Pristine F4U Vought Corsair

[cptsmith]

At one time we had 3 in the shop. Well more of one fairly complete, one crash and burn fuselage section and a cockpit/tail section.

 

[tail end charlie]

One thing, buying isn't the same as being able to fly it. The last of the Piston engined fighters were very high powered, tricky airplanes to fly. It takes a lot of practice and training. But, if you have the money, you'll be able to afford it.

Its an old post but very true

Paul Morgan who founded Ilmor racing (now makers of Mercedes F1 engines) died when his sea fury overturned on landing. Tragic end for both man and machine.

 

[mikewint]

OK, money talks, given enough money you can buy anything, and Timshatz makes an excellent point.
if i had 10 mil or so burning a hole in my pocket i could probably buy that F4U somewhere. so as a serious question - Where would you go to learn to fly it, even if you already knew how to fly, mil planes are a whole different machine and a single seat fighter leaves no room for someone to sit next to you and instruct

 

[Matt308]

That is why most pilots are hired hands. It's a logical progression wherein you work your way up in horsepower, size, gross weight, systems/propulsioni similarity and handling qualities. It's not magic, only time consuming and expensive.

There is a reason that we fund CSAR and will spend millions getting a pilot back.

 

[mikewint]

Matt, i understand that. in vietnam that was one of our jobs. AF or Navy SAR was given 48h to locate a downed pilot after that our teams were called in. sometimes earlier if ground contact had been made.
my question goes back to suddenly owning an F4U and what tim said. just because i can fly a cessna does not mean i can jump into an F4U and fly it. so where do you find people today that know how to fly an F4U? and German aircraft are a whole other question

 

[evangilder]

From the FAA:

B. To be eligible to serve as PIC of a surplus military propeller-driven airplane that has a maximum gross takeoff weight exceeding 12,500 pounds, or which has a horsepower rating of more than 800 horsepower and a VNE that exceeds 250 knots, an applicant must:

· Possess at least a U.S. private pilot certificate with an appropriate category and class rating (e.g., airplane, single-engine land);

· Possess at least a valid U.S. third-class medical certificate;

· Have logged a minimum of 500 hours of pilot flight time; and

· Have completed one of the training requirements of subparagraph 5-1582A of this section.

Typically, you find a warbird examiner that gives you a "check out" on the aircraft for a type rating. Depending on the aircraft, or rarity of it, you could have some difficulty finding someone who can do that (although I think Joe probably has way more knowledge on that than I do).

If you have some time to kill and can wangle through the legal stuff, it is covered pretty well here:
Raptor Aviation, LLC FAA warbird airmen certification rules

 

[tail end charlie]

From the FAA:


Typically, you find a warbird examiner that gives you a "check out" on the aircraft for a type rating. Depending on the aircraft, or rarity of it, you could have some difficulty finding someone who can do that (although I think Joe probably has way more knowledge on that than I do).

If you have some time to kill and can wangle through the legal stuff, it is covered pretty well here:
Raptor Aviation, LLC FAA warbird airmen certification rules

With regard to this there was a documentary on UK TV about female ferry pilots, they were expected to fly any plane put in front of them, just from the ferry pilots notes. This went from spitfires to multi engined bombers . One woman flew 46 different marques during the war, they suffered a 10% fatality rate from start to end of the war.

 

[mikewint]

evan, thanks, if i'm reading those regs correctly you can do your training in a Texan and then to the corsair. guess the FAA feels if you can fly the Texan you can keep from killing yourself and others long enough to learn the idiosyncrasies of the F4U.
learning to fly a plane is on my bucket list, a nice biplane would be really neat

 

[evangilder]

Yeah, a lot of guys flying the warbirds today started with Texans. The CAF has had a lot of people go that route. With the CAF, you need a bunch of hours, plus the extra insurance and aircraft sponsorship (meaning you contribute x amount of dollars to help keep the airplane running) before you can get a chance to fly one of the rare birds.

 

[mikewint]

evan, starts to sound a lot like time-share vacations but if you don't have that 10 mill in your back pocket...

 

[evangilder]

Not far from it, actually.

 

[cptsmith]

For the Texans, insurance companies want a certain number of tailwheel hours and then a certain number dual in the Texan.

 

[evangilder]

True, the Texan is not a good place to get your tail-wheel cert. They can be very unforgiving.

 

[mikewint]

ok, remember you have non-pilots here, please, what are tail-wheel hours?

 

[robwkamm]

hours flying aircraft with a tail wheel not tricycle landing gear. cessna 182 would be tricycle , stearman would be tail wheel

 

[mikewint]

i thought that the texan was a trainer? to me that implys that it is easier to fly hence a trainer. now as i recall a stearman is a biplane. so i'd have to fly 500 hours in a tailwheel plane, then 500 hrs in a texan, before i could try to fly my 10 mill corsair? my 10mil investment is going to be spending a lot of time in the garage.
could i sit in it and make vrooom-vroom sounds? with an occasional tack-tack-tack-tack for fun?

 

[tail end charlie]

i thought that the texan was a trainer? to me that implys that it is easier to fly hence a trainer. now as i recall a stearman is a biplane. so i'd have to fly 500 hours in a tailwheel plane, then 500 hrs in a texan, before i could try to fly my 10 mill corsair? my 10mil investment is going to be spending a lot of time in the garage.
could i sit in it and make vrooom-vroom sounds? with an occasional tack-tack-tack-tack for fun?

You could always practice jumping out and shouting jeronimo

 

[vikingBerserker]

Ok, I'll ask a silly question: at the very lowest level of pilot's licenser, is there a different license for a tail sitter and another for tricycle gear?

 

[mikewint]

Tailend, Yes i could, and i used to do that, with people shooting at me, course i really didn't shout Geronimo it was more like "OH SH*T"

 

[tail end charlie]

Tailend, Yes i could, and i used to do that, with people shooting at me, course i really didn't shout Geronimo it was more like "OH SH*T"

I heard some used to shout "whats that f*%kin indian called again"