This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
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Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:16 pm

Let's not forget Kee Bird. Oh wait, they burned it up during the recovery. :evil:

Les

Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:48 pm

Recovering aircraft is an important thing in my mind. It is a much more suitable way of preserving history.

My museum (Canadian Museum of Flight) recovered a Handley Page Hampden which is now on display, as well as a Blackburn Shark III which sadly we no longer own. There's also Bill Thompson's Supermarine Stranraer that was recovered before it was totally destroyed/lost to mother nature. There's others that I'd like to recover, but ya know how it is... not enough money.

Here's a story about why it's good to recover historical treasures. Once upon a time in the 1940's a PBY-5A Canso was taking off out of Tofino, BC. If I remember correctly it had engine troubles shortly after take-off and was forced to crash land not too far from the airport. All aboard survived, but the airplane was never recovered (and still hasn't been). Back when the accident occurred Tofino was nothing more than a little community with a small RCAF flying boat dettachment. Nowadays Tofino is much larger and has become a major haven for cold-water surfers and tourists. The Canso still remains there, but when you go to see it there are some pretty significant trails leading to it. The locals try and keep it a secret, but that doesn't stop the multiple hundreds of people over the years from scratching their names and initials into the metal skin of the airplane. It is ridiculous to see it and observe how the plane is just covered... like totally covered in peoples attempts at scratching their names into the airplane. Most of the vandalism and defacing appears to have occurred within the last 20 years.

And as a side note, I don't believe there's been any school groups that have gone to see it, but I could be wrong.

And, as per Annex # A, I believe that somebody does has salvage rights on the airframe, but I can't remember who that is/was.

Cheers,

David

Wreck chasers

Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:48 pm

[quote="k5083"]P.S. You've listed quite a few aircraft there that were recovered by, on behalf of, or with the active participation of "evil" governments. And lets dont forget the red tape cutters called the russian mob.My heroes.There were a number of additional P-40s that came out of russia as well.

Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:05 pm

The locals try and keep it a secret, but that doesn't stop the multiple hundreds of people over the years from scratching their names and initials into the metal skin of the airplane. It is ridiculous to see it and observe how the plane is just covered... like totally covered in peoples attempts at scratching their names into the airplane. Most of the vandalism and defacing appears to have occurred within the last 20 years.


So what conclusion does this lead to? That government can solve all problems? The restrooms have graffitti as well, so hey let's put cameras there, and have the White House watch it.

Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:14 pm

So what conclusion does this lead to?



That warbird recoveries are fraught with soft incremental tyranny.


Since all the best wreck sites ( Alaska, Canada and New Guinea) are illegal and have been for years for warbird recoveries I seriously doubt that the guy that wants to be the Warbird protection czar is going to have much work in store for him, unless he wants to work for the Russian mafia.

I'm starting to miss the horny blue angel thread.

Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:49 pm

Oh, Gosh...Oh. Golly...
You know, I was really hoping that our fellow-Wixers would help fill in the blanks for the rest of the a/c we have listed here.
You know, I thought this was a good idea for a thread; matching recoveries with status, names & locations of those a/c. That is why I pitched in with the accurate information I had on those B26's.
Now this thread is becoming another "How Many Angels Dancing on the Head of a Pin" style argument.
Pretty please, back on-topic and help us fill in the blanks.
Many Thanks to all who are actually trying to help here.

Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:48 pm

BigGrey wrote:Let's not forget Kee Bird. Oh wait, they burned it up during the recovery. :evil:

Les


sorry, back on topic :)
Last edited by gary1954 on Tue Nov 18, 2008 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:59 pm

What part of "on topic" can we not understand? :evil: This thread was supposed to be a collection of lists and places, not this. :roll:

Ryan

Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:03 pm

THIS THREAT HAS MADE MY PANTYHOSE RUN!


Can we please get back on topic? God I wish we could get more mods in here who could rip the crap posts out of threads and restore them to the topic posted :(

Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:19 pm

Sorry Ryan, I just had to add an airplane destroyed by wreck chasers.

Is it the POF that has the Betty bomber that was recovered set up in a diorama? I can imagine quite a few school kids have seen that.

Les

Re: Warbirds recovered/restored/preserved by "Wreck Cha

Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:35 am

RyanShort1 wrote:Folks, here is a quick, PARTIAL list of rare aircraft that most likely would still be rotting today if not for "evil" wreck chasers:
...
Let's compile a list of more aircraft...

Hi Ryan,
What are you aiming to prove with the list?
Cheers,

Pearsonally

Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:53 am

Don,t really care who rescues them as long as someone "does"...Rotting away on site isn,t doing much for anyone..You can fight it out after it has been recovered.Then there is this option...
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=3hQC3nkftrk

Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:13 am

There will be -soon, I have been told- the announcement regarding the recovery of a Boeing P-26.

No further details so far.

Saludos,



Tulio

Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:21 am

Tulio wrote:There will be -soon, I have been told- the announcement regarding the recovery of a Boeing P-26.

No further details so far.

Saludos,



Tulio


I take it, that it is a formerly forgotten example from South of the border?

Re: Warbirds recovered/restored/preserved by "Wreck Cha

Tue Nov 18, 2008 8:14 am

JDK wrote:
RyanShort1 wrote:Folks, here is a quick, PARTIAL list of rare aircraft that most likely would still be rotting today if not for "evil" wreck chasers:
...
Let's compile a list of more aircraft...

Hi Ryan,
What are you aiming to prove with the list?
Cheers,


Not trying to necessarily "prove" anything. More to come up with a list of examples that could be given to someone like A2C's friend. And I was hoping it would be fun to do the compilation. Already learned some neat stuff. Got one email from someone who was there on one of the recoveries.

For BigGrey - I'm well aware of aircraft that have been destroyed, and I'm sure we could come up with a list of others, but that wasn't the point of the thread. Perhaps we could come up with a list of those as well - elsewhere. Also, remember, if it hadn't been for a little bit of stupidity on that one little item, we might have another B-29. How many of you have never accidentally made mistakes. Sometimes they just have bigger effects than other times.

Ryan
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