Why are most US warbird operators based on the west coast?

[Iclo]

Hum, seeing the list of collections base somewhere else than on the West coast, I wonder if the initial assumption is correct or not ?
Perhaps about the Reno Racers, but the privately owned vintage and warbirds collection looks to be distributed everywhere.

[wls3]

Tom Duffy's collection of "Jersey birds",

P-47 Thunderbolt,
P-51 Mustang,
FG1D Corsair
Mark IX Spitfire
L-4 Cub,
T-6 Texan
B-25 Mitchell
Grumman Widgeon.

[JohnTerrell]

Another great collection, Fagen Fighters, located in Granite Falls, Minnesota:

P-38L Ruff Stuff
P-51D Twilight Tear
P-51D Sweet Revenge
P-40E
P-40K
BT-13
PT-22
PT-23
PT-26
L-4
B-25J (under restoration)
SNJ (under restoration)
SB2C and further P-40 projects
Waco Glider (complete display)

[Rajay]

Tom Duffy's collection of "Jersey birds",

P-47 Thunderbolt,
P-51 Mustang,
FG-1D Corsair
Mark IX Spitfire
L-4 Cub,
T-6 Texan
B-25 Mitchell
Grumman Widgeon.

There are no Widgeons registered in NJ per se.
Are these aircraft registered under a Delaware corporation perhaps?
Or alternately, do you happen to know the actual registration (N-number) of the Widgeon in particular?
Just curious - and I like to keep tabs on all of my favorite Grumman waterbirds.

I was talking with some big money guys (potential investors) from CT several months back and they kept swearing to me that they had a "friend" in NJ who has a "turbine Widgeon". They wouldn't believe me that there is no such thing - a turbo Widgeon maybe, i.e. a Magnum 350 hp Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD conversion for example, but that's not a "turbine" engine. (I'm thinking that they may not have known the difference - and yet they had more money than they knew what to do with! Life ain't fair!)

[Rajay]

Just dug up the answer to my own question - all of Tom Duffy's aircraft are registered in the name of Claire Aviation of Wilmington, DE - but that's just a corporate tax shelter. They're actually based in Millville, NJ.

And his Widgeon is N1340V, Grumman G-44 s/n 1228 (ex-USCG J4F-1 V203) which BTW is NOT a Magnum conversion. In fact, it's not any kind of engine conversion; it still has the original equipment 200 hp Ranger in-lines - although the props have been upgraded from the original fixed-pitch wooden ones.

[Nathan]

If you ask me, why are all the warbirds in Texas? I just suppose warbird operators/owners/museums are just more prolific on the west coast. Cally IS a mighty BIG State!

[51fixer]

TX isn't the west coast though.
If you ask many of them, well Texas is Texas.
Everyone else is pretty much Northerners.

[k5083]

Texas certainly isn't the west coast, and as phrased, the original question's premise is dubious. However, if it said "the west coast and Texas," it would be closer to true.

Weather and money are certainly factors. But the striking thing about the northeast is that even considering the indifferent weather, the Boston-NY-DC axis has fewer warbird owners than any other part of the country with a similar number of high-net-worth individuals.

Fund traders, i-bankers, dot-com and biotech CEOs, lobbyists - these are guys with high-eight, nine, and even ten-figure net worths. A Mustang would be pocket change for many of them. But, they don't own a Mustang, or even a Lancair. There is a cultural element at work. The big-money toys here are houses by the shore, and boats; lots of boats. Not so much planes.

Could be the weather in part, but I think it's also the time -- we have a harder-working, more obsessive Type-A kind of rich dude here than I see in Texas or Cali. Not as much time to learn to fly, let alone stay proficient in high performance aircraft. Also we have a greater number of, and more tightly clustered, major airports and fewer general aviation friendly airports close at hand. This is "small sky country."

August

[51fixer]

Texas certainly isn't the west coast, and as phrased, the original question's premise is dubious. However, if it said "the west coast and Texas," it would be closer to true.

Weather and money are certainly factors. But the striking thing about the northeast is that even considering the indifferent weather, the Boston-NY-DC axis has fewer warbird owners than any other part of the country with a similar number of high-net-worth individuals.

Fund traders, i-bankers, dot-com and biotech CEOs, lobbyists - these are guys with high-eight, nine, and even ten-figure net worths. A Mustang would be pocket change for many of them. But, they don't own a Mustang, or even a Lancair. There is a cultural element at work. The big-money toys here are houses by the shore, and boats; lots of boats. Not so much planes.

Could be the weather in part, but I think it's also the time -- we have a harder-working, more obsessive Type-A kind of rich dude here than I see in Texas or Cali. Not as much time to learn to fly, let alone stay proficient in high performance aircraft. Also we have a greater number of, and more tightly clustered, major airports and fewer general aviation friendly airports close at hand. This is "small sky country."

August

There have been a few owners from the Cultural/Political Central area that have owned warbirds but kept them in other places, such as Stallion 51 in FL.
It isn't easy as you mention operating Warbirds or even GA aircraft in that busy airspace.
I guess thats ok with the Feds but hurts GA Future.

[Russ Blow]

Well my L 4 is here in Suffolk Virgina. So not all us big shot warbird owners are based out west

[RacingMustang]

Thanks for all the input. Looks like my original premise was faulty and that while POF, the largest wing of the CAF, and the FHC are on the West Coast, there are a few in Texas as well. I wasn't aware of that.

I think it's also easy to overlook the "smaller" operators who don't have a zillion planes (4-10 range). I think of the Tri-State Warbird Museum in Ohio.

Well my L 4 is here in Suffolk Virgina. So not all us big shot warbird owners are based out west

I like that.