These are shots from back in the late 1970s up in Northern California. The PT-17 is the one I used to fly in a club, N747JR - we used to call her in thus: "Tower, Boeing seven-forty-seven-junior..." The N2S-5 was owned by a good friend of ours whose name I no longer have in the files. It used to be fun to take 747JR out at dawn on a summer Saturday morning and run down the Sacramento River at tree-top height, buzzing all the houseboats and holding "Reveille". If I'd done it in a modern airplane I'd still be sitting in the FAA office getting the Riot Act read to me, but everybody likes seeing an old biplane fly over nice and low. They'd all come running out and wave at me.

The last shot was taken at Watsonville at the 1981 Fly-In, running along the coast just south of Santa Cruz.

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Hi Tom,

Was looking for pictures of N747JR that I used to get rides in and saw yours on iModeler.com. The pilot who took me up was a man named "Jack Birch", a really great guy who loved flying and Chili-Cheese dogs from A&W across from the airport. Back in 1978/79 we would work on Jacks Piper Comanche installing wingtip tanks or doing minor maintenance on the Stearman, Jack would say "looks like good flying weather lets go up". He really had a blast with that call sign. I remember there was a Superior Court Judge in the Group who flew in WWII, Rothwell B. Mason. Last time I saw the Stearman it was on top of the Cartwright Aerial Surveys Hanger. I saw the remaining parts are being sold for a project down in Navato. Have fun, Paul Di Loreto