Warbird Information Exchange

Had a friend stumble into this while visiting his son. Anyone know anything about an auction?

[QUOTE=bluestang67;57902]Had a wrong turn and found this old air port with just these 3 planes on it No trespassing was not a welcome sign . One ole Flat Fender chained to a pole for auction on the 20th.

















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Sure, Charles Lindbergh flew the plane... but Tom Rutledge built the engine!

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Hopefully they go to collectors and not the scrappers!
Here is what aerial visuals has on Mercer
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/LocatorLogR ... erial=2254

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The jeep picture couldn't have been made within a couple of miles of mercer. Also, I checked with the FBO at Calhoun ( which is a mile away) and they had no knowledge of an auction. I wonder if whoever was there put together a couple of unrelated facts. I'll try and get by there this afternoon to double check anyway...

That use to be an extremely average museum. Went under a few years ago and the collection went to the four winds.

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Cheers!

Lance Jones

Update- I just drove to Mercer and took a look around. Also, I drove by the gas station where I think the jeep was parked. I didn't see any evidence of a pending auction. That said, I will check back with the folks at the Calhoun FBO tomorrow to see if they have learned anything.

Ugh, the half scrapped Convair sure is sad looking...

Please let us know about the auction if it is legit.

-Derek

This will seem snippy, but I think the field and its attractions were far above mediocre. A smooth 3500' grass field stacked with 15 or so warbirds and open to both the driving and flying public for at least 40 years. For 30 or more of those years, the field and the aircraft located there were kept in pretty good shape. That's pretty good in my book. Sure, the displays went way downhill after the elder Mercer lost his ability to take care of things, but that field was a heck of a free attraction for 30 years or more. And they still keep the field mowed today...

I would love to have that T-29/C-131. But dang why is the tail off?

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Poor convair looks so sad....

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Cheers,
Peter

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A previous thread on this said that it was in the process of being scrapped several months ago, hence the tail being off...

-Derek

awww man! Thanks Viking. I think I remember the thread now. Something about a ramp for an overpass is going to be built over the field? How come we all kick ourselves for not saving warbirds in the past but yet it seems we still can't today? What do some people have against airplanes?

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

With all the aircraft scrapping going on lately, its got me to thinking.

1. If people are just trying to get rid of ( Junk ) they have laying around (aircraft) and they will contact a scrapper and get so little money for them. How come they don't just give them to a museum?

2. Take these planes for example. I think that the scrapper would just let someone pay what he did for them (scrap prices) so that he wouldn't have to spend the money and time ( probably loose money) moving the planes.

3. It's to bad that we WIX'ers can't come up with a way to save these planes and others when we find out they are going to be scrapped. If we had three lots of land across the country that we could store the planes. When we found planes like these then the WIX'ers in that area could work together and move the planes to the lot near them. We could make a 501c3 WIX museum just so that we could get these people to donate them and we would be saving Warbirds. Then we can make sure they go to good homes.

DON'T LET THE SCRAPPERS WIN!!!!!!!!!

Just my thoughts.

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Don't let the scrappers win !!!!!!!

Eric Miller
Project Warbird Salvage/Museum
http://www.projectwarbird.com

Did you find out anything Kyleb? I'd be willing to take a shot at the T-33.

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The more I learn about aircraft, the more I realize I still have to learn.

I don't *think* there is an auction. There were no signs or any other evidence that anything was going on. The airplanes look exactly like they have for the last 6 months.

The T-33 and F-84 are owned by the Government (USAF Museum, I think) and that's who you'd need to talk to. Other than the missing canopy and instruments, the F-84 is decent. The T-33 is better.

The Convair's outboard wing panels have been cut off. It is/was owned by the Mercers. By the way, the Mercers are very hard to contact. I've tried, as have several other WIXers, but I don't think anyone has actually gotten them on the phone.

Whoever cut the Convair apart also pulled loose the nose of the engine case on the left engine (this was 6 months ago). At that time, I was pleasantly surprised that there was no evident corrosion in the nose case. Of course, it has sat open to the weather for 6 months, so its probably rusted pretty good by now. A heck of a way to waste an R-2800...

Regarding trying to save what's left, the F-8 that was there had to be scrapped because the cost to restore it as a static display was prohibitive to the navy. Just too much corrosion from being exposed to the elements and the f*ing vandals. Isn't it amazing how these warbirds are actually pretty delicate? It seems to me like they start to go downhill within weeks of not being maintained properly.

I appreciate what the Mercer's set out to do, but when it became evident 15 or so years ago they could not maintain what they had they should have taken steps to send the aircraft to museums who could, and the both the navy and air force could have done a better job of keeping track of their property.