Biggest Contributor to Our Current Warbird Population?

[rcaf_100]

With respect to RCAF disposal policies, I seem to recall reading, probably in one of Milberry's books, that while fighters and trainers were disposed of pretty freely after the war, there was a restriction on selling surplus bombers because of the damage they could do in the wrong hands. The Anson qualified as a bomber, which is why so few Ansons were preserved despite having been easily the most numerous RCAF aircraft ever.

August

To add to that, it was just the earlier Mk Is and IIs that were classified as bombers since that is what they were first used for.
The later Mk Vs were not designed as bombers so there were lots of those sold off for civillian use.
However, due to their plywood construction and our harsh environment, their survivablity depended basically on whether or not they were hangared.
Same thing goes for the Battles, Oxfords and Liberators (plus a few others) used by the RCAF that were disposed of by Crown Assets at the end of the war. Old bombers simply sold as scrap.

[davem]

With respect to RCAF disposal policies, I seem to recall reading, probably in one of Milberry's books, that while fighters and trainers were disposed of pretty freely after the war, there was a restriction on selling surplus bombers because of the damage they could do in the wrong hands. The Anson qualified as a bomber, which is why so few Ansons were preserved despite having been easily the most numerous RCAF aircraft ever.

August

I know of no such restrictions on the sale of war surplus aircraft. There are many examples of RCAF B-24's, Catalina / Canso's, Lancasters, Hudsons, Bolingbrokes, etc being sold surplus to individuals with only the guns removed (ie: compete with turrets, bomb racks, etc). Many Mosquitoes, Ansons, Stranraers and PBY's ended up on the civillian register in the post war years.

[VaBeachEd]

Hi All:
FNG here, but under the category of "who has done much to find/restore warbirds", I think we'd have to include Jerry Yagen of Fighter Factory/Military Aviation Museum in Va. Beach. The MAM has a truly amazing collection of (mostly) flying warbirds, and is adding new hangars as this is written. The museum has a robust program of WWII veteran speakers, who share their experiences and then the museum flys one of their aircraft. Great fun to see them and hear first hand experiences from the vets.

http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/