Wings Over Miami’s latest restored plane in the hangar is a LTA which was originally delivered to the Navy in 1943 as a SNJ/4 on March 31, 1943. Brought back to the United States from Venezuela in 1992, Walt Orth, a pilot and museum founder, bought it in 2000. He gathered together a restoration team and began working on it without delay.

While the plane’s serial number, 88-12821, is still the original, the airplane took on a new look as a 1949 LTA-6G. Accomplishing this task of being true to design required a momentous amount of research and study by Walt, Vinny Tirado and crew chief Harry Adams. All the detailed documentation for the restoration project has resulted in the compilation of the most thorough information and documents around on this type of aircraft.

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