Joe Gilbert and his magic tricks!!!!

[James Holford]

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[Bob Reeves]

Pretty sure that's the 2nd time his T-6 has shed it's outboard wing, 1st time was at Brodaks. That airplane doesn't owe him anything but will be difficult to replace.

[Mike Griffin]

Joe flies better with a one winged plane than most others with two.  The wind was howling out there today also.

Mike

[James Holford]

Joe flies better with a one winged plane than most others with two.  The wind was howling out there today also.

Mike

You got that right.


 That wind made it tricky for us on Circle 2. What I would have gave to have the ZERO wind we had yesterday morning. My twister flies like its on rails in no wind. I never flew it in the wind like we had this morning which wasnt as bad as it normally gets. But it was a learning experience with it. Just means I need to practice more.

I dont believe I watched a single expert flight today. So wound up with everything going on. 

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[wwwarbird]

 Seems like I recall Joe's T-6 wing being reattached once before?

[goozgog]

  If you look carefully at 0:06
it seems the wing jumped ship
before the inverted pullout.
I might be wrong.

  I remember Joe doinked a yellow T-6
practicing at Brodak's and lost a wing.
He flew that one out too!

Cheers! - K.

[James Holford]

  If you look carefully at 0:06
it seems the wing jumped ship
before the inverted pullout.
I might be wrong.

  I remember Joe doinked a yellow T-6
practicing at Brodak's and lost a wing.
He flew that one out too!

Cheers! - K.

Same T-6 lol

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[Mike Griffin]

Hey Jamie,
I was thinking maybe Joe has a new nickname....how about "One Wing Joe".   That might stick.   A great handle for a great guy.

Mike

[David Russum]

Sometimes magic can only go so far.  Joe had the AT-6 repaired for the Gleason's Fish Fly, and got at least one good flight in, but on a later flight the tail let go, resulting in a comprehensive crash.  The plane was originally built by Don Htchinson, but Joe *does* have a set of plans, so maybe we will see a new version in the future.

[James Holford]

Oh man!!!!

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[Jim Svitko]

I don't think any of this was caught on camera but if someone has video, post it.

I am not exactly sure of the sequence of events.  I was watching the final flight and this is what I saw:  The first half of the wingover looked good and I thought everything would be OK.  On the second half, the previously repaired right wing failed, the left wing then broke off, and what was left broke up on impact.

Several guys gathered around the remains for an autopsy.  Maybe someone can post what was found.

[Joe Gilbert]

The old girl was just to oil soked to save , just couldn't get to enough good wood. I hoped I got enough fix to do job but I was wrong. I think wing came off like Jim said and hit the tail as it left plane. No control left to keep in the air hit little nose down and came all apart. It was a good plane.

Joe Gilbert

[john e. holliday]

Do you have a total of how many flights the plane had?

[Joe Gilbert]

No I kept log for while I think I quit keeping count after second year at 220  it had hunderds of flights I think Don gave it to me in 2006 I am quite sure it hade over 1000 flights lots of people flew it it was a good  flyer.

[john e. holliday]

Sounds like it was ready for retirement.

[wwwarbird]

 Don's 'ol T-6 had a helluva run. This was topped off in great fashion with Joe ending up with Don's very same original model and repeatedly proving it's worth with a long run of kicking butt with it on his own. Seems like Don's build more than met and paid it's dues. Would be great to see a fresh new build of the design and another run started. 

[Sean McEntee]

Joe definitely is a master at the handle, but Don Hutchison deserves as much credit in its design.  I got the opportunity to fly Joe's model several years ago, and shortly after I built one in Aeroshell Aerobatic Team colors with an ST51 on the nose.  A different, yet great flying model.  I took it up to Oshkosh to fly in demo's at Kidventure this past summer, and loaned it to Veronique Beringer to fly in the demo.  She wasn't too sure about it after the first flight, but really liked it after the second (plus shes a heck of a flyer and can pretty much fly anything).  Also got all five AAT team members to autograph it, including the original lead pilot, Alan Henley, which adds to the cool factor

Joe:  My 2 cents is to build Don's F4F that he recently drew up, if that airplane trips your trigger at all.  The Wildcat inherently has a lot of wing area, which is why I asked Don for years to do one **grin**.  As good as that T-6 flew, I bet an F4F with that same power setup would be devastating 

[Elwyn Aud]

Don brought it to VSC 16. Must have been practically new at that time. Joe was flying it at the Texarkana contest in 2005.