Excellent info Dave! Thanks for the links as well 🙂

That would be excellent OZ. Photos of that project are extremely hard to come by.

Didn’t mean to strike a personal nerve with you Steve. You can rest assured that your personal decisions were never a consideration at the time I was forming my opinion. 😉 That said, I’ll continue to enjoy my preferences, as you will yours I’m sure. Overall, I’ll continue to enjoy ALL of the warbirds that I see each year on the circuit. I hold them all in high esteem of course; I just have a special regard for the aircraft that best reflect the moment in history that established them as the icons they are. Judging from the aircraft that continually win best in show, people’s choice awards, etc – my viewpoint would appear to be far from the minority.

As far as the inspiration for my shrewdness in the above post, there is one warbird owner in particular that I maintain as the antithesis of all things sacred in the warbird world, and he’s not a Sea Fury owner. 😀

Or better yet, step up and operate that original warbird yourself. Of course, no one will ever see it fly outside the pattern, but at least you’ll be happy.

Really now, that’s a bit overzealous don’t you think? I’ll make no bones about operational expenses and the added complications of operating an “unmodernized” plane, but to allude to the fact that a largely stock aircraft by its very nature has no chance of being an active participant on the air show circuit is misleading at best. It just comes down to the inspiration of the operator and their desire to display their aircraft in the configuration of their choice. Many of the planes I can think of that fall into the “stock restoration” category have enjoyed quite noteworthy stints on the air show circuit. If by the very nature of their restoration, their prospective owners choose to handle them more as artifacts and thus not participate to quite the same degree as the average modernized plane, I suppose that goes with the territory. As you well know I’m sure, that’s another one of the perks of “owners prerogative”. Fact is, original birds do make it to the shows even if they are the notable exception amongst the rest of the fleet.

Dave,

I talked with Ross a little about the recovery of that SBD. He never mentioned how complete the plane was, but he did offer some detail on how he camouflaged it on the barge ride home so that it couldn’t be readily identified. Apparently he ended up building a chimney type of structure around the vertical tail to hide it from prying eyes. I sure wish I could have been around to take part in those early days of warbird recovery – before all of the debilitating politics came into play.

With no need for any forethought, my No.1 choice for import would be Ross Jowitt’s RNZAF FG-1D Corsair project out of New Zealand. There are plenty of Corsairs here in the United States, but there are precious few left in existence anywhere that remain original or largely unaltered. I’m still watching as stock original birds are gutted to become glorified “sports planes” with second seats, modern systems and electronics, dual control systems, etc.

One of the very original Corsairs from the Blacksheep Squadron series has just been rolled into the restoration shop to have most of the above mentioned upgrades added. Also, one of only three surviving French F4U-7 Corsairs (an extremely original plane) has just been purchased, apparently with the intent of adding a second seat and dual controls? :confused: Meanwhile across the Pond, the RNFAA Museum is investing years to painstakingly peel away the layers of paint on their FG-1D in hopes of cultivating any bit of evidence they can about its past.

There are a number of non-museum outfits here in the US that deserve high praise for maintaining a crucial respect for the originality of certain choice machines, rather than perceiving any and everything as nothing more than a substantial collection of raw material for creating the next perverted centerpiece for some clueless rich man’s toy box.

I’d love nothing more than to procure Mr. Jowitt’s RNZAF Corsair and have it relocated to a certain restoration specialist’s shop in the US for a painstaking restoration back to 100% stock combat condition, resplendant in its original colors. If the funds were available, I’d also do my best to tour the plane on the European, New Zealand, and Australian warbird scenes to refocus attention on the service of the F4U with the RNZAF.

I really like that Mustang alot. The “Bald Eagle” scheme is one of my favorites. From the photo I can’t really tell whether it’s a Stewart S-51, or a F.E.W. Mustang. Those are the only two scale replicas that come anywhere close to capturing the proper look of the original.

Wk# cross reference?

Can anyone cross reference the Werke# for the plane (19438 or 10438). Looks like a 109-E4. I’m sure more than a few people here would be interested to know more about the history of the flight, and the identity of the pilot.

$

A quarter of a BILLION dollars eh? 😮 😮

That’s well more than Kermit Weeks is worth. Mr. Russell could definately do a substantial amount of good within the warbird movement if he set his mind and heart to it. I hope his passion for warbirds grows with time.

Can someone say “new production DB601/605? 😀