Whats your dream museum?

[warbird1]

How about a "World War II Night Fighters" museum?

F4U-2 Corsair
F6F-5N Hellcat
P-38M Lightning
P-61 Black Widow
Mk 30 Mosquito
Mk IIF Beaufighter
Me-262B-1a/U1 Schwalbe
Bf-110 G-4 Zerstorer

...any other examples I'm missing?

Don't forget the P-70!

[Warbird Kid]

I would open up an Axis flying museum. It would have nothing but German, Japanese and a few Italian planes in it.

Id like to see a variation of that idea. Maybe just a "Wings of the Rising Sun Air Museum" located in beautiful Maryland, or New York, or New Hampshire. Somewhere in this area.

1. Find an old WWII era hangar, preferably at a small airport and restore it to mint condition.
2. Build an adjacent facility with offices, gift shop, and restoration facility. This building would also include an "air attic" display of artifacts from wrecks, uniforms, and other such items.
3. The aircraft collection would be displayed in the WWII hangar. If necessary a smaller one would be built next door, taking into account the architecture of the original hangar.

http://www.members.tripod.com/airfields ... s_IN_S.htm
Scroll down until you reach Madison Army Airfield.

Last edited by Warbird Kid on Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[warbird1]

I would open up an Axis flying museum. It would have nothing but German, Japanese and a few Italian planes in it. Unfortunately, 50 Million wouldn't go very far and probably only provide for a few planes. I know this would be frowned upon, but we have enough American and British types that are restored and flying. How about a museum dedicated to flying and displaying the under-represented and extremely rare types? How many Kate's, Dinah's, Frank's, Me-110's, He-177's, Me-210/410's etc. are flying - oh yea, that's right, NONE!

Id like to see a variation of that idea. Maybe just a "Wings of the Rising Sun Air Museum" located in beautiful Maryland, or New York, or New Hampshire. Somewhere in this area.

Unfortunately, it will probably never happen. There are maybe only 3 or 4 people in the world who have an interest in warbirds who could afford such a thing. The closest we will see is Paul Allen's collection which is pretty darn impressive to say the least. I've heard some pretty serious rumors that there are several "secret" Axis types in Allen's collection which have not been made public yet. And no, I'm not talking about the already known 109, 190, and Zero either!

[RyanShort1]

I guess I have too much extra time right now... Oh well, need to find some more students to teach, or some pictures to take.

We've been kicking around some ideas for the Liaison Museum we hope to build someday - mostly very small ideas, but a start, nonetheless.

If the $50 Million was designated for such a use, it would go something like this (with some numbers - probably not accurate):

Major objective: Perhaps get a better piece of property or expand (location, have a crossing runway so that we aren't as likely to get grounded for weather). Build a good museum hangar capable of housing 10 or so light aircraft and room for an ongoing restoration project or two, with a smaller section dedicated to artifacts and a room for about 30 people to watch vintage films. ($10 Mil. or lots cheaper?)

Desired aircraft (initially):

Buy ALS' old L-1 in Alaska back. (Prob. $1 Mil. or more?)
Finish the L-2's return to flying work.($4K?)
Get the L-3 in good shape.($10K)
Get two good Piper L-4a that are owned by the museum (the current one is privately owned) ($60K?)
Recover and paint our L-5 in markings of a Philippine WWII L-5 ($5K)
Recover and spruce up our Cub. ($5K)
Get a second L-5G and put it in 163rd Liaison Squadron markings ($60K?)
Get a third L-5 with the observer canopy ($60K?)
Obtain Ober's old Fieisler Storch ($1 Mil.)
Get a Taylorcraft Auster III ($70K?)
Get a UC-78 Bobcat (Some Liaison Squadrons operated them) (price?)
Get an M-7 Priest, 155MM SP Howitzer, and two 105MM towed howitzers and tow vehicles and get them in blank firing / operating condition (price?).

Have a GOOD storyline / progression in an organized museum that is interesting (That's probably not very hard to do!) and continue to collect stories (and hopefully artifacts) from different families across the country.

If the museum finds itself able to do so (partly by saving money on projects, partly by running a tight ship)

Find an Interstate L-6
Buy a Bird Dog (L-19)
Have a Sikorsky R-4 replica built (not sure how good it would need to be... (Flying, or just a mock up?)
Get spare parts for the aircraft.

Set up a ride program with the FAA and offer rides year-round in the L-5s an L-4s. Maybe in the L-2 and L-3 as well. Keep all of the other aircraft in flyable condition for displays - with strict maintenance and operating limitations to attempt to ensure their long-term survival.

Maybe have an "L-bird" demo team with a living history "Liaison Squadron" encampment and take it to airshows.

Overall objective - To tell the story of a little known aspect of military aviation and honor the pilots, mechanics, etc... who were related to them. Also to emphasize how army-air cooperation was a useful and vital part of the US military's operations in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.

Ryan

[warbird1]

Buy ALS' old L-1 in Alaska back. (Prob. $1 Mil. or more?)

An L-1 is nowhere close to being worth $ 1 Million dollars. Think about it, for only $ 400,000 more you could have a flying P-51.

[RyanShort1]

Buy ALS' old L-1 in Alaska back. (Prob. $1 Mil. or more?)

An L-1 is nowhere close to being worth $ 1 Million dollars. Think about it, for only $ 400,000 more you could have a flying P-51.

We only know of two of them, P-51s are everywhere. I wish we still had that old beast. One of the original stated goals was to preserve in flying condition one of every L-type from WWII and right now we aren't doing as well as we did in the past. That's one thing I'd like to see change.

Ryan

[warbird1]

Buy ALS' old L-1 in Alaska back. (Prob. $1 Mil. or more?)

