Warbird Information Exchange

There are set proceedures on the disposal, and ebay is not an option.

Ryan, refer back to my earlier post. It might explain why Ebay is not a viable option as Skymaster pointed out.

I'm sure you guys are right, but I was thinking that some comment was needed to break the tension. I don't know what to think personally about the helicopter, but hey, people can come up with all kinds of crazy ideas to do with stuff. Seems it could have come to some better conclusion if all the people upset now had been given a chance to do something about it.

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

Good-on-ya Ryan, I think the Army could've saved themselves some grief
if only they'd have communicated with the public a bit better on this issue.
They may have sent letters to other museums, or this or that. But what
they failed to do..was inform their funding agents and to some degree or
the other...their fans and supporters...We the Public. The proto XCH-62
may have been paid for by the Army..but they and other bureaucrats keep
forgetting, they go to Congress for a budget, but they get the money from
U.S., the taxpayer. I checked their(our) Army website..
www.armyavnmuseum.org , and I haven't found a News-section, nor a
Gallery of displays. It's a fairly simple website, did I miss a notification
to the ArmyAir supporters-at-large of their desire to quit the caretaking
of the mock-up?? If there were an archive section I'd look for it there...but
alas..non.

Some of us look for any tidbits we can, of artifacts in danger, but when it's
treated like a secret, then we can't help them.

If anything, the rotorhead assembled with the blades would have made a
bold display if it was suspended in a hanger over museum airplanes or
helicopters. Several lost chances all the way around...

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Occassionally, the Air Force museum sells aircraft and items surplus to their needs. A year or so ago they had a Hispano HA-1112 Buchon, and other items available for bid. Fort Campbell, Ky. is having auctions almost monthly as they are selling off buildings (WWII) vintage. They have to be dismantled and hauled off within a given time frame.
I'm sorry to say but, IMO, someone bucking for a promotion was trying to sanitize their area of responsibility on the base and used the easiest and most expedient method to get "in regulation" .

What started as a spruce-up for Rucker's 50th Anniversary celebration
became someone's PR nightmare...I wonder how "amused" the attending
top brass were about this, regardless how "right" the Army was. Does the
Army still have postings in the Arctic circle?

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

This would make a great story for "60 Minutes" or "Nightline",
or the Smithsonian magazine.

The first part of this message is directed to Rob Rohr- stop stressing over a mock-up. The rest is generally aimed at the group-at-large.

Well, here we are in cyberspace, bitching about the loss of a mockup. Bottom line is that was what it was- a mockup, and nothing more. I would submit that it was important and should have been preserved. But the monies/people/will were not there. And that is just about what does them in every time.

You guys know Mid-Atlantic Air Museum? Right now, there is a dedicated team of individuals, working hard on a regular basis to restore a rare WWII airplane... What, the P61, you say????

NO! There is a bunch of guys who fell in love with the UC-78 that was brought in a long time ago and allowed to go derelict in the museum's back yard. They are restoring it to airworthy. The team has already done one restoration, and ponied up a BIG amount of cash and time to get this thing flying, and then it will enter the MAAM collection.

Now I'll toot my own horn. I salvaged 41 WWII landing field lights from an estate. I spent a lot of money and time doing it, have moved them nearly 10 times since I picked them up, and have them offered to sell without much serious interest. My partner in them made me buy him out- he thought they were just too much to handle. Believe me, it has been hard to disagree with him. They weigh nearly 100 lbs each, and I have moved all two tons of them by hand every time. My friends look at them and say neat, and then say that I should get rid of them because they don't sell well. But I just refuse to get rid of them. So my house has a lot of interesting WWII mood lighting. But I'm not going to scrap them.

My point is that if you don't like seeing this stuff go to the scrapper, get out to it and save it. Start twisting arms. Learn how to raise money, learn how to rivet, learn how to buck rivets, and chase down everything you can find. I know that if there are still AR234's and He 162's sitting on dumps within 100 miles of my home, there's stuff in your neighborhood. Go find it and preserve it and good luck doing it.

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

OK pony up the locations. Are they Gov't owned or private? If Gov't owned, a Musuem or 501 c will have to pick them up. I'm game to save them!

Some of the best advice I've seen on the WIX. Everyone wants things preserved...few are willing to put up the cash or effort required. Bravo to you for preservice something you felt needed to be and using your own $.

Randy,
Forget the kudos, send cash... These look great with 110 V 60W fluourescent bulbs- they give an off an ethereal warbird glow- you can see actual shadows of original taxi-ing WWII B17's and P-51's on the walls of your hangar. Or at least when I'm drinking Tequila, I think I can see them... And every one I sell goes right into the gas tank of the L5...





The Nazi Warbirds in question were photographed in the dump at PAX years ago, and are well known. They were mixed in with giant concrete chunks and were totally corroded then. I don't have any photos- I didn't see them. But the people who did see them are not idiots and were not hallucinating.

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

Is the UC-78 you mention one of the -B models?
Or one of the original AT-8 or AT-17s?

Do you know where I can get some pics of her?

Thanks!