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The B25 C 41 12634 currently at The Southern Museum of Flight is being preserved. To restore it would not be practical, as nothing has escaped the corrosion. As a Volunteer at the museum I have seen how bad it is. If you replaced all of the bad parts to restore the plane it would no longer be the B25 C 41 12634 from Lake Murray.
I think more than anything I appreciate the fact that it was pulled from the bottom of the lake. Like I mentioned, if someone wants a restored flyable C model they have a much better start with the Aero Trader C model. That will probably be flying long before anyone would ever consider rebuilding the Lake Murray aircraft.
My point was not to take away at all from what your museum is doing. I am glad that you will be preserving it. It is much better off being preserved than turning into a pile of corrosion on the bottom of the lake.
I personally one day would like to see it restored as I have a greater appreciation for a factory restored aircraft than one that is heavily damaged and not really capable of being displayed in or near it's original condition. Especially in the case that the aircraft is a rare type. Also, in this case although it is a a rare type it isn't an extraordinarily historically significant airframe (ie
Enola Gay, Bock's Car, Wright Flyer etc) where there would be huge interest in saying "these actual pieces of aluminum are original."
Regardless, that is only my opinion and I respect the work of just preserving it. There have been a lot of people over the years that have gotten flack over the years for having collections of aircraft that are not in pristine restored condition (ie Soplata) but the fact is without people like that these aircraft would only be pictures in history books.
It is easy to run down someone's collection or, say they should do this or that with it but we all know that the people with the money, desire, and other resources to pay $3,000,000 to restore something that afterward they could only sell for a third or less than that are few and far between. Thank God there are those people but until someone is willing to Pony up a few million it is pretty hard throw stones.
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