cadet77 wrote:
The brochure says that all are "Flyable" except the Dauntless SBD and the Goose JRF-G-21.
The Spitfire MKXIV looked as though the tail surfaces were out for recover as part of maintenance. Someone closer to the museum may add something more.
cadet77
Larry
I don't know why specifically the Goose is not airworthy, but I have seen photos of it and although it once had the McKinnon retract float mod, it now has fixed floats again - but the floats (I've heard) are off of a Vought OS2U Kingfisher and the wingtips are still squared off for the retract mod. I know that they also put some Ham Std props back on it after it had the Hartzell 3-blades for many years.
Another interesting thing is that the airplane is still registered to Air Metal Fabricators of Arlington WA. I've spoken with Ken Orford there and he says he sold it to some guy in Utah in the early 1990's. I guess the museum didn't care about minor paperwork like the registration....
I even tried to e-mail the museum a couple of years ago and offered to donate some original half-round Goose wingtips with the original military 3x recognition lights still mounted in them. They never even bothered to respond to the e-mail.