Collings Foundation aquires P-47 45-49167

[RyanShort1]

This is a crazy odd trade...if a straight one for one and makes 0 sense except for political correctness reasons.

For a reasonably large portion of the country, that isn't nothing!

[Archer]

AFAIK the NMUSAF prefers airframes to have a direct link to a particular theatre, action or use. In the case of the P-47D that link just isn't there. As they own several P-47s, I can see why they can safely let this one go. The value of the airframe on the open market may well be significant, but the value of the airframe to the NMUSAF is very different I think. For them, the link between the PT-17 and the story of the Tuskegee airmen is valuable enough to trade a P-47 for it I guess (and perhaps there was indeed more to the deal).

[marine air]

It's a lopsided trade but not as lopsided as it first appears. The National Museums are in the business of displaying "History" particularly U.S. combat history. This one doesn't have that. Second, a P-47N fuselage, no wings etc. sold a couple of years ago for $150K . There are other bits and pieces for Sea Furies, Mustang 3, etc. FW-190, etc. in the $400k range. While this airplane looks cosmetically great, did it fly to the museum? There was a rash of P-47 accidents in the late seventies and eighties related to engine or fuel starvation problems. This one could have lots of issues.
Most of the P-47 projects have to have new wing spars and extremely expensive turbocharger systems that are missing. So, I've yet to see a cheap P-47 restoration, they are a very complicated aircraft with very few parts laying around.
To me, I would value the Tuskegee Stearman at $250k to $500k.

[Avnut]

Now the air force museum has "no" P-47 on display at the "main national museum" of the air force! This is one aircraft that I expect to see at the museum given the significant role it played during the war.

[Clifford Bossie]

Now the air force museum has "no" P-47 on display at the "main national museum" of the air force! This is one aircraft that I expect to see at the museum given the significant role it played during the war.

What happened to the Razorback painted as Neel Kearby's?

[TAdan]

Now the air force museum has "no" P-47 on display at the "main national museum" of the air force! This is one aircraft that I expect to see at the museum given the significant role it played during the war.

What happened to the Razorback painted as Neel Kearby's?

It is on display in the WWII Gallery.

[k5083]

It's a lopsided trade but not as lopsided as it first appears. The National Museums are in the business of displaying "History" particularly U.S. combat history. This one doesn't have that. Second, a P-47N fuselage, no wings etc. sold a couple of years ago for $150K . There are other bits and pieces for Sea Furies, Mustang 3, etc. FW-190, etc. in the $400k range. While this airplane looks cosmetically great, did it fly to the museum? There was a rash of P-47 accidents in the late seventies and eighties related to engine or fuel starvation problems. This one could have lots of issues.
Most of the P-47 projects have to have new wing spars and extremely expensive turbocharger systems that are missing. So, I've yet to see a cheap P-47 restoration, they are a very complicated aircraft with very few parts laying around.
To me, I would value the Tuskegee Stearman at $250k to $500k.

Yes, it did fly to the museum. It had an accident in the late 70s, was repaired at Chino, and flown to Dayton. I have a pic of it that I took in 1983 in the resto hangar, I guess in the same condition it was ferried to the museum, wearing a paint scheme that I have not seen in other photos. It looked good. Of course it will have issues after 40 years of inactivity, but I have no reason to think it won't be as easy to restore as several of the other fighters that we have seen returned to flight lately after 3-5 decades on the ground.

If Collings wants to make it another Oshkosh winner then yeah, big dollars will have to be invested, even if it's a basically sound airframe.

From the looks of it, this trade may be a win-win. The Stearman, with its Tuskegee provenance (even if it's a bit sketchy) is of higher value to a historical museum concerned with important historical narratives, and the jug is of higher value to a private operator as a potential flyer. Both parties may legitimately feel they got the better end of the trade, based on their own valuations of the aircraft.

August

[Mark Allen M]

This is a crazy odd trade...if a straight one for one and makes 0 sense except for political correctness reasons.

And why would that be? One aircraft flew with the Peruvian AF and one flew (presumably) with the Tuskegee airmen. One has a connection to the history of American service members training to help defend America and the other none at all. The NMUSAF is a museum dedicated to displaying and preserving American USAAF and USAF aircraft. One of the objectives of the museum (in my opinion) is to display American military aircraft that actually have historical significance associated with it’s type. The museum is not intended to just be a warbird collection. As for the political correctness nonsense. This kind of thing only comes up for those fixated on stirring up controversy for no other reason than to stir up controversy. See: wokeness, cancel culture, book banning, Bud lite and a whole long list of other divisive horse crap!.

I personally agree that this alleged straight up trade is a win win. And perhaps an even larger win for the warbird fans who may be seeing another Thunderbolt take to the air.

My 2 cents worth.

[hurricane_yank]

This is a crazy odd trade...if a straight one for one and makes 0 sense except for political correctness reasons.

And why would that be? One aircraft flew with the Peruvian AF and one flew (presumably) with the Tuskegee airmen. One has a connection to the history of American service members training to help defend America and the other none at all. The NMUSAF is a museum dedicated to displaying and preserving American USAAF and USAF aircraft. One of the objectives of the museum (in my opinion) is to display American military aircraft that actually have historical significance associated with it’s type. The museum is not intended to just be a warbird collection. As for the political correctness nonsense. This kind of thing only comes up for those fixated on stirring up controversy for no other reason than to stir up controversy. See: wokeness, cancel culture, book banning, Bud lite and a whole long list of other divisive horse crap!.

I personally agree that this alleged straight up trade is a win win. And perhaps an even larger win for the warbird fans who may be seeing another Thunderbolt take to the air.

My 2 cents worth.

Your entire 2 cents is based upon presumably.

[Mark Allen M]

Your entire 2 cents is based upon presumably.

Not entirely! but of course there’s some speculation, just like everyone else’s. Yet some presumptions are based more towards logical reasoning than fallacy.

[phil65]

https://www.americanheritagemuseum.org/ ... underbolt/

Phil