Help get White Lightin' back in the sky

Air Classics, Mar 2002

As readers well know, Lefty Gardner's famous P-38 Lightning sustained major damage in a crash landing on 25 June 2001 while being flown by Ladd Gardner. Following an inflight fire, Ladd made a skilled crash landing near the Greenwood-Le Flore Airport in north central Mississippi.

The good news is that N25Y is now back home at Burnet, Texas. The bad news is that the rebuild will be very expensive. Lefty wants to do a ground-up rebuild and estimates this will cost $750,000. A non-profit organization with the intent of raising funds for the restoration of White Lightnin' has been formed. All charitable donations can be made to the Lefty Gardner White Lightnin' Aviation Museum, 1200 Lakeway Drive, Suite 20, Austin, Texas 78734. Tax exempt status has been applied for with the IRS and all contributors will be notified regarding their deduction as soon as the organization's tax exempt status is in place.