Flying Aircraft of WWII

[wmaxt]

I have a Question: How many restored Aircraft (flying/flyable) are still out there. I know this is a far reaching question but for instance it's often quoted that there are 7 P-38s that are flyable. I've seen 5 personally and know of several others. Let me limit it to these 10 for now. No P-51s because there are so many I'm limiting this to more rare cases.

Aircraft Qty I've seen Qty I've heard about
P-38 5 8
F4U 10 14
bf-109 3 5
FW-190 0 3
B-29 1 Almost 3 2 are being refurbished
Spitfires 3 5
me-262 0 0
B-26 0 1
Zero 1 1
Hurricane 0 0

Any I've left off are time/space (mossie, Lancs for example) feel free to put them into your posts too.

 

[Nonskimmer]

Well, where Lancasters are concerned, I'm only aware of two currently flying in the world. One is part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in the UK, while the other belongs to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Not sure of the exact marks.

 

[wmaxt]

Cool Maybe we can get a listing going?

 

[Medvedya]

There are a couple of flying Hurris that I saw at Duxford, and a flying Blenhiem. The Blenhiem had a bad prang several years ago, but I think they've managed to get it back into flying order.

 

[plan_D]

These are surviving Mustangs in Britain -
G-BIXL 'Miss Helen
G-BTCD 'Ferocious Frankie'
G-CBNM 'Twilight Tear'
G-HAEC 'Big Beautiful Doll'
G-MSTG 'Janie'
G-SIJJ 'Jumpin'-Jacques'
G-SUSY 'SUSY'
N51RT 'The Duck'
N314BG 'Petie 2nd'
44-13954 'Da' Quake'
44-14574 'Little Zippie'
44-73979 'Big Beautiful Doll' ('Flying' in the Imperial War Museum)
'413573' 'Isabel III'

As far as I know all except the one mention are flying or being restored to flight worthy conditions.

 

[plan_D]

And there's 5 Me-262s being restored to flight worthy, and one already flying in Seattle. I think it's Seattle.

 

[Karaya_1]

Yes, it's Seattle and after a crash on their 3rd flight, the Lady is back in the air again....we have also 1 Me 108, 2 Me 109's and a FW 190 now flying in Germany....they are building a series of 13 aircraft (11 flyable and 9 already sold) including 2 FW 190 D-9 !!!!!!!

 

[Nonskimmer]

Cool! 8)

 

[evangilder]

Hey Karaya, is that a Fouga Magister flying with the Me-262?

 

[R Pope]

I've seen three B-17's at airshows, we towed the Memphis Belle with our Cletrac M2 at Saskatoon. And yes, that is a Fouga Magister flying with the 262, a classic in its own right, but kinda fades into the background when there's a real live Messer around!

 

[Archangel]

B-17,.. in america still used as water-bombers to extinguish fires in woods

and yes,.. there are still flying ju 87 skuka's.. but since there are only 2 originals left, they are all copy's (or who you call it :S (4got >.< ))
so i dont think u can call them flying ww2 aircraft ^^

 

[Nonskimmer]

Well, replicas beat nothing. Several Yak variants have been built in Russia in recent years for private collectors. Mostly in the US, I believe. They've supposedly been built using original specifications, although with better quality engines made in the US.

 

[Archangel]

yes... but i dont think u can call them ww2 aircraft. it are replica's after all

i mean, if i would build a car, that looks like a ferrari, even if its exact the same/ or better than one, a dealer or whoever would never accept it as a real ferrari and thats my point

 

[evangilder]

I have a Question: How many restored Aircraft (flying/flyable) are still out there. I know this is a far reaching question but for instance it's often quoted that there are 7 P-38s that are flyable. I've seen 5 personally and know of several others. Let me limit it to these 10 for now. No P-51s because there are so many I'm limiting this to more rare cases.

Aircraft Qty I've seen Qty I've heard about
P-38 5 8
F4U 10 14
bf-109 3 5
FW-190 0 3
B-29 1 Almost 3 2 are being refurbished
Spitfires 3 5
me-262 0 0
B-26 0 1
Zero 1 1
Hurricane 0 0

Any I've left off are time/space (mossie, Lancs for example) feel free to put them into your posts too.

Sometimes it depends on the sources as to how many of each there are left.

P-38, somewhere in the range of 7-10. The CAF P-38 "Scatterbrain Kid II" is still in pieces, but will someday probably be flyable again. Lefty Gardner's "White Lightning" is allegedly going to be rebuilt as well (Wheels up landing in a field after both engines failed after takeoff). There is one in our museum and at least 2-3 more in Chino. USAF Museum has one as well, don't know the flying status of that one.

