I know we can't save them all...

[C VEICH]

...but this one didn't look too bad.

http://www.dla.mil/DLA_Media_Center/Pag ... 90100.aspx

[bgp429]

Today scrapping something like this just makes me sick. Even if the airframe could never be made flyable the fittings, brackets, and accesories have value. Once it gone it's gone.

[Dan Jones]

Man, I thought those days were over.

[JohnB]

You would have thought some Japanese film company would use it as a "Zero".
Really, they couldn't find some use for it..perhaps as a gate guard at a US air base?

And the tone of the news release is troublesome...they talk about scrapping it like it's a 95 Chevy staff car...no sense of history or value present.

[Ken]

Mods please merge the two threads ...

[L-4Pilot]

Labor rates, parts, and operating costs have made it impossible to restore a lot of vintage military aircraft. Only when the aircraft type reaches near extinction does it become attractive enough for individuals or organizations to invest in it. The more common types will continue to suffer this fate . A gate guard T-6 exposed to the elements for many years would be an expensive endeavor indeed.

Unfortunately, by the time we wake up and realize that a particular type is almost gone most of the spare parts and donor airframes have been shredded for scrap.

I also wish we could save them all.

[Richard W.]

The way they throw around the term "demilitarization" makes me think they've lumped that poor little Texan in with machine guns and jet fighters and other scary war stuff that can only be released to the public as scrap.

Always loved the way the Japanese paint their trainers all orange like that, BTW.

[shrike]

I'm guessing the T-28 behind it was next

[Chris Brame]

Maybe if those of us who have items on loan to the various USAF museums demanded to have their items returned NOW with clear explanation that this was the reason... it wouldn't bring this one back but maybe a head or two would roll, or some sort of official apology would be forthcoming.

You'd think some base museum here would've been happy to have it.

[camshaw]

holy hell!........what the hell is wrong with people!............a crime indeed!...........great now you have 350 bucks in mixed up dirty metal!........worthless......im pissed, sorry!.......but put out of commission in 98'.....it aint all that bad!...should have been sold to a collector, hell i would have bought it, flown over there and tore it apart and shipped it home in a container!....terrible!

[gary1954]

may have been looking for the gold coin that fell out someone's pocket and they got carried away

sure, this is sad, very sad indeed, any museum would have loved to have acquired that airframe, I'm sure they could have found a sponsor to fund the shipping cost. wow, is the government of Japan a mirror of our own when it comes to Demil?

[RickH]

Notice the website. US Defense Logistics Agency. Not JAF, it lent to the Japanes and when they were through with they returned it per the agreement.

It was the DLA who scrapped it. We fight this all of the time.

[Jim MacDonald]

I wonder if it was offered to any other bases here? The type did fly out of Misawa & we already have an F-86 & F-4 in front of the headquarters building with room enough to add one more. We also have an air & science museum right off base that has quite a few planes displayed.

JASDF also operated the F6F & TBM. I believe that there is still a couple of each on display. It scares me to think that they would be given the same treatment if their display days were finished. I would think that the chances are fairly good that they would have been combat vets transferred to JASDF from bases here.

Mac

[APG85]

Hate to say it, but you are probably going to see more of this. As airplanes rot on outdoor static display and become unmaintainable, there's potential (I say potential) for them to quietly go off to DRMO for disposal. A lot of bases don't have the funds to properly care for and maintain their static display planes anymore and sadly they aren't a priority. It takes the right person, in the right position at the right time to step in and coordinate a "better fate" than the "easy, cheap, quick route" over to the scrap metal bin...

[Ken]

It's already happening in the past couple years with at least 2 B-52's.