Grumman F3F BuNo 0972
Before World War II, 0972 flew with the U.S.M.C., assigned to Squadron VMF-2. During the night of June 24, 1941, while on a night training exercise, 0972 was one of three F3F-2s that crashed into Mt, Haleakala, in Hawaii. 0972 was being flown at the time by 1st Lt. William M. Ferris. The three aircraft were soon forgotten until the 1980s when they were recovered by Alan Decoite.
Transferred to the Texas Airplane Factory
In 1988, a deal was struck between Doug Champlin and the owner of the Texas Airplane Factory, Herb Tischler , that saw the wreckage of the three F3Fs and a Grumman G-32A wreck that was also owned by Mr. Champlin transferred to the Texas Airplane Factory in order to restore the aircraft. The restoration effort took five years and in 1993, 0972 and the other aircraft were completed. In 1993 0972 was sold to the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas, where it remained on display on display until 2008.
In September 2008, the Lone Star Flight Museum was caught in the path of Hurricane Ike and 0972 was one of the aircraft that was unable to be flown to safety in time and was trapped in the hangar by the storm surge. In the aftermath of the storm 0972 was one of several of Lone Star’s aircraft that was transferred to Nelson Ezell’s shop for repair. In late 2010, 0972 while still in the shop, Chris Prevost entered the picture. Mr. Prevost, the owner of Vintage Aircraft Company based in Sonoma, California, had been interested in acquiring a F3F and was able to strike a deal for 0972 with Lone Star Flight Museum.
Transferred to the Vintage Aircraft Company
0972 was transferred to the Vintage Aircraft Company hangar for completion of the restoration. During the course of completing the restoration, Mr. Prevost, knowing that the engine the original restoration was an R 1820-55 of 1050 h.p. which was not true to the original aircraft. To remedy this situation, Mr. Prevost contracted with Air Motive’s Rodger Pickett to construct a correct R-1820-22 for 0972. Other details to aid in the authenticity of the aircraft’s originality was to eliminate the electric motor used to retract the landing gear and to replace the hand crank operation to the aircraft.
The 2014 edition of the Reno Air Races
As a final touch, an original paint scheme that was used by the United States Marine Corps’ F3F-2s in the late 1930s was applied to 0972. The restoration was completed in the late summer of 2012 and was seen here at the 2014 edition of the Reno Air Races.
