Should the old warbirds still fly?

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Well as an aircraft mechanic I think they should fly. The maintenance that is conducted on them now is better than it was 60 years ago and as long as the proper inspections are conducted they will continue to fly with out very much hazzard to the pilot or aircraft.

[Matt308]

I thought that this thread would illicit some interesting responses. Unfortunately, I too have witnessed firsthand crashes of these flying museums. In the late 80s or early 90s I was in an airshow at Boeing Field, Seattle, and witnessed a P-51D cartwheel with a collapsed right main gear. Scary and tragic, though that pilot managed to walk away and the airplane suffered relatively minor damage. I believe there is a fine line that must be weighed between number of aircraft remaining, aircraft type condition and the need for static display only. It is where one chooses to draw that line which I find interesting. Lord knows there will always be a pilot willing to fly them. And that I can truly understand.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I would love to work on them to keep them flying and who knows later maybe fly them.

KEEP THEM FLYING!!!!!!!

[trackend]

I Agree Adler
Thing is their old designs but not really old aircraft as nearly every component has been renewed take Sally B she has old wing spars but only because they past the regular ultrasonic testing but huge amounts of her has been renewed over the years to maintain the airworthy certificate, the amount of care lavished on these planes against the amount of flying hours put in (Sally B is around 20 hours a year) is greater than many modern aircraft and lets not forget none of them are pushed anywhere near the limits that they had to endure when in service.

[P38 Pilot]

Originally Posted by DerAdlerIstGelandet

I would love to work on them to keep them flying and who knows later maybe fly them.

KEEP THEM FLYING!!!!!!!

Agreed! Its like the American War Effort posters!

[loomaluftwaffe]

what?

[the lancaster kicks ass]

he means posters like these

[Twitch]

I have noticed that many of the warbirds that are ultimately brought back to flying status are almost completely built from plans and modern repro parts. 40 years ago complete planes changed hands and either flew or sat at airports or were stuck into museums.

In the last 15 years or so there are almost no "complete" planes to be found. The hulks that are the basic source for a plane that may fly years later has almost no usable, safe parts. Wrecks change hands and some parts are salvaged but few airframes are brought back to flyable condition after an incident.

I remember seeing the Nakajima Oscar "hulk" at the Champlin museum several yea ago. All that there was left was the center section of the fuselage. The rest was gone aft of the cockpit, no engine or tail, wings gone at the roots. I believe the thing is flyable now but I know for sure that 99.8% of it is replicated.

So more planes are becoming replicas anyway so why not fly them as they are like the new Me 262s? It's rapidly approaching the point where replicated machines are cheaper than originals anyhow so let's fly those.

[P38 Pilot]

Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ***

he means posters like these

Exactly!