warbird1 wrote:
While your goals and motivation are admirable, why don't you guys concentrate on the planes that you do have? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you guys have a really tough time raising the money to buy the B-23 at only $ 50,000? Also, isn't the B-23 still at Midland because you guys can't raise the $16,000 needed to transport it to New York?
Let's see, you guys have invested about $56,000 so far on the B-23 - it's not a flyer, and it's still in Midland, due to lack of funds and/or personnel. Now, you want to raise somewhere between 1.4 Million and 2.5 Million to buy a flyable P-51 or P-40? How in the world are you going to do that? Unless you are on the 40 year donation schedule, I don't see that happening. By that time, P-51's and P-40's will be over 10 to 15 Million each. Instead of spending the 1.4 Million on a fighter, why don't you guys put 1 Million into the B-23 and make her a flyer? It could carry many, many more passengers for a "flight experience" and you could help support the plane. A Mustang or Warhawk can only carry one passenger at a time.
In addition, I would much rather you guys put the 1.4 Million into the A-20 to make her airworthy. There are ZERO A-20's airworthy at the moment. If you got the A-20 airworthy, you guys could claim worldwide exclusivity for the type! Though I haven't seen the A-20 in person, from the shots I've seen from the previous work at Beaver Falls, it looks like the plane is mostly finished with major restoration, except for the detail work like systems installations, etc. Surely you could make that plane airworthy for substantially less than 1 Million? I thought that both engines were already overhauled and ready to go also. Would it not make more sense to put any money generated into the A-20 which would have a very high chance of completion and could put HAG/1941 on the map with the world's only airworthy A-20?
I'm not trying to discourage you from accomplishing this great goal, but why would I, as a potential investor, have any confidence that you guys could raise the money in my lifetime? Is there something I'm missing here? Is HAG/1941 in some multi-millionaire's will? Does New York have a "heritage fund or lottery fund" to support aviation museums? Have you guys gotten a matching commitment from somewhere? Lottsa questions for this seemingly lofty goal.
-Warbird 1, the level-headed, pragmatic realist
HAG owns the B-23 now. All they need is a little funding to finish getting it back to Geneseo.
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