Vintage Wings Inc.
1942 Douglas C-53-DO Skytrooper
The Ground Support
Schultzie the Jeep
1943 Ford GPW
Vintage Wings Inc. would like to announce its newest addition to the Vintage Wings Inc fleet, ”Schultzie the Jeep!” You can’t have Warbird’s without a Willy’s Jeep!!!
This amazing opportunity is provided by Andrew Lang who has generously loaned his 1943 Ford GPW to Vintage Wings Inc.
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“Schultzie the Jeep” is the product of almost 2 years of a father and son's passion for hard work. The Jeep came into the family after Andrew was looking for a project to help keep the family together after his mother passed away from cancer in 2014. After one Ebay ad and a few phone calls in November 2015, Andrew and his dad, Richard, were rolling coal for Florida to pick up a "1942 Willys Jeep". The 1942 Willys turned out to be a 1943 Ford GPW. The duo finished the jeep in September 2017 and have been driving it in parades, convoys, and ice cream patrols ever since. Less than a month later, they had dragged home a Dodge WC-55 Weapons Carrier and are in process of restoring it.
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After watching Beach City Baby lumber into the sky in October 2018, Andrew took the inspiration from watching the Vintage Wings Inc. team resurrect an entire airplane and decided to work up some courage and pursue his own dream of owning and maintaining a small motor-pool of military vehicles. From there, as he says, the trucks just started popping up out of nowhere. The collection has now expanded to include a representative of almost every production model of military truck Dodge/Fargo Corporation manufactured for the US Army. Andrew and Richard work out of their small garages, one truck at a time, and one piece at a time, to do their part in preserving history and keeping them rolling!
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Andrew is very excited to share his 4 wheeled treasures with Vintage Wings Inc. In the future when you visit the airplane, keep an eye out for any one or more of these trucks parked for your viewing pleasure!
"Herb" the Tug
1956 Hobart Tractor Aircraft Tug / GPU
Built in 1956 by Hobart Aircraft Tractors, this classic Tug/GPU was donated to Vintage Wings Inc. by Tom Pizzuti of Aeronational, Inc. and has been restored to represent a WWII Army Air Corps Tug by Herb & Dawn Jankovich of Vintage Wings Inc. President & Founder Jason Capra used to drive this tug as a "line boy" when he first started working at Aeronational Inc. when he was 15 years old. It is our honor to be able to give "Herb" the retirement she deserves pulling the C-53 in and out of the hangar.
"The Dodge"
1942 Dodge WC-55
Built in 1942, this Dodge WC-55, Serial #81530591, was used in Operation Torch just like our C-53 "Beach City Baby." Found and purchased by Andrew & Richard Lang, the father son team is hard at work restoring this important WWII vehicle back to it's 1942 glory the way it appeared in North Africa. Stay tuned for more updates on this amazing restoration which will add to our mission of telling the story of the North African Campaign.
