Firebird wrote:
Shay wrote:
Matt Gunsch wrote:
What do you mean one day? One of those was flying, and flew a fair amount doing R&D and weapons testing.
20 years is 1/5th of a century ago. Not exactly yesterday.
As a Warbird, in vintage livery, touring the airshow circuit, it would be nice to see in the air one day.
.......preferably as a Satan's Kitten, Red Lightning or a Checkmate
but that's just me. lol
On very rare occasions back in the day, we'd get to see the French Navy F-8's display in the UK. Was a real treat to see a F-8.
Always surprised that Collings Foundation has never gone after they potentially airworthy F-8's, would make a great addition to its Vietnam flight with the F4, F-100 and A-4.
My guess is that the Collings foundation has no interest in these F-8 aircraft because they are single-seaters. There is virtually no way to make it a worthwhile venture unless you can sell rides in them, or get a lucrative military contract, using them for adversial support, or flight testing. The Collings foundation is not normally known for providing that kind of support for the DOD.
If you will notice, the F-4, F-100, A-4 and Me-262 are all two seaters and they are able to be potentially used to sell rides. Even when the Collings foundation was "hot and heavy" for an F-105, they were only interested in the 2 seat version. Jets, any way you slice them, are huge money pits, even for the Collings foundation. Monetarily, one high performance aircraft, like the F-4, would require the same level of monetary expenditure as nearly a squadron of P-51's, P-40's, Corsairs, etc. When people like Rod Lewis have no interest in "fast jets" and Paul Allen, who only very rarely flies his Mig-29, you know it is SUPER expensive to keep them operational to fly. I would be really surprised if the Collings foundations' jets (except the Me-262) "broke even" or paid for their own upkeep. If the Collings foundation gets their request approved from the FAA, they plan on selling rides in all of the previously mentioned jets.