1966 Fairlane Wagon

strongimg class"alignright size-medium wp-image-1484" src"mediawp-contentmacsuploads201409main-front1-300x178.jpg" alt"main-front" "300" height"178" By John Pritchard by Jerry Fincher Photographybr strongA 66 Fairlane Wagon drag car stands tall as a fitting tribute to our fighting men and women. Vintage supplied by the War Dept. The story behind this car starts with a jinxed nicknamed the Coughin Coffin that was flown in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations for the Allies during World War II. It was a B-26 Martin Marauder manufactured by the Glenn L. Martin Company. This was a fighter-bomber by a Pratt amp; Whitney radial engines, rated at about 2000 hp. Thats right, at that time, it was a hot rod! The big with these was the fact that they went straight from the drawing board into battle. The result was that many good men lost their lives in training, attempting to fly and land these img class"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1487" src"mediawp-contentmacsuploads201409interior6-300x199.jpg" alt"interior" "300" height"199" Nicknames ensued such as, the Widowmaker, The Flying Prostitute, The Whore from Baltimore and the Flying Coffin. Expressions such as One a Day in Tampa Bay haunted this fighter-bomber. The reason was that starting with the B-26As, they had an extremely short wingspan and would stall at the drop of a hat. You had to bring em in hot and hope you had enough runway to stop! Because of the high mortality rate from training, on the Defense Dept. got so bad that General Doolittle, who actually went out on a mission in the Coughin Coffin, demonstrated for relations how to fly the B-26 on one engine. The Coughin Coffin was assigned to the 12supthsup Air Force, 17supthsup Bombardment Group, 34supthsup Bombardment Squadron. It was a B-26B2 and got its nickname before leaving the States from its then Co-Pilot, Lt. David Healion of New Jersey, because the engines coughed asthmatically. Ground troubles chased this jinxed before leaving the U.S. During its tour of duty, the was shot up so badly at times, it had to have 3 or 4 sets of motors, the tail replaced, and the landing gear was damaged to the extent that it had to be belly landed on more than one occasion. The boasted more than 250 flak img class"alignright size-medium wp-image-1488" src"mediawp-contentmacsuploads201409tailgate-300x199.jpg" alt"tailgate" "300" height"199" Imagine 7 guys in cramped quarters for hours on end, taking hundreds of flak and bullet hits over 50 missions and everyone walks away without so much as a nick. Before the left the states they were looking for a to write the Coughin Coffin name on the when they noticed a by one of the ground crew that simply stated God bless the crew of this I will say a for your safe return and was signed by Pvt. J. Regan. The Maj. Wm. R. Pritchard was quoted as saying If it was just luck, the old law of averages would have been ruled out a long time ago and There have been all too many times when something above and beyond our armor and skill has us through. The car serves as a tribute and memorial to the crew of the Coughin Coffin and as a somber reminder to all of the importance of letting our men and women in the military know that we are saying a for your safe return. As a footnote, various newspaper accounts were written in 1943 about the exploits of this and her crew. Most of these start out citing the then follow with detail about mission accomplishments. Harold Adamson wrote the song Coming in on a Wing and Prayer in that same year and it is believed that because of the about the and crew at that time, it may have served at least in as his inspiration. strongPlane Details:strong B-26B2, Army Air Force Serial No. 41-17858. Shot down 8 German ME-109s, Sank an Axis Cruiser, an 18,000 ton troop transport and a 10,000 ton merchant ship. Flew 50 missions as represented by bombs. strongCar Details:strong 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 Station Wagon, by 347 cubic-inch hydraulic. roller small-block. 750 V.S. Holley, Edlebrock Air Gap Intake, AFR 185 Heads, Comp Cams custom grind, Eagle Stroker Kit, C-4 Automatic with Coan 8 converter, 3.89 Spool, 26 Hoosier slicks. Dry weight: 3200 Best et: a href"mailto:11.47115mph"11.47115mpha.