VIBRATIONS
GOOD
A mere shell of its former self, Seawolf 324 begins its restoration transformation.
was shifting gears and refocusing my
attention to old warbirds. I purchased
two P- 40 Warhawk projects with the
intent of restoring them. I thought I was
retiring from the helicopter side of life to
rebuild warbirds; then everything went
sideways with the historic discovery from
a single piece of paper.”
When John purchased his 14 Huey
airframes, each costing around $700,
all of them came with original logs and
associated paperwork. “I had no idea
about this helicopter’s historic signifi-
cance,” John said. “One of my good
friends, Pat Rodgers of Wings and Rotors
Air Museum located in California, was
over to my shop one day scrounging
for parts when he asked if he could look
through all the logbooks. He spent two
days poring over them and then burst
into my office one day, tossed a logbook
on my desk, and said, ‘You have to rebuild
this aircraft!’
“Of course I asked him why, and he
replied that it was a Seawolf Huey. Before
I could ask Seawolf what, Pat gave me the
history of the unit. After hearing they
were the most highly decorated squadron
in U.S. Navy history, I knew I had to save
this helicopter,” John said.
John found that this particular Huey
had three major combat repairs performed on it when he began the
restoration. The nose itself had two significant ones, along with a half-dozen
minor repairs found along the door posts
and fuselage. Some repair patches were
easy for John to recognize.
“They used beer cans as patches,” John
said and chuckled. “Schlitz, Pabst, and
other beer can patches were found on the
Huey. Legend has it that one Seawolf Huey
had hundreds of beer can patches attached
to it. More of a flying billboard I guess.
JOHN FOUND THAT THIS
PARTICULAR HUEY HAD
THREE MAJOR COMBAT
REPAIRS PERFORMED ON
IT WHEN HE BEGAN THE
RESTORATION.
