# What happened to all the WW2 aircraft after the war?



## Flyboy15 (Jul 1, 2005)

Most of them were manufactured in the thousands, and yet somehow only a few remain flyable today. What exactly happened? Did people really care so little about these machines after the war that they were scrapped

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## GT (Jul 1, 2005)

Update.


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## evangilder (Jul 1, 2005)

You also have to remember that after years of war, alot of people wanted to get on with their lives. I have pictures of B-17s and B-24s at Kingman Arizona that were left to rot for a number of years before being melted down for scrap metal. Some of those aircraft had as little as 10 hours on them. Others had 50+ missions under them. Sadly, very few people had the foresight to preserve them for the sake of history.

Fortunately today there are organizations like the Collings Foundation, Planes of Fame and the CAF that preserve these old birds in flyable condition. The question is how long it can continue. Insurance for these old planes get higher and higher every year and 100 octane avgas may be a thing of the past soon as well.

To see static displays in a museum is a nice treat, but to see them fly and hear the roar of the engines is almost orgasmic, if you love old planes.


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## P38 Pilot (Jul 1, 2005)

It is sad. Champions back then are now rotting like they were useless. But Flyboy15 you have to understand that when the cold war arrived, jets began to replace the regular planes. The P51D was replaced by the F-80 Sabre in the Korean war while the B-29 was replaced by the B-52 Stratobomber in Vietnam. But there was a Aircraft that i was proud to see carry on.

When WWII was over, the C-47 still remained the basic paratrooper mobility aircraft. But when Korea was over we had thousands of these birds in our military yards ready to be scrapped. But some how the idea for a "Flying Platform" came about and the C47 became the AC-47 Flying Platform, with nicknames like, "Puff the Magic Dragon"or Ghosty. Because the AC-47 became the best night aircraft during the Vietnam War. 

When things get outdated they are simply scraped. But in the hearts of WWII avition lovers, they still remain our heroes.

Like Macarther said when he was being decommisioned in Korea, "Old soldiers dont die, they just fade away..."


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## evangilder (Jul 1, 2005)

The F-80 was the shooting star, the sabre was the F-86. The B-29 led to other developments like the B-50 before they got to the B-52, which was the stratofortress, not Stratobomber.

The C-47s were used in a variety of roles in Vietnam, not just the AC-47. There was also an EC-47 electronic reconnaissance platform and they were still being used for transports. A number of DC-3s are still in service in a number of countries laboring on to deliver cargo to remote locations in severe weather.

There were also some special built B-25s used in Vietnam, although not in significant numbers.


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## P38 Pilot (Jul 1, 2005)

Thx for correcting me......


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Jul 1, 2005)

yup, scrapped, it's such a shame, famrers were buying old lancs for £100 and using them for their sheet metal and wiring.........


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## cheddar cheese (Jul 1, 2005)

When you see the pictures of perfectly good P-38's piled into heaps its such a shame. It would have at least been worth selling them off to other countries to make a few bucks.


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## P38 Pilot (Jul 1, 2005)

And these planes were beautiful too.


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## cheddar cheese (Jul 1, 2005)

Yup


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## P38 Pilot (Jul 1, 2005)

I wish we could keep them but when the war was over we were so desperate for money to pay for all the aircraft and other material that we put these beautiful birds into the heaps!


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## cheddar cheese (Jul 1, 2005)

Id buy one....or two...or 3 so the whole family could commute in them


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## P38 Pilot (Jul 1, 2005)

There is a problem going around with WWII aircraft. When i went to a airshow in Auburn there was a beautiful C-45. It had the British insignia and camo on it! The pilot of the plane said he could give anyone who paid 45$ a ride. The sad thing is that he told me they are getting so desperate for money right now that she is hard to keep alive. The plane was rescued in a boneyard. They had to put in there own parts but some of the plane was still from the regular plane. Id show you what she looked like but i cant find the pictures....


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Jul 1, 2005)

yeah money is a huge problem, luckily many planes have well supported support groups.......


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## FLYBOYJ (Jul 1, 2005)

Unless you're very rich, a foundation is the only way you're going to keep a warbird flying. When I worked for Al Hansen his F-86 sucked about 300 gallons of jet fuel per flight. Right now Jet A in the States costs anywhere from $2.10 to 3.85 a gallon. Do the math!


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## evangilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Even some of the large organizations are having a tough time keeping afloat these days. The fuels costs are up but the insurance rates are getting worse and worse every year, especially on the old warbirds.


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## Rafe35 (Jul 1, 2005)

The Fleet Air Arm dump their Corsairs into bottom of the sea of Pacific since FAA asked USA If they want have it back again, but turn out USA doesn't need them anymore and so Royal Navy finally dump the Corsairs into the sea or burn them.

Also, RNZAF burn their Corsairs in 2-3 years later after the War ended.

A friend of mine told me that he believe there is some WWII birds (Scrap) are still around in Marianas Island (boneyards for Bell B-29 Superfortress, B-24 Liberators, Gumman Avengers, and others during aftermath WWII), Wonder If the boneyard ever exist there today?


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## wmaxt (Jul 1, 2005)

evangilder said:


> Even some of the large organizations are having a tough time keeping afloat these days. The fuels costs are up but the insurance rates are getting worse and worse every year, especially on the old warbirds.



Evan, B-25s in Vietnam? Do you have any info? I've heard of B-26s.

wmaxt


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## Rafe35 (Jul 1, 2005)

B-26 Invaders did saw action over Vietnam, but B-25 Mitchell? Hmmm.


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## evangilder (Jul 1, 2005)

I am trying to gather some info. I have been talking with a former Spec Ops guy who was in Vietnam. We have been talking about some of the old days and airplanes, etc. He mentioned that there were B-25s in small numbers there for Spec Ops, but wouldn't say what their mission was. He don't offer, I don't ask. I'll see what I can find out while keeping the stuff that needs to be kept under wraps where it belongs.