An L-1 is nowhere close to being worth $ 1 Million dollars. Think about it, for only $ 400,000 more you could have a flying P-51.

We only know of two of them, P-51s are everywhere. I wish we still had that old beast. One of the original stated goals was to preserve in flying condition one of every L-type from WWII and right now we aren't doing as well as we did in the past.

Ryan

Rarity is only part of the equation. There has to be demand as well, for something to be worth much. How many multi-millionaire's going around saying, "Gee, I wish I had an L-1" vs. "Gee, I wish I had a P-51". Just because something is rare does not make it valuable. There are numerous examples in the past of extremely rare warbirds that sold for very low prices. As an example, I believe the Hunt Brothers still have their Kate for sale, last I heard. It is the sole remaining example that is not in the ocean, and yet they have had an extremely hard time selling it. There are lots of others that prove this as well. Up until recently, the Alpine Fighter Collection took many years (decade at least) to sell off most of their I-153's and I-16's. Up until about 15 years ago, those Russian fighters were virtually extinct. Those planes are VERY rare and should command an outrageous price, but they could probably be bought for the same price as a top-of-the-line restored T-6 or T-28. Why are they so cheap? Because there is little demand for rare, obscure Russian warbirds. An L-1 is a neat airplane, but there is virtually no demand for it, hence the price will be no where close to $ 1 Million.

[Taylor Stevenson]

Hangar(s) ($5mil)
Piper L-4 "Winged Virgin" Paint Scheme ($60k)
Stinson L-5G 99th FAB, 1st Cav. Markings ($100k)
Boeing PT-17 OD band scheme ($100k)
North American LT-6G Fully Restored with rockets. ($300k)
North American P-51D 3rd ACG "Bad Angel" Restored to Milspec. ($3 mil)
Republic P-47D 56th FG Gabreski Scheme ($2 mil)
Lockheed P-38 55th FG "Skylark IV" ($3 mil)
Vought F4U-4 VF-43 ($2 mil)
Douglas A-26 12th BG ($500k)
Grumman TBM VT-83 ($500k)
Douglas C-47 1st ACG ($200k)
GMC DUKW USMC Iwo Jima scheme ($80k)
Chrysler M4A4 Sherman ($300)
Ford GPW Armored "Joey" Scheme ($30k)
TOTAL: $17,170,000
Invest the rest for future expansion.

[Bill Greenwood]

Mustang Driver, I can't help you with a lot of those, but as far as a Beech B-36 to do rides in, that I can furnish. It needs a new paint job, but flies good. I did 6 Young Eagle rides at the open house day at Boulder airport last summer. That's one of my favorite things.

One kid was a character, he was sort of afraid, and did not want to touch the controls, but I make em all fly, whether it is a kid in the Bonanza or an adult in the Spitfire, and I have never had anyone complain once we were back on the ground. So this little boy, perhaps 10 years old , takes the wheel and flies a few turns. As soon as we got back to our parking space and he climbed out onto the wing walk, he was like a different guy, and he was yelling to his friends that he flew the plane.

[Dan K]

How about a "World War II Night Fighters" museum?

F4U-2 Corsair
F6F-5N Hellcat
P-38M Lightning
P-61 Black Widow
Mk 30 Mosquito
Mk IIF Beaufighter
Me-262B-1a/U1 Schwalbe
Bf-110 G-4 Zerstorer

...any other examples I'm missing?

Don't forget the P-70!

Junkers Ju88G
http://www.michael-reimer.com/CFS2/CFS2 ... AN_400.jpg

Heinkel He219
http://www.aircraft-list.com/keywords/H ... 219_19.jpg

Nakajima "Gekko"
http://www.enginehistory.org/Japanese/M ... G_0774.jpg

[Zachary]

My dream aviation museum would be one where the static aircraft are treated like artifacts and not fancy decorations for various events that do not benefit the museum in any way. And if I had $50 million to spend, I'd probably funnel a few mil into a certain Sea Wolf project, which would hopefully find its way into an exhibit in my museum once complete!

[Joe Scheil]

Planes of Fame in Chino....

Because its not just the planes...its the people that make it what it is.

[Steve T]

Interesting question that draws out lots of good ideas...

Three from me; one already pretty much exists, one never will but for the best of reasons, and one could happen with enough Long Green...

*True North Museum of Flying. Canadian-themed flying museum encompassing significant civil and military types from the century-and-counting of Canadian aviation. (This one essentially already exists...Mike Potter's Vintage Wings of Canada at Gatineau, Quebec.)

*Walter A. Soplata Museum of Aviation. Static collection in northeast Ohio, based upon some of the relics rescued by Walt over the years. (Cannot happen as envisioned...but that's because several of the potential exhibits are now being restored to flying condition instead. Incidentally I once had a literal dream involving a thoroughly surreal version of this museum. So it's my dream museum in a true sense!)

*Flying Colours Warbirds. Not exactly a "museum", this would be a fleet of flyable fighter types, with the twist that all would be dual control variants...TF-51, Spitfire T9, Fury T20, TP-40N, et cetera. Star of the collection for many might be the Hispano 1112 M4L (which is still alive, if not exactly kicking, in Connie Edwards' collection.)

S.

[mtpopejoy]

I would buy the Willow Run Bomber plant from General Motors for the Yankee Air Museum (they're closing it anyways) at least the final assembly hangar. Then I would by KW's B-24 from Florida, restore it and trade it for one of the few Willow Run built Libs. That would about cover the $50mil.
Regards,
Mark

[Dan K]

...I'd probably funnel a few mil into a certain Sea Wolf project...

I assure you, a completely pointless and utter waste of funds!