Warbird Information Exchange

Air Classic's had some interesting info regarding some aircraft that have recently been scrapped and or saved. It looks like a C-118 and a C-117 got scrapped at Cherry Point.

A DC-3 belly landed in Alaska and they are retrieving parts and leaving the wreck for mother nature.

Edwards AFB C-119B got saved by the Air Force museum and is going to Dover! It's one of two B models that survive. Bout' time the AF museum stepped to the plate to save something.

No word yet if Chanute C-97 and C-133 will be scrapped, but likely.

A C-131F recently was pulled from the boneyard and flown to a new owner! Probably the last radial to ever fly out of AMARC again!

Yankee Air Museum working toward getting Chanute C-121 but the mag slammed YAM for having a history of scrapping aircraft.

Article noted that there will be large scrapping of warbirds across the country.

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You can only keep an unmaintained airframe on outdoor display for so long before it turns to scrap. Many of these airframes, particularly the transports, have been outside for 50+ years, with very little maintenance since they were parked. No weather protection, no efforts to keep the water out. No real efforts to keep the birds and other critters out.

After that kind of neglect, the next stop is the scrapyard.

Sad but true.

Over the next few years the scrappers will be getting a lot of business! Even WW2 aircraft will be melted down.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Here's some of the earliest warbird scrappings ...

Destruction of Japanese Aircraft in Japan, November 1945

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Zero Surprise!!...

What's really silly/sad about the post war Japanese scrapping can be seen in the last photo.
We scrapped all their license-built DC-3s (and IIRC, their prewar Douglas-built machines) only to have to turn right around and give/sell them C-47s so they could reestablish their domestic air carriers.

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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.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

well, <climbing on soap box>, if we do not do something to get younger people interested in all kinds of airplanes and the stories behind them we will see more and more scrapping. In my limited experience it takes a small(?) pile of cash and several willing volunteer hands just to maintain a static display airplane. Sadly the really cool big planes are problematic as they are big. . . and that makes it more expensive!

Tom P.

I think a lot of warbird enthusiasts have to accept that not all examples of former military aircraft have the same objective value. They can't all be kept and given happy homes, despite what some would love to occur.

There just isn't enough demand for it, and from a historical preservation perspective, nor is there a need for it.

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What's the story on the C-131?

Our C-53/DC-3 that we are trying to save will be headed to the second bidder for parting out and scrapping unless we can get funds raised. It's easy for people to get upset when these wonderful planes get scrapped, but when groups like us ask for donations to make the save and they don't come, bad things happen. No bucks, no Buck Rodgers!

http://www.vintagewingsinc.com/donate

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Cessna 195

Don’t ask for donations; sell a $5 item for $50.

Phil

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A man's got to know his limitations.