PinecastleAAF wrote:
Quote:
Its really going to get sad here in the US when in 8 to 10 years, 8 B-17's, 17 B-25's a B-24 and several WW2 fighters are made into Miller Lite cans!
Isn't that getting a bit carried away? I know people get emotional about warbirds but scrapping 8 B-17's, 17 B-25's a B-24 because there are duplicates in other musuems will never happen.
I hope you are correct, but I doubt you are. Many of these aircraft are on active bases. The vast majority of the current crop of officers don't have much attachment to history. If they begin to become an eyesore they may go away. Museums in general will continue to struggle for funding in the current economic climate, especially the military funded. We may wake up one day and find one scrapped because it is easier for the commanding officer of the base to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.
Hasn't the NMUSAF recently themselves scrapped a B-47, probably more rare than a B-25 or B-17? I know for sure they authorized the scrapping of an F-84 in Kenosha, WI a few years ago. Not a rare airplane...at this point. But how many more will go the same route?
I think we need to constantly remind ourselves that warbird fans are few and far between. When you are an enthusiast it is hard to recognize that. When I was running a warbird enthusiast centric buisness (Warbird Digest) it was altogether obvious how small our community of interest really is. It will get even smaller as the last of the WWII vets go west, and then as their children follow them. Sadly, most kids today don't even know what Pearl Harbor is. You think they care about a B-17?
As for the B-25s..some of the ones on outdoor display are in such poor condition they would be monumental restoration projects for a private collector. A couple I have seen won't keep their wings on for much longer if the intragranular corrosion continues on the attach angles
Just my two cents...