Very funny Yak 11 Here not her – I never said I could type – I have a secretary for that!!!

David
Yes a T1 would be nice and something different – At one time it was the early Mks that were rare now they seem more common

Kindest regards
John P

David

And perhaps he will but in the absence of him and as it is public domain in Flypast it is quite acceptable to discuss it here and I am interested in what others think and how they can inform the debate. This is a Forum is it not .

Kindest regards
John

Hi again

Seeing as this thread went way off kilter I was going to propose that amongst all the Mossies that could be built / rebuilt could be a 618 Sqn machine – all kitted out with 4 blade props and bouncing bomb gear as was based at Narromine NSW – I bet she would fly well as these were real hot ships

Regards
John P

Hi Mark P

Very informative post

I guess the USAFM would rather have had a more complete Spit but the Whitney example met their needs – I agree it was a significant example given what you had to offer as regards it’s components – I am somewhat mystified then as to what happened to the large amount of rear fuselage material from the Pay example but no doubt we will find out in due course. There are many examples of aircraft that got away from Aus but such is life and we are in some ways lucky to have the richness we now have. Just explain the Oscar decision to me – now that one is a classic stuff up !!

This example is case of why I don’t bring up individual examples and was loath to do so with the Pay Spit – you are playing with peoples assets and income in some cases as well as fading recollections of actions taken long ago. I have been Overseas 7 times in the last 12 months and been in 40+ restoration facilities and I stand back and look at a stripped Fuse in a jig – You can all do this – it isn’t hard to gain access and chat to engineers – In some cases you are looking at an original structure which is being cleaned up and minimally modified as necessary to correct corrosion or whatever and at the other extream you are looking at a New structure rising from a Jig with a pile of twisted scrap in a corner and some blueprints serving as guidance. Which is better ? Neither – they are both tremendous achievements but you wonder sometimes Why is the guy cutting up the Historic veteran aircraft and replacing just about everything to fly – what is in essence largely a replica – why not just use her as a dimensional / reference aircraft, tidy her up and sell her to a museum and build a nice new one to fly ? Occurs to me all the time. It goes back to the premium placed on the perception that it is the original aircraft and we just don’t talk about the fact that most of what we started with is in a row of 44 Gallon drums. No I am no longer going to discuss current examples – Go visit some workshops and make up your own minds – To discuss current airframes is unfair and potentially litegous.

At the end of the day I completely agree that the degree of original content in a given airframe may indeed dictate the price it recieves in the marketplace and all things being equal as you say so it should. Some operators however give little credance to the originality of their aircraft and instead focus more on issues such as completeness of the specification or even additional features such as avionics or dual control – features that would deter the purist owner. It all depends in essence what the owner wants and what the market wants – TF-51s seem to carry a premium because of the utility they offer the operator but to some purists they are lesser aircraft than a P51D even more so if the TF-51 is a “New Build”

From my perspective it is a half full glass – I love going anywhere and looking at all the aircraft – I don’t look down my nose at any aircraft especially the flying aircraft and I don’t worry about the content of original material except with two exceptions :-

1) That it is described as it is – for what it is
2) That if it flies it is safe to do so

It matters little to me if the Ted Smith Memorial Flight Spitfire Mk V at Legends Next year has an original control column and Data plate and the rest was constructed from a stack of aluminium sheeting last year Vs the Hungarian Fighter Collection Spitfire MK 11 that has only had an oil change since the BoB. Who cares – BUT let them be described as such and don’t tear the MK11 apart and reduce her originality SIGNIFICANTLY to keep her flying. Build a flying MK11 and retire her to The Hungarian AF Museum.

Now I probably can’t convince anybody here to change their views and the entraupenerial spirit of the human race always corrupts high ideals but thats my belief.

Regards
John p