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During
the late 1960’s, one of the most colorful and best none air racers was
E.D. Weiner’s P-51 known as Bardahl. In the mid to late 1960’s the aircraft won a number of
cross-country races including the Harold’s Club trophy. In 1969 E.D. Weiner became ill and passed away in Reno, thus ending
one of the most successful and colorful careers in Air Racing history. Weiner’s widow, Valerie Bonzer, sent the Bardahl to the EAA
Museum in Wisconsin where it remained until the museum’s reorganization
several years later. At that
time the aircraft was sold and in the following years changed owners
several times. In 1989 the
aircraft was showing signs of neglect and Ms. Bonzer became concerned that
the aircraft would just waste away if something weren’t done to preserve
it. At that time she had the
plane brought to Falcon Field near her residence. She began a search for someone qualified to restore the Bardahl and
in 1996 GossHawk was retained to complete a full prop to tail restoration. Except for the autopilot and the old radios that were removed, the
racer was returned to its original glory, complete with it’s
checkerboard paint scheme.
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