Warbird Information Exchange

Hopefully there will be some good news soon. Tell your friends to sign up for a flight experience!

As Gordan said, there will be an update in the next couple of weeks. There has been some activity over the past month or so, but we are waiting for everything to be finalized before making it public. Adding a P-51 to the tour was also in the plans for a while, and has had no effect on the plans to operate a Me-262.

I wonder how realistic it would be to see the Collings Foundation ME 262 aat Oshkosh this year?

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Any news on the Collings foundation's Saab Viggen? Or was that just wishful thinking by the aviation press?

Rgds Cking

MD- The chance of being at Oshkosh with a Me-262 is very unlikely.

CKing- We have acquired a Saab Viggen from the Swedish government. We are in the process of getting the proper export/import documents completed, and working on the plan for getting the aircraft to the US. We are trying to fly it here, but we may have to disassemble it, and ship it.

I know this is getting off-topic, but since everybody is asking.......

What's the latest status on CF obtaining an F-105 to fly? Is it likely or unlikely?

Warbird 1 asks;


Patience, grasshopper, patience,....

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Cool! That's one I would love to see fly again. I haven't seen one in the skies since about 1983!

One more question, if it's not too personal regarding the CF's flying of jets. They are amassing quite a collection of jets, with surely more to come. With the costs of some of those jets exceeding $ 10,000 per hour to fly, how in the heck can they afford to fly them? I know they give "orientation" or "flight experience" rides, but that only goes so far. They can't give one of those rides every single time one of the jets flies. Pilots have to maintain currency and proficiency, so obviously the money for those flights comes from somewhere. Is the money to operate the fast jets coming primarily out of the Collins' personal funds?

Just curious how they are able to do it, given that I don't see how they could even break even with the rides program and selling trinkets/shirts/books/posters at airshows or on their annual tours.

If this is proprietary info, then I apologize and please disregard.

Paul Allen has an F-105D two seater that was never de-milled, they are searching for drawings to fabricate the engine mounts last I heard, HEY!
Mukilteo! heres REAL AIRPLANE NOISE!!!!!!!

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

According to the FAA, the jets are not "unique" enough to be eligible for exemption letters. However the jets are available for airshows, special events, flight training and unusual attitude training.

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Sasnak, KMILES should know, as he is the Director of Flight Ops for the Foundation. He will most likely be the one to release any upcoming info regarding the 262 issue.

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

warbird-1
I can not answer your question completly, but there are 2 very important factors that help us operate all of our aircraft that most people do not give enough credit to. The first is volunteers. We have over 250 volunteers that help us on the operation and maintenance of the jet aircraft and the Wings of Freedom Tour with the WWII aircraft. We would not be able to afford to operate the aircraft if we had to pay even minimum wage for all of the hours that the dedicated volunteers put in. The second is corporate sponsorship. If you take a look at the sponsor page on the foundation website, you will see that we get help from a significant number of major companies in the industry. In most cases it is support for the aircraft by providing us discounted parts for the aircraft. We would not be able to operate without their support.

Cking-
I got an update on the Saab Viggen today, and was told that it will be disassembled this summer and shipped to the US in September. It will be put on static display here in Stow, MA and will be the only Viggen on display here in the US. We were hoping to keep it flying here in the US, but that is not the case at this time.

That brings up a good question for me. Is the facility at Stwo, MA open to the public for tours?

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director