Preserved WW2 aircraft Restorations

[Tjen il-vec]

Hi all!,

Maybe my question has already been asked earlier, if so, my apologies but I wasn't able to find an answer so the question is as follows;

Particularly the FW190 built at Flugwerk Germany. This is a whole new aircraft built from original plans and had many hours of hard work from start to flight tests. Apparently these kind of aircraft are nowhere else to find which are suitable for restoration to flying condition (apart from one or two..?).

Here is what I don't understand; if you search in google what they discovered since the end of WW2 you'll find a lot of German aircraft that were taken straight from their airfields and were put in a museum. Why don't they make an inventory of existing models in these museums and take one or two, examin them of "restorationworthiness" and start a project? From all those aircraft that have been put on static display, why aren't there a few among those that are worth to restore to fly with less efford than building a whole new one?

Cheers,

Tjen il-vec


(sorry for any bad grammar )

 

[Micdrow]

You may find this link interesting

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aviation-videos/fw-190-found-5432.html

 

[bigZ]

Their are guys here that will be able to give you a more informed answer.

But his my 2 cents.

Firstly consider if the plane is unique would you want it flyable. For example the only airworthy Bristol Bulldog was totally written off in the late 60's. Fortunately now it has been restored to static display.

Museum aircraft and airworthy examples are restored to meet different critera. Musuems like NASA strive hard to keep the aircraft and it technology intact for future generations as they realise that just slapping on a coat of paint is just not acceptable. This means trying to restore the aircraft to its original spec. As much as possible is kept intact any replacement parts must stamped/recorded. Even original wirring will be cleaned and treated to be made flexible again.

Some of the flying examples I believe can start of as complete aircraft too have only 30% left in the flying example. Many restored Spits dont have the same Merlin engine as the orignal mark would have installed. Avionics have to be stripped out new radio, upgrade electrical systems to current spec. Replace skining. Strip spars for inspection etc,etc..............

In the case Flugwerk they have a production line going so it will be far easier to make new. They are also using a Russian radial instead of a BMW which wuld bring down maintenance costs and spares shuldn't be an issue.

 

[Heinz]

BigZ made my point aswell. When its coming down to 1 thats airworthy and limited parts I'm happy to see a replica in the air and know that the genuine article still exists.