Flying Aircraft of WWII

[evangilder]

Thanks, NS. I shot that during our air show.

 

[cheddar cheese]

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 !!!!!!!

Nice pictures! 8)


I know this is a long shot, but does anyone know if there are any Piaggio P.108 Heavy Bombers left? In any condition?

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

No, but there are some parts in the Italian Air Force Museum at Vignale Di Valle in Roma...

 

[cheddar cheese]

Oooooo! 8)

 

[evangilder]

Well, it looks like Boeing is sponsoring a project in Wichita Kansas where they are restoring a B-29 "Doc" to flyable condition! I heard it from one of our members who went to lend a hand for a few days. They have a website with a webcam where you can look in on their progress as well at:

http://b-29.boeing.com/

There is also a website that is tracking flyable Spitfires using the name RAF St. Albans. They are here:

http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/spitfiremk2a/raf-st-albans.html

Thought you guys might enjoy checking those out. I found the Spitfire link while researching a paint scheme for the balsa Spit I am building.

 

[Nonskimmer]

Great links! It'll be sweet when "Doc" is finally completely restored!

 

[wmaxt]

Great links! It'll be sweet when "Doc" is finally completely restored!

I heard that another is being restored what a monumental task. To bad the Key Bird was lost in Greenland a few years back!

 

[Nonskimmer]

I remember watching something about that on the Discovery Channel. That was heartbreaking!

 

[evangilder]

Indeed a monumental and expensive task. The upkeep alone has to be unreal. Our latest budget shows that the hourly cost for our C-46 with fuel, insurance and maintenance costs to be about $1,050! That's with 2 engines! Avgas is currently running about $3 a gallon and the twin wasp engines, of which we have a few, eat through gas quickly. I could not imagine what the costs on the B-29 must be. The hangar space alone for that bird is a big requirement too. But I am glad that someone can afford it. It's nice to see the interest in these old birds is still there.

Static displays are more like tombstones.

 

[wmaxt]

Indeed a monumental and expensive task. The upkeep alone has to be unreal. Our latest budget shows that the hourly cost for our C-46 with fuel, insurance and maintenance costs to be about $1,050! That's with 2 engines! Avgas is currently running about $3 a gallon and the twin wasp engines, of which we have a few, eat through gas quickly. I could not imagine what the costs on the B-29 must be. The hangar space alone for that bird is a big requirement too. But I am glad that someone can afford it. It's nice to see the interest in these old birds is still there.

Static displays are more like tombstones.

When I saw Fifi the guy at the plane gave a number like 3500 hours of maintenance per hour of flight - don't quote me on that it was a long time ago but the number was absouletly staggering.

 

[evangilder]

That's probably not far off. They are very maintenance intensive airplanes. Plus the CAF is very meticulous at making sure that everything is just right. Any doubt at all and the plane stays on the ground.

 

[Nonskimmer]

It's a good thing they're meticulous. Priceless pieces of history should always be treated as such!

 

[evangilder]

Absolutely. Losing a rare warbird is terrible, but it is a bigger tragedy to lose one of your friends because someone missed something. Good example, our crew that works the Zero was noticing some brake wear, so they made the necessary hardware changes and adjustments. They taxi tested that plane probably 10-15 times to make sure that the brakes were working absolutely correct. Keep in mind that the braking system on the Zero is really small and really insufficient. Anyway, after all of that, they put the Zeek up on jacks, and ran through the full range of gear retraction tests, only to find that the original restorers had used paint instead of lock-tite to secure the gear release switches. So when they went to put the gear back down, one wheel stayed up!

Further inspection found that both gear release switches were bolted on with screws that were only finger tight! So I asked the crew chief how much is involved for pre-flight on that bird. His reply..."20 hours"!!! So for a typical air show flight of about an hour, there is 20 hours of inspection to make sure that EVERYTHING is in top shape or no go. That sure was an eye opener!

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the BBMF also keep good check on their aircraft, particularily on the lanc, for obvious reasons..............

 

[evangilder]

Yep, like I said, it's a shame to lose a rare warbird, but when you lose people it is an even bigger tragedy. Although we have a running joke in the CAF "If you're going to crash it, don't bother bailing out because if you do and we find you, we'll kill you."! When you think the amount of time, sweat, blood and cursing that went into the airplane just to get it into the sky, it's easy to see why they are so meticulous with them. Plus I heard that the Lancaster keel was never designed to last as long as the remaining aircraft have, so they have to watch that closely. It is very similar to the wing roots on the B-17. Seems they are always rechecking those.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

they've even put in a second fly-by-wire in PA474 incase the primary controlls fail it really is impossible to put a price on either flying lanc, however PA474 will fetch more.................

 

[Nonskimmer]

...we have a running joke in the CAF "If you're going to crash it, don't bother bailing out because if you do and we find you, we'll kill you."!

Words to the wise, eh?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yes that's rather funny.............

 

[Concorde247]

IWM at Duxford have the only airworthy sea hurricane in existance,

They are also restoring a short sunderland, and an avro York to airworthyness.

They also have a lanc, but i think its static display only. they are also restoring a gloster Gladiator, Avro anson and a Sea Fury to airworthy condition!!

The BBMF Lancaster had its mainspar replaced a couple of years ago, so it should keep flying for many years to come. It doesnt suffer the same stresses as a wartime Lanc, due to not having to have a full crew, ammunition, bomb load and full fuel tanks.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the main spar on the BBMF lanc is replaced every 6 years, and she's given a new paint scheme at the same time...........

and the shuttleworth collection has a airworthy sea hurricane also..........