restlesswind wrote: We spent two weeks at the Wright Pat "fam camp" in June.We spent 3 days visiting the museum.It's a great museum.It was especially nice to see an airplane that I worked on many years ago,the C130 Gunship.(Spectre)At that time,it was in Thailand in support of the Vietnam war.They had video cameras and recorders to record the action.I worked on the recorders.Many moons ago,in another lifetime.
Wow...small world...I delivered munitions to that bird in Thailand in the 70s.
All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
We were recently at WRight Pat. The wife particularly wanted to see the aircraft from my outfit at Cam Ranh Bay. We actually found the Caribou, and it WAS from a my squadron(458th), a "Red Tail" bou. Brought back some memories.
Didn't make the whole tour. We WILL go back for sure.
Can any of the air craft in that vast collection actually "fly " ? As in have a air worthyness certficate ? OR are they all "hangar queens " ?
With the budget of the US air force, it seems odd that they don't have a rebuilding program to get them to fly, at least a few of them ?
Jim B
Toronto.
I don't believe military planes get air worthieness certificates. The military decides if they can fly or not and not the FAA. But to answer your question, most, if not all of the planes there are not in a condition where you can roll them out on the runway and fly them away. But they could probably most be made ready to fly again if somebody had quite a few millions dollars laying around they didn't need. All of the big planes that had there (as far as I know) where flown into the museum and retired. I was there in May of 2005 when the last C-141 was retired. It was flown in and landed on the closed runway next to the museum and eventually towed over to it's spot never to be flown again.
2004 National Tropi-Cal T-350, Class A, Triple slide, 330 HP Cat DP. 2006 Dodge Dakota 4x4 or
2002 Harley FLSTF Fat Boy on a Trailer or
2004 Polaris Quad on the Trailer
I will direct your attention to the 43 WW2 aircraft that DO FLY at the Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum, located at Hamiliton International Air Port, 40 miles to the west of Toronto.
A few points. The CWHM is NOT government supported, not one penny. It is fully funded and they do ALL of the restoration work in house, through PRIVATE donations. Every one of the collection is FLOWN on a regular basis, at least 2 days of each month. more in the summer time.
The total number of aircraft now exceeds 60, and they are also going to be fully restored. to flying condition, in the near future.
here is the Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum website, with a feature page for each of it's flying WW2 air craft.
WWW.warplane.ca.
So, obviously, it IS possible to restore and FLY WW2 aircraft, even if the USAF doesn't .
By the way, our AVRO Lancaster is the only one in North American, that flies, and it has been all over Canada( all 10 Provinces ) and as far south as Texas and California, to attend air shows. The Lancaster was the four engine heavy bomber that flew night missions to Germany, and it was the heavy lift champ able to carry a max bomb load of 24,000 lbs, the GRAND SLAM bomb that was used against the U boat pens on the coast of France. There were 7,778 Lancasters built, and now there are only two in the world that still fly, ours and the one flown by the RAF.
Ours took 11 years to restore to flying condition.
Jim B
Toronto.
* This post was
edited 09/02/11 07:15pm by an administrator/moderator *
I will direct your attention to the 43 WW2 aircraft that DO FLY at the Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum, located at Hamiliton International Air Port, 40 miles to the west of Toronto.
A few points. The CWHM is NOT government supported, not one penny. It is fully funded and they do ALL of the restoration work in house, through PRIVATE donations. Every one of the collection is FLOWN on a regular basis, at least 2 days of each month. more in the summer time.
The total number of aircraft now exceeds 60, and they are also going to be fully restored. to flying condition, in the near future.
here is the Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum website, with a feature page for each of it's flying WW2 air craft.
WWW.warplane.ca.
So, obviously, it IS possible to restore and FLY WW2 aircraft, even if the USAF doesn't .
By the way, our AVRO Lancaster is the only one in North American, that flies, and it has been all over Canada( all 10 Provinces ) and as far south as Texas and California, to attend air shows. The Lancaster was the four engine heavy bomber that flew night missions to Germany, and it was the heavy lift champ able to carry a max bomb load of 24,000 lbs, the GRAND SLAM bomb that was used against the U boat pens on the coast of France. There were 7,778 Lancasters built, and now there are only two in the world that still fly, ours and the one flown by the RAF.
Ours took 11 years to restore to flying condition.
Jim B
Toronto.
And you're "directing my attention" to this why? You asked about the USAF Museum and the planes there and I answered your question. There many WWII planes being flown in the U.S. by many different groups, just not by the USAF as far as I know. So I don't understand what you think is so "obvious" that I somehow missed.
Can any of the air craft in that vast collection actually "fly " ? As in have a air worthyness certficate ? OR are they all "hangar queens " ?
With the budget of the US air force, it seems odd that they don't have a rebuilding program to get them to fly, at least a few of them ?
Jim B
Toronto.
None are airworthy. Although most could be returned to the air with minimal preparation. When these aircraft are consigned to the NMUSAF they are placed in a state of preservation to minimize their deterioration.
Many were in long term storage before being moved to the museum. As such these were already taken off of flight status.
Some of the aircraft have an interesting history. The B-17 in the NMUSAF, "Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby" is a 91st bomb group veteran. It developed mechanical issues over Germany, and forced landed in Sweden. The Swedes used it for years as a transport. In the early 1980s the Swedes returned Shoo to the USAF due to it's historical significance. A group of USAF reservists at Dover AFB, Delaware returned Shoo to her wartime configuration including making her airworthy. Shoo was then flown from Dover AFB to the NMUSAF. This being her final flight, Shoo will be flown ever again.
Can any of the air craft in that vast collection actually "fly " ? As in have a air worthyness certficate ? OR are they all "hangar queens " ?
With the budget of the US air force, it seems odd that they don't have a rebuilding program to get them to fly, at least a few of them ?
Jim B
Toronto.
None are airworthy. Although most could be returned to the air with minimal preparation. When these aircraft are consigned to the NMUSAF they are placed in a state of preservation to minimize their deterioration.
Many were in long term storage before being moved to the museum. As such these were already taken off of flight status.
Some of the aircraft have an interesting history. The B-17 in the NMUSAF, "Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby" is a 91st bomb group veteran. It developed mechanical issues over Germany, and forced landed in Sweden. The Swedes used it for years as a transport. In the early 1980s the Swedes returned Shoo to the USAF due to it's historical significance. A group of USAF reservists at Dover AFB, Delaware returned Shoo to her wartime configuration including making her airworthy. Shoo was then flown from Dover AFB to the NMUSAF. This being her final flight, Shoo will be flown ever again.
It would seem a couple of you missed my post on this subject?
I didn't miss it. I was trying to figure out what JimBunting was talking about. As far as I know, the US Air Force does not operate any aircraft just for historical significance. At least I have never seen any other than ones being moved to the musuem like the one you described. I do know the Commerative Air Force (formerly the Confederate Air Force) has all types of older planes they still fly.
The National Museum of the AF does have planes dating all the way back to a Wright Flyer and all the way up to a B-1.
* This post was
edited 09/02/11 07:16pm by an administrator/moderator *
Yeah, all of the USAF's heritage aircraft are static. Any U.S. warbirds that fly are done so by private entities.
I think it is cool that the RCAF has a heritage flight program, but in the U.S., private vintage warbird ownership works just as well, maybe better since the private aviation insurance companies, and the FAA are WAY more strict about regulations regarding flying vintage aircraft especially when it comes to things like airframe corrosion, and pilot qualification.
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