Last Flights, the Hindenburg and the Concorde

I just cannot see my children growing up to fly F-104s or A-4s, in the way we fly Mustangs, Spits, and Sea Furies. Are we truly the final generation of warbird pilots? How many WW2 types do you suppose will be flying in the year 2100?

I personally cant see anything flying in 2100, there just wont be any oil left and what is about will be to prized for us to have. In the more immediate future problems with computer software and fatigue life will prohibit most of the modern day aircraft from flying even before you look at wether or not an organisation can safetly maintain them. Live for today and enjoy what you’ve got is the way I look at it. Don’t waste time worrying about the size of crests or slightly wrong shades of paint. Be thankful that there are people out there who are prepared to spend there cash on things that keep us happy.

That’s what I was afraid of, not just the loss of specific individual aircraft, but the extinction of a whole generation of aircraft. Add to that the fact that manned fighter aircraft are becoming more rare all the time (just look how the numbers keep decreasing for the F-22 and Eurofighter), and you have to wonder how long is it before drone aircraft take on these duties. Will this generation be the last to see operational manned fighters?

I just cannot see my children growing up to fly F-104s or A-4s, in the way we fly Mustangs, Spits, and Sea Furies. Are we truly the final generation of warbird pilots? How many WW2 types do you suppose will be flying in the year 2100?

It’s a pertinent point Steve.
Alas, I think this was always going to be the case as time went on and aircraft both civil and military get ever more complex and expensive.
Lets face it how many military aircraft, designed after 1955, are flying in civilian ownership…..??

Very very few….. 🙁

So, that’s virtually the complete 2nd half of military aviation history wiped out, in flying terms after each subsequent era of aircraft make their last flights……… 😮
I can only think of the Swedes that are attempting to go against the grain, (and perhaps the blank chequebook of Mike Beachyhead in the slighly less restrictive airspace of SA.. 🙂 )

But, lets face it, other than with govt. or manufacture support it’s not going to happen.

As for the end of the manned fighter being near……well, maybe, but then again Duncan Sandys said in 1957, that the Lightning would be the last of the manned fighters…… 😉

WW2 warbirds flying in 2100…….I doubt it very much, probably on the grounds of fuel availability at the very least…….. :confused:

That’s what I was afraid of, not just the loss of specific individual aircraft, but the extinction of a whole generation of aircraft. Add to that the fact that manned fighter aircraft are becoming more rare all the time (just look how the numbers keep decreasing for the F-22 and Eurofighter), and you have to wonder how long is it before drone aircraft take on these duties. Will this generation be the last to see operational manned fighters?

I just cannot see my children growing up to fly F-104s or A-4s, in the way we fly Mustangs, Spits, and Sea Furies. Are we truly the final generation of warbird pilots? How many WW2 types do you suppose will be flying in the year 2100?

I have been thinking the same way for a long time and and have made my views known on this before.
The Uk forces will be retiring the Jaguar,Seaharrier,and Tornado within the next few years and these types will not be seen on the Airshow curcuit again.
So in a few years we will lose a complete generation of Aircraft,Top that with the fact we already have very little flying from the 60s onwards due to CAA restrictions,We are going to lose a big part of our history here.

As Steve says the days of Unmanned fighters are coming soon its going to be difficult for the next generation of kids to understand the romance of flying with so many inportant types no longer flying and new types not giving them the chance to be a pilot or dream of being a pilot,Its going to be a big void.
I honestly can not see that many World war 2 Aircraft flying by 2100 i guess maybe one or two Spitfires and P-51s will still be flying if we are lucky,But the rest will be retired or sadly long gone we should enjoy what we have got and try and leave as much as we can for the next generation,Aircraft are ment to fly and not be caged in musuems to gather dust.

I just cannot see my children growing up to fly F-104s or A-4s, in the way we fly Mustangs, Spits, and Sea Furies. Are we truly the final generation of warbird pilots? How many WW2 types do you suppose will be flying in the year 2100?

You may be right. I can just imagine renting an airplane to tour around museums full of stored, worthless and unwanted Mustangs.

Mind you, we’d probably be flying around in a DC3!

That’s what I was afraid of, not just the loss of specific individual aircraft, but the extinction of a whole generation of aircraft. Add to that the fact that manned fighter aircraft are becoming more rare all the time (just look how the numbers keep decreasing for the F-22 and Eurofighter), and you have to wonder how long is it before drone aircraft take on these duties. Will this generation be the last to see operational manned fighters?

I just cannot see my children growing up to fly F-104s or A-4s, in the way we fly Mustangs, Spits, and Sea Furies. Are we truly the final generation of warbird pilots? How many WW2 types do you suppose will be flying in the year 2100?

