I think), maybe 100 feet from the road.

[T J Johansen]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

Ken McBride's place?

http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/p51survivors/pages/44-74311.shtml

T J

[AERRACE]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

One of those storage yards is most likely is Ken McBride's. Back in October of 07' when Tom Riley and Ken brought his B-25 into San Martin Airport one of Ken's friends told me that Ken had several disassembled warbirds including a F4U and F8F stored at his facility about a mile north of the airport. Will try to swing by there in the next couple of days to hopefully confirm the a/c type.

Frank

[AirDOGGe]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

Interesting. Thank you for the information.

[rwflyboy]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

Now there's a name I hadnt heard in a while. Tom Riley used to be in Kissimmee with a restoration shop there. Anyone know where he's been lately?

[tuffer]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

Last I knew Tom Riley up and moved everything somewhere outside of Atlanta

[AERRACE]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

AirDOGGe I swung by the "junk" yard on Llagas Rd. and sure enough there is what appears to be a genuine P-51 parked to the left of the entrance gate. There is no street number, could be 14790, as the house next to the yard is 14780 and I could find no signage to identify the name of the business. No one answered the gate buzzer either. The Mustang per your drawing has an orange spinner and black blades and aside from the main gear the entire airframe is covered by what appears to be one of those vinyl billboard signs. Weeds and debree obstructed my view of the tires so I could not tell if they were flat or not, though the spinner was a fairly consitant shade of orange a color that usually fades quickly. Considering that the entrance gate is only about 16' wide, the 51 was either airlifted in or brought in pieces and then reassembled. There were a couple of other aircraft parts laying around, such as a 3-4' section of a non-descript rear fuselage. Now that I know its just down the road I will keep an eye on it.

Frank

[AirDOGGe]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

Thank you. It's so good to know for sure that I wasn't seeing things...


Orange spinner eh? Perhaps it IS the plane whose link T J Johansen posted earlier (http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51...44-74311.shtml). Now we know where it went after being stored at San Martin/ South County Airport.


If I ever get a photo, I'll post it here. I may be in that area tomorrow.

[ChrisAttebery]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

I think this the same place that you can see a chunk of an old jet fighter tail sitting out by 101.

Ken's P-51 was at San Martin last summer for a little while. I haven't seen it there since. Could they have just lifted it over the fence? How was it moved to Ken's shop? Could they have just towed it there?

Speaking of San Martin, I passed by there last week and there was a crane loading two planes on a tractor trailer. One was a biplane, I didn't see what the other was.

[MRE]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

It is not the same place as the F86 rear fus./tail. They towed the Mustang down the street one Sat. after removing the outer wing panels. I belive they dismanted the gate to get it thru. What a shame,it used to be a flyer.

[SCEPTER]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

It is not the same place as the F86 rear fus./tail. They towed the Mustang down the street one Sat. after removing the outer wing panels. I belive they dismanted the gate to get it thru. What a shame,it used to be a flyer.

What a shame. Saw that one fly in Hollister. Must have been 10-12 yrs ago

Took this pic last summer.

[ChrisAttebery]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

I have a funny story about Ken.

I worked in Morgan Hill a couple years ago and one of my coworkers, Dave, was English. Dave came back from lunch one day and said "you'll never believe what happened to me a lunch today". Dave was out at lunch and Ken overheard him talking and came over and said something to the effect of "I see you're English. I am looking at buying a Spitfire. Would you happen to know anything about them because I need someone that is familiar with them to work on it." Dave told him no and that was the end of it. After he related the story to me he asked me if Ken thought that A) He looked old enough to be from WWII (Dave is in his 50's) and B) does he really think that EVERY English guy knows something about Spitfire's?

I've wondered what he is going to do with the P-51 and the B-25. It doesn't sound like he has enough money to get them flying.

[Harley909]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

I've been flying for Warbird Adventures for the last 8 months and Tom Rielly still stops in regularly. His old facility is right next to our new facility. His Grumman Tracker is sitting on our ramp as is his Fouga Magister. He seems to be doing well and living in Douglas Georgia.

jim

[AirDOGGe]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

OK, here are the photos. Looks like a good bet that it's Ken's P-51.

Not quite a Mustang-in-a-barn treasure find, but it was fascinating to discover none the less.


And no, you cannot see anything at Ken's place from the freeway. I believe the site with the F-86 section is a few hundred yards further south, as I think I saw it today for the first time (see 3rd photo).

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: WWII warbird stored in San Martin, Calif. storage yard?

Wow... would that be a cool "junkyard" to go picking in!