Tony's lightning

On page 19 in the March issue is a picture of Tony LeVier in front of a P38. The caption notes that the P-38 had its armament removed. Judging by the AAF serial 44-53078, the 3078 stenciled on the nose, and the smile on LeVier's face, the photo seems to depict the plane he bought surplus at Kingman, Arizona, to fly in the Bendix cross-country race and the Cleveland Air Races in 1946.

Air racing historians, as well as P-38 buffs, would probably find this photo very interesting since it depicts LeVier and his P-38,probably at Burbank, just after he purchased the P-38 and before he painted it a brilliant shade of red similar to the famous Yippee pictured on page 16 of the March issue. LeVier's P38 NX21764, which was the first P-38 sold surplus from the Kingman depot on 23 January 1946, would go on to Mark Hurd Aerial Surveys as N21764, then N504MH, before crashing in 1965 near Los Olivos, California.

Bill Eaton

Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Jun 2001
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