2021 Restorations...

[The Ripper]

Hello again folks!

It's that time of year again...

And with the terrible year we've had, hopefully we may see more warbird restorations take flight in 2021- either again or for the first time.

Once again guys, of course any input to the below list would be appreciated:

-Supermarine Spitfire IX MH415 (recent engine runs at Sywell)
-Supermarine Spitfire XVI TB252
-Supermarine Spitfire T.IX BS410
-Supermarine Spitfire IX LZ842 (out of Biggin Hill)
-Supermarine Spitfire IX MH603?
-DTAM Hawker Hurricane
-VWoC Hawker Hurricane XII
-Hawker Hurricane V7497 (after its landing mishap at Duxford in the spring)
-P-51C "Thunderbird"
-Fagen Hellcat
-Lewis Legends Hellcat
-F4F Wildcat (out of ARCo)
-DTAM F8F Bearcat
-Midwest Messerschmitt Me109G?
-Hangar 10 Messerschmitt Me109G D-FMBB
-Kermit Weeks A-26 Invader
-Kermit Weeks Boeing 100
-Supermarine Seafire XVII SX336
-Mike Spaulding F4U Corsair
-WHF FG-1D Corsair
-Hawker Tempest II MW763
-Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk (soon to be shipped to Italy from NZ)
-P-51 Mustang (with Brendon Deere, NZ)?
-Collings Foundation Fw-190F
-Jerry Yagen Curtiss H-75?
-Robs Lamplough Messerschmitt Bf-109E
-Fagen SB2C Helldiver
-CWHM Avenger
-CWHM Fairey Firefly

As usual, I've no doubt missed a bunch off!

Last edited by The Ripper on Sun Dec 06, 2020 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[kalamazookid]

There's great progress being made on Hawker Tempest II MW376 in Canada, but last estimate I saw is that it is about 18 months out. Not sure if that's the one you're referring to on your list as I have trouble keeping the Tempest projects straight.

A few other possibilities:

Pat Harker's TF-51D Mustang "Hel-e-ter"
Collings Foundation TP-51C Mustang "The Stars Look Down"
Vintage Wings Inc. C-53 Skytrooper "Beach City Baby"
Tim Savage's O-52 Owl
Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation's new C-54 Skymaster
Wings of the North BT-15 Valiant
Dakota Territory Air Museum P-47. In a video interview during EAA's Spirit of Aviation Week over the summer, one of the restoration crew members mentioned that it was a possibility for Oshkosh 2021.

Any chance John O'Connor's F4U-7 is repaired?

[aerovet]

Membury's C-47 Night Fright ?

[Yak 11 Fan]

Would be nice to think that Mustang G-CLNV would be close by the end of 2021.

[JohnB]

While not a warbird...(hey, there is more to historic aviation than ex -military types,...honest!)

A lovely Travel Air (remember the firm was founded by the Beech, Cessna and Stearman) will be finished late next year by Pemberton and Sons at Spokane's Felts Field.

[Maty12]

I think Kermit Weeks' B-26 Marauder might be airworthy again sometime soon. It can be seen in the background of some of his semi-recent Kermie Cam videos (specifically the one uploaded on June 24th) in a darker shade of green and with its flaps down instead of locked in the retracted position. That being said, I do not know what the airworthiness status of the aircraft is, the new layers of paint could be just to make it look nicer while on display, or could be months, if not years old, as most pictures I have of the aircraft for modeling reference are quite old.

[OD/NG]

I think Kermit Weeks' B-26 Marauder might be airworthy again sometime soon. It can be seen in the background of some of his semi-recent Kermie Cam videos (specifically the one uploaded on June 24th) in a darker shade of green and with its flaps down instead of locked in the retracted position. That being said, I do not know what the airworthiness status of the aircraft is, the new layers of paint could be just to make it look nicer while on display, or could be months, if not years old, as most pictures I have of the aircraft for modeling reference are quite old.

Not going to happen. That aircraft needs a LOT of work to make it airworthy again, far exceeding Kermit's willingness in time, money and/or effort to put into it. I've heard some people familiar with its condition say that it needs, in essence, an entirely new ground-up restoration to get it to where it really needs to be to sustain a long-term flying program. I predict the B-26 won't fly again until it is under the custodianship of its next owner. Unfortunately the same can be said for the vast majority of his collection, especially the ones in storage.

By the way, and I'm sure you know this - a new paint job or movement of flaps and/or other systems has no bearing on whether something is about to be restored and/or flown again. Long term statics are repainted all the time. POF does this frequently with new paint jobs on their static aircraft every 10 to 20 years or so, especially the ones kept outside.

[warbirdcrazy]

Vintage Aviation Museum's Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon " Bad To The Bone "

[JimH]

The O'Connor Corsair is probably 2-3 years away from flying again depending on how much manpower is thrown at it. Mike Nixon recently post engine runs for a BMW 801 and Jumo...which could be for the Paul Allen Stuka. I think despite the current FHC situation the 262 may be flown and the Stuka completed pending being listed. The Rod Lewis Hellcat is also pretty far along as is the Fagen Fighters Hellcat. The group in Seattle building the Zero also posted on Facebook of a pretty complete airframe "that looks close", but who knows.

My .02

[Zac Yates]

-P-51 Mustang (with Brendon Deere, NZ)?

