Wednesday, July 9, 1997 | 10:01 a.m.
It's not your typical fire engine.
In fact, you'll probably never see anything like it again.
If you get a chance, check out the new addition to the Aviation Heritage Museum at McCarran International Airport on the second level. Peg Crockett, who with her late husband, George, owned Alamo Airways from the 1940s through the '60s, donated a replica of their 1956 Thunderbird crash car.
Actually, the reddish-orange T-Bird with twin carbon dioxide canisters and flashing lights was the airport's early answer to fire prevention. Many times, it raced across the old dirt Alamo Field runway -- site of McCarran International Airport -- to put out a prop plane's engine fire.
"People thought it was a toy or a publicity thing," Crockett said at Tuesday's dedication ceremony. "But it was practical because it was so fast and maneuverable."
"Dad took off in the Thunderbird, and usually was the fist one to the scene," Caty Crockett said of her father's quick-reaction time. "We had a motel on the airfield and lived at the end of it."
The Thunderbird was restored by Imperial Palace Auto Collection owner Richie Clyne. Three restoration experts spent seven months carefully recreating the appearance of the classic little roadster.
"It was a labor of love because I knew where it was going," Clyne said. "It's 100 percent authentic. We even specially manufactured the spotlights to original."
Peg and George Crockett used the T-Bird from 1957 through 1968 on the airfield they founded in 1941. When they sold the airport to Clark County in 1947, they continued to run Alamo Airways until 1968.
On Dec. 4, 1958, when the Hacienda Hotel sponsored an endurance flight, the '56 T-Bird came in very handy. Robert Timm and John Cook were flying a Cessna 172 above a dry lake bed near Primm, when their fuel started running low.
The fuel tanker was down, so George Crockett fired up the T-Bird, loaded several 5-gallon cans of fuel in the back and rocketed off to the lake bed.
Racing along beneath the flying plane, Crockett had an assistant haul the fuel cans up a rope.
"Fuel was spilling all over the car, but it worked," Peg Crockett said with a laugh.
The endurance stunt lasted 64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes. Money raised went to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.
"We want to maintain the history of aviation here in Las Vegas," Randy Walker, director of aviation at McCarran, said. "We are very thankful for this generous donation."
Peg Crockett said it was more personal running a small airport back in the '50s and '60s. Celebrities would fly in, and they'd shuttle them to town via their 16-cylinder Cadillac limousine. Her husband was friends with Howard Hughes, who routinely flew into town and frequently stopped by the motel to visit.
"It was fun back then," Peg Crockett remembered. "You got to know everybody in town. Many times the Thunderbird would lead planes down the runway. We knew a lot of celebrities. They all flew out to Las Vegas."
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