Downtown Edmond, Oklahoma in the 1950s. The building was originally a hospital and a movie theater. There is a great Italian restaurant in that building now. We love it.
STEARMAN STACKING!
You've just got to love this! We've all seen photos of crowded aircraft parks after WW-II in which fighters and bombers cover acres as they await scrapping. But after WW-II there were also many aircraft that had been built for other purposes such as training or transport, that had the potential to pursue post-war careers. Among these were C-47 / Dakota transports and T-6 / Harvard trainers. And then there were the Stearmans, many of which had only just begun their flying careers providing primary training for young wartime pilots, but which would go on to expand their careers into civilian training, banner-towing and crop-dusting. But in the first instance, when those WW-II training bases fell silent, the survivors of the 8,594 Model 75 Stearmans produced had to find some secure accommodation. In this remarkable photo, an estimated 150+ Stearmans have been very carefully 'racked and stacked', standing on their noses to minimise their footprint on the floor. Notice how the space between the upper and lower wings of each aircraft is occupied, right up to the inter-plane struts, by the wings of two adjacent aircraft, weaving them all together. Note also the necessary walkway allowances created to facilitate passage between these otherwise log-jammed biplanes! We are wondering if our own Classic Wings Stearman (now a 450 hp 3-seat rides plane) might be one of this group. We have not found her yet!!
This 1947 photo shows French civilians collecting abandoned pierced steel planking (PSP) for sale to a scrapyard. PSP planks could be linked together to create a temporary floor for vehicles, particularly aircraft, to drive over. Millions of tons of the stuff was made, and it can still be seen today being used as fences or barriers.