Warbird Information Exchange

While updating the Wikipedia list of surviving F-89s I learned that
The Texas Air Museum http://www.texasairmuseum.org
at San Antionio's old Stinson Field has the F-89B that was formerly on display at Lackland.

It's the oldest surviving Scorpion...49-2434.

But I'm told by the museum curator that when the USAF gave it to them they kept the nose because it was a "one of a kind" piece.
So it sits unassembled.

Here's the email I received from John Tosh...
I don't think the Air Force will ever do anything to try and find a nose for the plane. It had a good nose section on it when I got it, but the Air Force Museum would not let me have it because it was one of a kind! It will sit at Davis-Monthan AFB until it deteriorates. We will end up making one for the plane.

The F-89 is too rare to allow one to sit around without a nose.
Can anyone help find one?
-Scrapyards near D-M?
-A partial airframe somewhere?
-Or can someone point them in the right direction for getting one made?
-Or provide drawings/dimensions?
-Wild idea..anyone with connections to N-G and their prototype team that made the model of the German flying wing for stealth research and the TV documentary?

John Tosh can be contacted at:
info@texasairmuseum.org

I'm not affiliated with the Museum and don't know more than what I've said here.
But I figure if anyone could help them out, it would be WIX'ers.
Thanks.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

Are you talking about the entire cockpit part of the nose or just the radome?
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

As I understand it...the area forward of the cockpit where the guns were on the F-89B. The nosegear is underneath the cockpit, so thankfully that's not involved.

_________________
Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

A few suggestions -

...Would the Air Force allow you to make a mold from the original nose to build a fiberglass replica?

...Any remains left at the School of Mines at Socorro, NM?

...Anyone know what happened to the gate guard 51-5776 at the Casa Grande, AZ airport?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

See if NASM has the technical drawings microfilm and just mock one up based on the manufacturer's blueprints? If I can get a full set of F-84F microfilm, surely the F-89 microfilm is just as readily available?

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F-84F Simulator Project
www.f-84f.org