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## cheddar cheese (Jul 2, 2005)

Im pretty sure that B-25's in 'Nam was mentioned here before somewhere - painted all black for special missions or something like that.


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## Rafe35 (Jul 2, 2005)

Actually I only know three aircraft WWII saw Vietnam (B-29 Superfortress as tanker, B-26 Invader, and C-47 Dakota aka AC-47 Spooky)...


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## plan_D (Jul 3, 2005)

No, it was the B-17, CC. I mentioned it. I cannot find the information because I had it written down and someone has messed with my organised mess. 

What I can remember is, they were stripped of all armament and painted all black. They were designated RB-17 and they were ex-World War 2 B-17Gs. They were based at Clark AFB in the Phillipines, and were used for recce and dropping agents.


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## Rafe35 (Jul 4, 2005)

Plan_D

That would be Central Intelligence Agency (CIA, former OSS) of Southeast Asia while they fly Boeing RB-17G


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## plan_D (Jul 4, 2005)

They flew over Vietnam, I was answering CCs question...or more updating his comment.


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## cheddar cheese (Jul 4, 2005)

plan_D said:


> No, it was the B-17, CC. I mentioned it. I cannot find the information because I had it written down and someone has messed with my organised mess.
> 
> What I can remember is, they were stripped of all armament and painted all black. They were designated RB-17 and they were ex-World War 2 B-17Gs. They were based at Clark AFB in the Phillipines, and were used for recce and dropping agents.



My bad.


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## hellmaker (Jul 12, 2005)

It's so sad what happened to all those wonderful airplanes... It's really a shame... Someone should have predicted that they would be an important part of our culture and of our history...


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## FLYBOYJ (Jul 12, 2005)

Because they became so obsolete so quickly I guess the feeling of that time was to beat the swords into plowshares. I also think that many who experienced the air war would just rather forget than see the aircraft they fought in on a regular basis.

I had an uncle who washed out of pilot training and eventually became a B-24 bombardier. Right before he was supposed to go overseas he was in a horrific crash where he was the only survivor of an 11 man crew. Even though he was trained in aircraft maintenance and probably could of stayed in the industry after the war, he preferred to do something else.


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## plan_D (Jul 12, 2005)

Perfectly understandable. These days we see these beautiful birds as something that fought for liberty as well as a wonderful machine. We, however, didn't have to sit in one while it was getting chewed to pieces - or we didn't have to jump out of one on fire. 

I suppose it's mixed reaction - some had good memories - other's not so good.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jul 12, 2005)

I met a fellow in the early 1980s who told me he was a B-17 navigator. Somewhere in the conversation I asked him "when was the last time he seen a B-17." He sat for a minute, rattled off a date in 1944 and said "when I was falling away from it."

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## plan_D (Jul 12, 2005)

I assume he never wanted to see one again.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jul 12, 2005)

YEP!


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## Versatile (Jul 13, 2005)

After the war most were sold for about 2 cents on the dollar. i know a guy that went in the bug spraying business. they bought A-26's and B-17's etc out in Az. The bidders all carried sticks to dip the fuel tanks. When they opened the gate a bunch of guys took off running to be the first to dip as most of the had an agreement not to bid against each other because there were so many aircraft to bid on. Can you imagine rows of AC that were six miles long? The top bidder for scrapping them out was a little unknown firm from Jefferson City Mo. No they didn't scrap them im Mo. The best deal was to bid on those will a load of fuel. In otherwords you bought the fuel and got the AC free! I once tracked down 24 BT-13'S that were in Stuttgart Ar. They had been purchased by a crop duster and he pulled the engines to use on dusters. I used a 1964 magazine and this was in 1987. Went to the guys house and his wife came to the door and i could see a old guy in a wheel chair. The guy was the owner and they had sold them for scrap about two months before i arrived! DRAT!
The town of Rolla Mo. decided to by a B-24 to put in the city park. They got a great deal on it for a new almost zero time AC for $1800.00. A problem occured when they were going to move it from the airfield at Vichy Mo. a bridge that was to narrow nixed the plans. The AC stayed at Vichy for around two years and they even let the townspeople go for a ride a couple times as i was told. I have no idea whom did the flying! Musta been fun though.


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## evangilder (Jul 13, 2005)

We had a P-38 in our museum for a while that was purchased from the war department in 1946 for $1,250!


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## Barrett (Aug 23, 2018)

The SF guy has his numbers skewed. No B-25s remained in combat squadron service very long after 1945. Those that did remain were transports and nav/bomb trainers. Of course, the AF did itself no favor by declaring the A-26 to be the B-26 when of course the Marauder owned that title for the entire war.

As for what happened to thousands & thousands of WW II planes: jets happened! That combined with a massive, toxic indifference to History on the part of the US military establishment.


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## bobbysocks (Aug 23, 2018)

there were photos of planes in scrap yards in the desert but those were sooner of later torn apart for the aluminum and other metals. after the war getting economies up and running was the priority and thousands of planes or anything else for that matter sitting around that served no purpose was sent to smelters. shortly before he was sent home ( when the war was over ) my dad walked in on a sergeant in a supply hut. he had a small anvil and a hammer. he was breaking the lenses out of aviator sunglasses, bending up the frames and throwing them in a wooden crate.


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## herman1rg (Aug 23, 2018)

I know where there are crates of Spitfires buried in Burma.................

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## soulezoo (Aug 23, 2018)

I was watching "The Best Years of Our Lives" the other day. Toward the end of the movie they showed one of the boneyards full of various dive bombers and-17's.


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