EagleRJ
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2001
- Posts
- 1,490
Skyline said:It is a sad thing that the pilot died but these confederate air force and rich guys are steadily crashing our national heritage. I would like it much better if these things were firmly tied down in a museum.
Skyline
How quickly things change when it comes to warbirds!
As recently as 30 years ago, WWII-era aircraft were being removed from storage at Davis-Monthan AFB and melted down, turned into radio-controlled target drones, or just parked on a target range and strafed back into spare parts. Many of the aircraft in private ownership were sitting derelict in back lots and hangers, and there was no financial justification to get them back into the air. As the number of flyable aircraft grew fewer and fewer, the market price of some models grew from $10,000 to $50,000 to $200,000 to $500,000 over the course of 20 years, and suddenly even wrecks in remote jungles in Indonesia became candidates for restoration.
These days, aircraft like the Lockheed P-38 fetch more than one million dollars for a flyable example. Just 30 years ago, drag racers were buying them as surplus for $5000, taking the Allison engines out, and selling the rest for scrap. I guess you would call that a bad investment decision!
As anyone who has ever been to an airshow can attest, these aircraft are still impressive in the air, even 60 years after defeating Nazism and Japanese Imperialism. Seeing them in the air helps current generations understand the sacrifices our parents and grandparents made during WWII. These aircraft were built to fly, not sit gathering dust in a museum. There are plenty of airframes that are pulling museum duty, but for those that are flyable, I say keep them flying! The only time we should consider grounding a particular type for good is when there are only one or two examples remaining.
Organizations like the Commemorative Air Force, Valient Air Command, Planes of Fame, etc. are doing a tremendous job keeping these aircraft available for the public to see in their natural element. Restoring a warbird to flight can involve tens of thousands of man-hours of work, and maintaining them takes many, many hours of work for every hour of flight. Most of the work is provided by volunteers, some of whom worked on the planes during the war!