I would be pleasantly surprised if 45-11513 flew next year - they only finished main airframe disassembly into sections/chunks a fortnight ago.
NZ2423 Ohakea 281020 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 281020 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
October28

NZ2423 Ohakea 271120 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
November27

-Jerry Yagen Curtiss H-75?

Perhaps once TB252 is flying the Avspecs team's attention will focus on the Hawk, but here's how she looked in February this year just before Covid hit (Auckland, home to Avspecs, has been a hotbed of cases and has been hit with more lockdowns and restrictions than the rest of the country):
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Michel Lemieux]

Anyone has an update on the Supermarine Walrus in the UK?????

Have not heard or seen updates in years.

[Maty12]

Not going to happen. That aircraft needs a LOT of work to make it airworthy again, far exceeding Kermit's willingness in time, money and/or effort to put into it. I've heard some people familiar with its condition say that it needs, in essence, an entirely new ground-up restoration to get it to where it really needs to be to sustain a long-term flying program. I predict the B-26 won't fly again until it is under the custodianship of its next owner. Unfortunately the same can be said for the vast majority of his collection, especially the ones in storage.

By the way, and I'm sure you know this - a new paint job or movement of flaps and/or other systems has no bearing on whether something is about to be restored and/or flown again. Long term statics are repainted all the time. POF does this frequently with new paint jobs on their static aircraft every 10 to 20 years or so, especially the ones kept outside.

Sad to hear it, but it's always good to be informed rather than have false hope I suppose. Do hope we get an airworthy Marauder at some point, but chances are pretty low it seems, since Kermit's seemed like the most likely candidate.

[OD/NG]

Not going to happen. That aircraft needs a LOT of work to make it airworthy again, far exceeding Kermit's willingness in time, money and/or effort to put into it. I've heard some people familiar with its condition say that it needs, in essence, an entirely new ground-up restoration to get it to where it really needs to be to sustain a long-term flying program. I predict the B-26 won't fly again until it is under the custodianship of its next owner. Unfortunately the same can be said for the vast majority of his collection, especially the ones in storage.

By the way, and I'm sure you know this - a new paint job or movement of flaps and/or other systems has no bearing on whether something is about to be restored and/or flown again. Long term statics are repainted all the time. POF does this frequently with new paint jobs on their static aircraft every 10 to 20 years or so, especially the ones kept outside.

Sad to hear it, but it's always good to be informed rather than have false hope I suppose. Do hope we get an airworthy Marauder at some point, but chances are pretty low it seems, since Kermit's seemed like the most likely candidate.

Yea, it's sad that there are so few prospects for an airworthy example. The only 3 "wild cards", and best hope for a flying candidate is one of the following:

1) The Collings foundation has long wanted an airworthy Martin B-26 to add to their collection and national tour. If anyone has the resources to do it, they do. Unfortunately, with the crash looming long in their future, they can no longer give passenger rides and will have to settle all of the lawsuits stemming from that. With the potential tens of millions in the legal balance, and a revoked ride program, I'm guessing that Collings won't have the stomach to take on such a massive project for a long time, if ever.

2) Pat Rodgers' project. This was actually for sale a while back on Platinum's website. It did not sell and the listing has been withdrawn. There are only a handful of people in the world who would be in a position to complete that project back to airworthy condition. It would be massive - probably in excess of $10 million or more to complete. With some of the "movers and shakers" in the warbird world scaling back or disappearing, interest in this will probably have to be generated from a very wealthy "new-comer" on the warbird scene. Here is an old article on it:

http://warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/m ... -sale.html

3) Somebody negotiating to buy one of Tallichet's static examples. He has several mostly complete airframes, with several being on exhibit at various museums under long term loan. With really nobody left in the Tallichet family who has a huge passion for warbirds, I see a lot, if not most, of his remaining collection eventually being sold off in the future.

Two big issues with the B-26:

1) It is extremely rare with few examples and even fewer parts availability. Missing pieces will have to be built from scratch or recovered from crash sites in the wild. Both are massively expensive and difficult. With a relatively "simple" fighter, this wouldn't be as much as an issue, but the B-26 is a large, massively complex aircraft and the majority of the restoration would have to be accomplished that way.

2) It doesn't have the notoriety, fame, or glamor of the other bombers. The B-17, B-25 and B-29 are much more popular. Even though the B-26 had the lowest combat loss rate of any bomber in the war, it suffered early on in "bad publicity" from its poor training record and the infamous "one a day in Tampa Bay" fiasco. All of its problems -which were mostly training induced - eventually got resolved. Because it never had it's "shining moment" in a famous raid, battle or conflict, it has largely been forgotten by the public and the history books. This translates into extremely little interest in it from either the general public or people with the means to bring one back to airworthiness.

I've never seen a B-26 fly in my life and I hope someday to be able to!

[phil65]

I think we are living in a little bit of a fantasy land if we think some of these planes are going to fly for any length of time.
The crash of 909, 100L.L. prices and the virus isn't going to be over on Jan. 1st. I really hope I'm wrong and we can wake up like it's Christmas morning. With that said, what about the Black Widow ?

Phil

[JohnB]

I think we are living in a little bit of a fantasy land if we think some of these planes are going to fly for any length of time.
The crash of 909, 100L.L. prices and the virus isn't going to be over on Jan. 1st. I really hope I'm wrong and we can wake up like it's Christmas morning. With that said, what about the Black Widow ?

Phil

Gee, Phil, you're full of optomism!
What's up..did the Patriot's loose their QB?
Oh, wait!!!