Warbird Information Exchange

Holy shit, now that sounds like a good idea.

You're alright in my book MD, I don't care what BDK says about you.

With the lack of viable Buffalo candidates, pulling a Stormbirds on the old Brewster might just very well be the best option.

I have to admit the pictures of it look great. I remember reading or being told that in order to transport it that it was necessary to "chainsaw" (eek ) the fuse in half. But in the pictures it appears to have had the rivets drilled out and to have been properly separated.


Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis

Ha Ha Thanks man. At least I am OK in someone's book.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Shay/MD--

That's absolutely a capital idea...perform precisely the reverse-engineering job that was done with the Willow Grove Me262, and crank out say six B339/F2As. The Marine museum have wanted one for decades; NMNA of course would receive one; and "flyers" would go to collections in the USA and also, hopefully, Finland, where the type enjoyed the bulk of its successes. The original would return to Finland as well to be conserved as a national treasure there. Mods could even be made to the replicas to make each into whichever variant was desired by the museum/collector it was being built for. Everybody wins. And I'd bet the task of reverse-engineering a fighter in the class of the Wildcat would be a sight less complex than doing the same on a 262, too. The F2A would probably correspond to an F4F/FM as one of the more practical operating propositions out there as well.

An aside...Why, I wonder, is it that certain less-than-wholly-successful "underdog" types like the F2A engender so much interest and debate, while other types that have enjoyed so much more success--the Lockheed PV series comes to mind--seem to get short shrift??

S.

Actual period picture of the NMNA's Buffalo



More information on the recovery aswell as videos of the recovery here:

http://users.tkk.fi/~ssipila/bw-372/


Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

Okay here goes,
1) "Loan" is a euphimism for America giving something away without payment. It isn't coming back and that's that.
2) My friend, an A&P said the airplane appeared to be taken apart at rivet lines and not damaged at all, that he could tell. He said the cockpit looked great.
Here's my idea for a happy solution. The U.S. Navy SELLS the Brewster for a large sum of money. In return the money is used to build a hurricane proof hangar to house the one of a kind american built aircraft left outside in the elements including the Coronado, the North AMerican Savage, the Marlin, plus others like a Sea Dart, the Skyraider and "Deuce" helicopter still sitting outside in the salt air. They have way too many aircraft sitting outside in the salt air waiting for the next hurricane.
Then the FInns build us an all wood replica Buffalo using their plans and know how from the plans built replicas they already have. You know they built a wooden version of the Buffalo during the Second world War. That way the replica wood be weight bearing and could be fitted with a real P&W engine, radios, guns, avionics, etc. A lot of original Brewster items could be fitted to this airframe and while it would still be a replica it could make a small claim of authenticity to some degree. Paint it up in Wake Island markings and most folks would never know it isnt all metal unless they touched it.
Lastly, did Brewster sell the manufacturing rights to Finland for the Buffalo? Okay somebody acquire those and lets build some flying examples in aluminum, preferably. When did Brewster go out of business? The Yaks, 262's and Oscars and nice, but how about an American built fighter that could be a two seater without changing the canopy lines? Instead of it's 1,050 hp. engine put a 1525 hp. radial from a Grumman Tracker and you would have something that could probably out run a Yak, or P-40!

.

A friend sent me pictures from his trip last week to Pensacola. IF anyone wants to post them I will send them of the Brewsters(2) Buffalo and Bemuda now on display.