Unfortunately this is just one of the thing’s us classic jet fans have to accept. We’ve been dealing with it for years, we will never see a Javelin, Victor, Valiant, Swift, Attacker, Scimitar etc in the air again. 🙁

You can try and put of the inevitable ( like the Vulcan boys ) but in the end it’s just something we have to accept, thats why places such as Bruntingthorpe are so important to us.

While the Warbird fans are squabbling over the wrong kind of paint ( or engine 😉 ) on there airworthy aircraft we have to deal with the loss of whole types.

Hi,

Okay point taken about the expense. But if they can get the Vulcan up to taxiing condition then there are still qualified Vulcan mechanics around. I’m sure that if you have worked on an aircraft for umpteen years then you don’t simply forget your skill’s in a year.

There must be many ex-Concorde engineers/mechanics who would love to work on these again and maybe even get one back to taxiing condition.

Will there ever be another supersonic airliner? I don’t think so, and as such Concorde is an important part of our aviation heritage. So surely every effort must be made to keep one alive.

Alex

A lot of voters/taxpayers who would be outraged at what they would call this waste of public money that is better spent on hospitals, schools, pensions, you name it!
No politician or civil servant would touch the idea with a barge pole!

Even though they are perfectly willing to give away millions on seemingly every halfwitted PC vote catching scheme they can think off……….but of course that’s OK………politicans……don’t you just luv’em….. :dev2:

Hi,

. . . what is to stop the various governments/air forces from keeping these flying?

A lot of voters/taxpayers who would be outraged at what they would call this waste of public money that is better spent on hospitals, schools, pensions, you name it!
No politician or civil servant would touch the idea with a barge pole!

Hi,

Okay maybe these modern jets are outside the scope of most enthusiasts to keep in the air, but what is to stop the various governments/air forces from keeping these flying? They would have the know how to keep them flying.

What about the costs involved to keep the people who maintain these aircraft up to speed? Its been a year – does that mean that there are any Concorde mechanics still qualified? Or pilots even?
Older aircraft are much more simple – go back far enough and they could be repaired by a competant blacksmith and/or your neighbour who tinkers with lawnmowers. Its when technology rears its ugly head that the costs involved with servicing the aircraft and keeping the technicians suitably qualified skyrocket – and we all know that there is no money in airshows so the stock/shareholders won’t be impressed at vast sums being paid out to occasionally fly what would essentially be a white elephant just for a few enthusiasts.
How come no one is interested in keeping a One-Eleven, Trident, VC-10, or Viscount in the air for nostalgic reasons? Could it be that they were built to be workhorses and in this day and age they would – to management and stock/shareholders alike – just be money pits?

Flood

Hi,

Okay maybe these modern jets are outside the scope of most enthusiasts to keep in the air, but what is to stop the various governments/air forces from keeping these flying? They would have the know how to keep them flying. I’m sure BA and Air France could get together to keep at least one concorde airworthy.

Doesn’t the US Air Force operate a number of vinatge jets and use them to promote the USAF?

Alex

Its my honest view that the French wanted to ground her no matter what and nothing was going to change that.
Between Airbus and AirFrance they were able to force BA and our weak government in to ground her.
I would love to see her fly again but can’t see it happening but its still worth fighting for the chance.

Doesn’t the US Air Force operate a number of vinatge jets and use them to promote the USAF?

Yes they do….the B-52 fleet………. 😀 😀

Hi,

Okay maybe these modern jets are outside the scope of most enthusiasts to keep in the air, but what is to stop the various governments/air forces from keeping these flying? They would have the know how to keep them flying. I’m sure BA and Air France could get together to keep at least one concorde airworthy.

Doesn’t the US Air Force operate a number of vinatge jets and use them to promote the USAF?

Alex

That was it!
A Beech Starship was the newest (static) attraction-to-be at Pima!

Flood

There are still plenty of German Phantoms flying. Current retirement is scheduled for 2012, but that may be postponed to 2014 or even later. Then there are Iran, South Korea and Japan still operating them. And didn’t Flood mention on his Pima thread that a Starship arrived there?

But yes, i do think that eventually those types will disappear from the sky altogether. Which has happened with plenty of types already, of course. But i’d be very happy already if at least some aircraft of any type survive as static displays. Far too many interesting types/aircraft are really extinct.

Technically, Zeppelins are still around, just probably not on the same scale that they were previously….

Beech Starship

IIRC Beech ahave tried to buy back all the Starships to scrap them. However there is one enlightened chap who really likes his and isnt selling. He paid a visit to Burt Rutans company a few months ago and they worshiped him like a god!! They never wanted it grounded and have told him that if it needs work doing on her they’ll do it.

SR-71, to quote the vernacular, you are avin a larf mate. The USAF barely kept her in the air so what chance a civillian organisation. (same could be said for Bureaufighter)

All that said the Collings Foundation are operating an F-4D so there is hope.