What happened to all the WW2 aircraft after the war?

[cheddar cheese]

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

 

[Rafe35]

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)...

 

[plan_D]

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.

 

[Rafe35]

Plan_D

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

 

[plan_D]

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

 

[cheddar cheese]

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.

 

[hellmaker]

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...

 

[FLYBOYJ]

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.

 

[plan_D]

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.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

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."

 

[plan_D]

I assume he never wanted to see one again.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

YEP!

 

[Versatile]

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.

 

[evangilder]

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

 

[Barrett]

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.

 

[bobbysocks]

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.

 

[herman1rg]

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

 

[soulezoo]

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.