F4U- I have seen the total of around 30, if you count The Brewster F-3A and the Goodyear FG-1 models. I have seen recent pictures with formations of 10. There is a "Gathering of the Corsairs" once a year here in the states, but I am not sure where. There is one flyable in Chino at Planes of Fame (POF).

Bf-109- I know our museum was supposed to get one a while back, but it ended up getting sold with the Hurricane that we did have in our museum. There are about 10, that I have heard, if you count the Ha-II 12-Mil models. Another static model is at POF. They also have the HA-II in restoration right now there.

FW-190- I have no info on that one, but I do know that there is one at the Champlin fighter museum. Don't know it's current status.

B-29- There is currently only one that flies, the CAF B-29 "Fifi". It took the CAF several years to find and when they did, it was that one and a number of others that were being used for target practice out at China Lake! I have not heard of any restorations to flyable status, but the Smithsonian just did a ground up restoration of the "Enola Gay" for static display. The other atomic B-29, "Bockscar" is in the USAF museum in Ohio. It is inside, so I doubt it has flown in many years. There is a B-50A fuselage at POF on static display.

Spitfire- The numbers vary wildly, but I have heard around 50! We have a Mk.XIV in our museum, there are three flyable ones at POF as well, Mk.IXe, Mk.XIV and PR Mk.XIX. I also was told of a couple in Denver including one of the rare two-seaters.

Me-262- I don't think there are any original ones still flying, and I think the 5 that were mentioned earlier in this thread are the replicas that are being made with the original plans and an example aircraft. They are being built true to spec though, so do they count, I say yes. Their site is at http://www.stormbirds.com and they have a COOL site!!!

B-26- I have heard one, but I know that the French restored one a number of years ago, whether it is flyable or not, I don't know. The USAF museum has one, but I don't think it flies. That one is pretty rare.

Zero- I know personally of at least 2, with a third one going to be restored. We have one in our museum, a Mitsubishi built A6M3-22, but it has parts of other Zeroes, we believe due to some idiosyncracies with this particular bird. Chino has another one, A6M5 Zeke 52. Both of these fly. Additionally, there is one that has been in pieces in our museum that is being sold. It will most likely be restored to flyable condition. The buyer is unknown and wants to maintain privacy. Rumors are rampant, but few really know.

Huricane- One of my personal favorites! I know of at least 2 that fly. One used to be in our museum, but was sold to a Canadian buyer. Will that buyer keep it flyable is unknown. POF has one in Chino as well, Mk.X. I saw at least one fly in England as well. So I know that the IWM has at least one. New Zealand has at least one as well. I have heard there are about 6, but there may be more than that.

That is what I know. Others may have more info. I am hoping to get out to Chino sometime this week or after the new year to check it out and report back. There are 2 museums there worth checking out, POF and Yanks. If you want to see their collection online, check out;

http://www.planesoffame.org
and
http://www.yanksair.com

Whew!

 

[Nonskimmer]

yes... but i dont think u can call them ww2 aircraft. it are replica's after all

i mean, if i would build a car, that looks like a ferrari, even if its exact the same/ or better than one, a dealer or whoever would never accept it as a real ferrari and thats my point

A good point, but how many "authentic" warbirds have been rebuilt to flying condition using refabricated parts?
Very few of those in flying condition today are completely original.
Still, you bring up a very valid point.

 

[Archangel]

I think there are thousands of ww2 planes still flying all over the world. and i think it will stal like that 4 decades

and I know there's a book where you can read how many replacement parts can be used, so the plane can still be callled authentic

 

[evangilder]

They have not used B-17's to fight fires for many years here. One they are too rare, hence too expensive to repair and two, they were not designed for that kind of flying. B-25s were however used for many years as Borate Bombers. I don't know if any are still in use now.

 

[plan_D]

Well Britain definately has a flying Hurricane, Spitfire, Lancaster and Dakota. It's the BoB-MF after all.

 

[wmaxt]

Thanks Guys! The evergreen Museam in Oregone has a nice group of flying atrcraft including a bf-109g (I think) with an original engine, P-38L, F4U, F6F, TBF, B-25, B-17 and several others. It's Quite exceptional for a small aviation museam with of course the Spruce Goose for a center piece and what a center piece - it's Increadible!!

As this goes I'll try to compile a list of planes and locations. When I was in So. California I didn't know about the second museam at Chino maybe we can help people find gems like that.

 

[Nonskimmer]

That does sound impressive! 8)

Btw evan, love the sig!