“PERIL UP!” will be the headline on this blog when a restored N3N makes a first flight.
In this case, it is the Yanks Air Museum bird: N45070, bureau # 2804. First flight was July 20, 2013
Here is a photo of the aircraft, taken a week or so before the COA was issued in March:
There is a short video (on the Yanks facebook page) of the first taxi test on July 18th:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=622863181070932
The FAA registration was transferred to Charles Nichols (the Yanks principle) in 1996, so this aircraft spent 17 years at Chino waiting to return to the air.
The last record that I can find for N45070 is an NTSB incident report from 1971 showing “substantial damage” while spraying out of Stanfield, Arizona (link below). So it is entirely possible that this aircraft hadn’t flown in over 40 years.
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=3413&key=0
According to the Yanks restoration manager, this aircraft is on its way to a new home in Jackson, California. I am waiting for the FAA registration to come through with confirmation of the transfer.
UPDATE: This You Tube video appears to be N45070, note the JCQ departure airport: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=saq5ar2TTmM
The N3N Blog - it's "Not a Stearman" 