before being sent to Vietnam.” Then he put the PT in a
barn in Connecticut. “When he said that, it felt like I got
hit with a brick,” Jim said. “I could have kicked myself
for selling the PT; I could have just as easily flown it to
Texas and stored it in my father’s barn. We spoke some
more, and I kidded him about selling it back, but there
was no way he would.”
After spending a year
in Vietnam, Jim was
sent to Japan where he
served an additional
four years. Eventually
the thoughts of the
PT- 23 began to fade
from his memory,
but not completely.
When Jim left the
service, he settled in
Florida and became a
school administrator.
He continued to fly
and bought a Cessna
150 to putter around
in while he was
building a Long-EZ.
As the years zoomed
by, Jim began to
think more about
his long-lost PT and
wondered whatever
became of Hal. He
began to play detective on his computer
and eventually, in 2000, located
information on a Hal Warren in
Connecticut. Jim was concerned
the information might be outdated
because of Hal’s age.
I was concerned that Hal wouldn’t
remember who I was, said Jim. Jim
called and not only did Hal remember him but also said he had been
looking for Jim for many years. Hal
said he spent quite a bit of time on
the phone with the postmaster in
Miles, Texas, trying to locate me. I was glad I was sitting
down when Hal told me why he was looking for me.”
“My sons don’t want the PT- 23, and I want you to have
it back,” Hal told him.
“I was shocked and excited all at the same time,” Jim
recalled. He agreed to visit his old friend in July 2000 with
the hope of flying the PT back to Florida. “But, I lost hope
when I opened the barn door,” Jim said.
Jim thought he would go up to Connecticut and
with “just a few turns of a wrench” he would jump in
and fly the PT home. Instead, he realized that time,
critters, and the elements had not been kind to the
mostly wood and fabric airplane. Although Hal had
the foresight to park the PT in a barn, he neglected to
cover the airplane or pickle the engine. Jim admitted it
was a bittersweet moment. Although he was reunited
with his old reliable mount, this was not what he had
imagined it would look like.
“There were mice camping
inside the dust-covered wings
and fuselage, the paint was
peeling off the belly, and the
cockpits were full of trash.”
Luckily Hal, the former owner of the PT, had a lot of spare
parts around so Jim was able to transplant pieces and parts to
replace those eaten away by the PT’s barn cohabitants.
