Warbird Information Exchange

On another topic, questions were asked as to what planes at Cavanaugh Flight Museum are flying and flyable. The following list is of the planes we have at the museum. A few are not on display and a few are at other sites. Most of our planes are;
"Flying" obvious.
"Flyable" meaning- we could do an inspection and some maintenance and put them in the air. Each of these have flown in the past.
"Maintenance"- would be flying except it's waiting for an engine or inspection,
"Static"- We have no plans to fly or restore to "Flyable" condition. Some aircraft are on loan form the USAF, USMC,etc.
"restoration" aircraft are in active restoration.
"project" aircraft are candidates for restoration or are "parts only"
We don't fly several aircraft that are "flyable" for several reasons:
1. Maintenance: We don't have the staff or funds to keep everything in the air. We fly the most popular ones except a couple that require too much maintenance. The Jets fall into that catagory.
2. Rarity: Several of the planes are just too rare to fly, ie: F9F Panther,
The B25 is not flown anymore mainly because the nose art is by the original artist using his original paint from WWII. There are plenty of B25s in the air and ours is the most original and has the most history, IMHO.
3. Popularity: The last year that we flew our 5 jets, they did a total of 15 hours flying in one year. Only 5 were for Airshows. It's just too risky to try to keep current in too many aircraft. If they don't fly enough for shows, then it's just not a good idea to try to keep them going just for the sake of keeping them going.

Model Name Status

AD5 Skyraider Flying
A26 Invader Flying
FM2 Wildcat Flying
PT19 Cornell Flying
PT17 Stearman Flying
AT6 Texan Flying
T42 Flying
T28 Trojan Flying
T28 Trojan Flying
T28 Trojan Flying
C47 Skytrain Flying
OV1D Mohawk Flying
CV2B Caribou Flying
OH13 Sioux Flying
B24 Liberator CAF Flying

B25 Mitchell Flyable
F9F Panther Flyable
Spitfire Mk VIII Flyable
DH82 Tigermoth Flyable
Me109 Buchon Flyable
TS11 Iskra Flyable
Sopwith Camel Flyable
Aeronca L3 Flyable
Piper L4 Flyable
Stinson L5 Flyable
Fokker D-VII Flyable
Pitts S2 Flyable
Christen Eagle Flyable
SNV (BT13) Valient Flyable
S2 Tracker Flyable
Fokker Dr1 Flyable
PT22 Recruit Flyable
Mig15 UTI Flyable
J3 Cub Flyable

P40 Warhawk Restoration
P51 Mustang Restoration
AT6 Texan Restoration
UH34 Sea Horse Restoration
Bell 47 Restoration
P47N Thunderbolt CAF Restoration



N2S-4 Stearman Maintenance
HU16 Albatross Maintenance
TBM Avenger Maintenance
FG1D Corsair Maintenance
F86 Sabre Maintenance

Mig 17 Static
Mig21 Static
F104 Starfighter Static
JetStar II Static
F4 Phantom Static
F105 Thunderchief Static
H34 Sea Horse Static
UH1B Huey Static
He111 (Casa2111) Static
AH1J Sea Cobra Static

Mig 17 parts
F84 Thunderstreak Project
PV2 Harpoon Project

Of the close to 60 aircraft, 15 are flying now, 5 are in maintenance, 3 of the restorations should be finished in the next month or so: P51, P40, T6. That's 23 that basically fly. The P47N will be back on the front line for restoration when the P40 is complete. Questions??

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Blue Skies,
Doug

www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com

That's one He11 of a collection Doug. My hat is off to you folks for your dedication & contribution to the cause.

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

What's the status of the Sea Fury?

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real airplanes have round engines

Well, I got most of em right in the other thread Like I've always said, CFM is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, collections around. Keep it up, Doug!

T

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Taylor Stevenson

I couldn't figure out which one was missing in my count.
It would be in the project column, waiting for future restoration.

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Blue Skies,
Doug

www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com

Doug - great information on the status of aircraft at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. I understand the rationale given for why some of the "flyable" aircraft are not flown, but I do not agree that the F9F Panther is "too rare to fly." If it was the only existing example or one of just two or so examples of the Panther in existence, I would agree with that, but to the best of my knowledge there are several other examples of the Panther that exist at museums, outside displays at military bases and other locations. The Cavanaugh Panther is an airplane that in my opionion should absolutely be brought back to flying status for at least a few key air shows in 2011, the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation and secondarily during the period of the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War. I know there is probably no chance of this happening, but I just wanted to express my strongly felt but humble opionion on the subject.

Thanks again for the information and keep up the great work on preserving these significant aircraft.

To anyone who has not yet visited the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, I strongly suggest that you do. If you want to know the meaning of the term, "World-Class Warbird Museum," just drop by CFM and have a look around. You'll come out of there knowing exactly what that phrase means.

Dean the impressed

Why not flying the L-Birds? Not enough pilots? Send em down here and I am sure me and Ryan could keep them exercised!

Whats the story on the Sabre jet? I know it had an engine issue when Snort was going to fly it somewhere one day a few years ago. Any progress on getting the engine refurbed?

Howdy FG1D

Could you please tell me what work is being done on the P-40 restoration ?
Is it possible to post any pics ?

Lightning

Seconded - is it planned to apply a new paint? Where the work is taking place?

Thanks in advance for the infos Doug.

Ben

Dozens, but I won't fill this thread up with them.

Here is the P-40 from about a month ago:

It is much farther along now

Its not a criticism, and I apologize if it is taken as one, but is there a way to update what is going on up there in Addison?

I am up in that area quite a bit and use y'alls facility to practice with my camera. I can play with my schedule some as to time or day but mostly, I just get lucky when I notice something going on, Liberty Belle, He-111 out in the sunshine, or unlucky in the case of the Red Bull P-38.

And I am really looking forward to the P-51 and F-86 returning.

Great collexction, I visited it in 2003.

Hey, I'm just happy you r group has such a nice collection of rarer planes...flying or not.
Greatt see a static of some newer military stuff outside govt. museums.

A flyable OH-13 and C-7, great.

Even a static JetStar...a rare plane in a collection.

Keep up the great work!

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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.

Great collection, I visited it in 2003.

Hey, I'm just happy your group has such a nice collection of rarer planes...flying or not.
Great see statics of some newer military stuff (AH-1J etc) outside govt. museums.

A flyable OH-13 and C-7, great.

Even a static JetStar...a rare plane in a collection.

Keep up the great work!

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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.

It is a great collection. Too long now since I've visited, must be 10 years at least.

Good to have the complete update on what is flying and what is static -- er, sorry, flyable. (Should we call the flying ones "groundable"?)

This sheds some light on why people mutter about the number of "projects", as well. With only 4 flying WWII combat types including the B-24, there does seem to be a bit of an ebb tide where those are concerned. I look forward to seeing some of the others return to groundable status.

Gotta agree with Jim, the rarity rationale for not flying the F9F doesn't make sense. F9Fs on the ground are not rare. If it were flying, then it would be rare!

August