Lockheed P-38L Lightning - Erickson Aircraft Collection - Madras, OR - Static Aircraft Displays on Waymarking.com

The Erickson Aircraft Collection relocated approximately 20 aircraft to the Madras Airport in 2014. This collection of mostly WWII vintage planes were previously housed in a military hangar at the Tillamook Air Museum (NW coastal town in Oregon).

The following verbiage is taken from the Erickson Aircraft Collection website to describe its history:

Lockheed P-38L Lightning

NARRATIVE

Because of its unique twin boom design, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning was the most easily recognized U.S. Army Air Force fighter in use during the Second World War. It accounted for more Japanese aircraft losses than any other American warplane and was nicknamed "the Fork-Tailed Devil" by the German Luftwaffe in the North Africa Theater. The Lightning was ideal as both a gunnery platform and a photo-reconnaissance airship because everything could be consolidated in the nose. With counter-rotating propellers and no torque, centrally concentrated firepower, twin-engine safety, hydraulically boosted ailerons and range, the P-38 was America’s first truly modern military aircraft.

SPECIFIC HISTORY

The Lightning on display was manufactured by Lockheed in the spring of 1944 as a P-38L, S/N 44-27083, and then sent to Dallas where it was converted to a photo recon F-5G-6-LO before being transferred to Tinker Field, Oklahoma. In January 1946 it was dropped from the U.S. Army Air Forces inventory and sold to civilian buyers ending up with Mark Hurd Aerial Surveys of Santa Barbara, California. Bruce Pruett of Livermore, California bought it from Hurd in 1968, essentially for scrap value. In 1990 Jack Erickson acquired it for the museum and in 1995 restoration was started, the first flight being made in early 1997.

This particular aircraft has an inventory page at Warbirdregistry.org here.

Each aircraft contains its own interpretive display and I've included a picture of it which contains additional info on this aircraft.

This collection is definitely worth the visit for any aircraft enthusiast.

Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Lockheed P-38L Lightning Tail Number: (S/N): 44-27083 Construction:: original aircraft Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Erickson Aircraft Collection - Madras Airport inside / outside: inside Other Information:: Admission GENERAL: $9.00 SENIOR: $8.00 VETERAN: $7.00 YOUTH (6-17): $5.00 CHILD (5 and under): FREE Access restrictions: The Erickson Aircraft Collection is open to the public this summer daily from 10am to 5pm, except Monday. The Collection will be closed to the public Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

Visit Instructions:
Photo of aircraft (required - will be interesting to see if the aircraft is ever repainted or progress if being restored)
Photo of serial number (required unless there is not one or it is a replica)
Photo(s) of any artwork on the aircraft (optional but interesting)

Tell why you are visiting this waymark along with any other interesting facts or personal experiences about the aircraft not already mentioned.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.