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New adventure for old warbird
Farmer passionate about restoring training plane
| Thursday, Jan 25 2007 8:40 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jan 25 2007 8:42 PM
When the military brass needed to quickly train pilots during World War II, it turned to the Vultee BT-13 Valiant.
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The warbird, a loud aluminum two-seater basic trainer, taught thousands, including Chuck Yeager, how to fly. It was like the drivers' training plane of the military; an instructor sat behind the cadet and could control the plane if needed.
It shook so much cadets called it "the Vultee vibrator."
Marc McCaslin, a fourth-generation farmer, wants to get his Vultee airborne. He's taking flying lessons.
He's restoring it on his family's property off Stockdale Highway in southwest Bakersfield.
The hangarlike structure that also houses hot rods and a boat is surrounded by 360 acres of almond trees.
McCaslin, 29, said he's part of the next generation that has to keep the WWII-era aviation alive.
"If we don't do it, it will die out," he said.
After the war, the planes joined aviation's graveyard.
Cropdusting companies used Vultees for parts. McCaslin got his through his friend, Lyle Strader, an airplane restorer.
He estimates the restoration will take about four years, if everything goes right. McCaslin estimates a restored Vultee could fetch between $120,000 to $150,000. He would consider selling his once he's done. So far, McCaslin's spent about $25,000 on the project.
He keeps oodles of vintage spare parts because he doesn't know what he'll need during the restoration. He's found some of them on eBay.
His wife, Holly, thinks it's a neat project because it links their family to history.
Their young son is an aviation fanatic, and several of her uncles served in WWII.
Her husband said their 4-year-old boy can distinguish between new and old engines in warbirds by how they sound.
"When he hears those old radial engines from WWII, he gets real excited," Marc McCaslin said. The family lives near the Shafter-Minter Field Airport.
McCaslin's grandfather, B.C. Smith, was a Marine in the South Pacific during WWII. Smith, who eventually became a lieutenant colonel, manned anti-aircraft cannons and told his grandson stories that stoked his interest in the era, McCaslin said.
He wishes Smith was still alive so he could see the Vultee.
With his slicked-back hair and short jacket with aviation patches, McCaslin looks like he's mechanically inclined.
"I grew up taking apart toys and putting them back together," he said. By the time he was 13, he was doing the same with classic cars.
Strader thinks McCaslin will stick with the project.
Strader works for Massey Aircraft Service at the Shafter airport and likes how working with warbirds connects him with history.
"If the pieces could talk, what would they say?" Strader asked. "So many times we've stripped paint off of things and seen actual stencils with guys' names on them ... it's a time capsule, that's what it is."