Photos from Jeff Warren's Collection

A simple email request by Jeff Warren of Simpsonville, SC for information about N379A led to our discovery that Jeff has a large collection of photos, hundreds, including many of Mooney Mites.

In the late 60's, Jeff used to fly N379A, which was owned by his friend, Bill Ruch. Bill, in turn, would fly N479M, owned by John Williams (with whom he shared a hangar at Ft Lauderdale Executive). They flew all over South Florida, taking pictures of anything and each other.

Here are Jeff's comments, along with his some of his "air-to-airs":

"I flew Bill’s N4176 a good bit after I got out of the army in 1970, mostly during that year and some in 1971. It was nice that it was a C-55 with an extra tank and the larger cockpit.

"I currently own a Bellanca 14-13-2 Cruisair, N86728."

[Click on photos to see larger versions]

This is me in 379A (Bill Ruch’s Mite) while I was home on leave after basic training (Army) before going overseas. I was 19 at the time. [Photo by Bill Ruch in John Williams’ 479M, 1966]	Not sure who this is; probably taken late 60’s, early 70’s in South Florida. [Ed. note: N4116 was owned by Ira Brannan of Andrews, TX at this time.]
Bill Ruch in his [M-18C-55] 4176. Photo by Jeff Warren, 1970.	Bill in 479M, photo by Jeff, 1966. As shown here, it was originally blue on yellow but Bill repainted it around 1967-68, as John requested “Bearcat Blue.”
N379A in 1967.	N379A, with Bill Ruch handling, 1966.
Bill Ruch flying N379A over Ft. Lauderdale, Commercial Blvd at the beach, 1966.	N479M over Pompano Beach at Hillsboro Inlet, 1967.
John Williams' Mite, N479M, east of Ft. Lauderdale over ocean, 1967.	Parker Warren with his Keleher Lark, 131PW, and Davie Russell with his Mite, N4057, 1971.
Bill Ruch flying N4176 over Ft. Lauderdale area, 1971.	N4176 panel, 1971.

At the time of this writing, N479M is now N9AW, a basket case owned by Patrick Moran of Waterford, California; N4176 is a project for sale as part of Ray Allen's collection in Camp Verde, Arizona; N4116 moved to Canada in 1984 as C-GYQO, crashed, and its remains were last seen in a barn near Calgary, Alberta; N4057 is owned by Walter Dix Jr. of Winter Haven, Florida and is still flying; N379A is registered to an unknown owner in Wilmington, Delaware and now at a location as yet to be discovered.

All photos courtesy of Jeff Warren

2010-11-25