Is that P-38 (or F-5?) still under the sand on that little island (can’t offhand remember the name) near Madang? Also I remember seeing a pile of pieces including Zero(s) at Finschhaffen/Alexishaffen in 1979 and a Lily up in the jungle above Sialum complete with ammo in the magazines and the co-pilot’s bones in the cockpit. I must dig out my photos.
Jim

Please do Jim, would love to see those.

Cheers

This just aired on the CBC today. Sadly haven’t watched it yet as my workstation will not run the flash player needed. No IP filtering on this CBC so everyone should be able to watch this.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/World/1239665833/ID=2234239198

Thanks for the link. Great to see a vet speak about the incident. Those news readers are so dumb though…..fighter jet from WWII! LOL

Now that one will disappear too LOL.

By the way, the average airshow attendee will have no clue about variants and sub-types.

But the average enthusiast who might be prepared to fork out a good few quid in support does have a clue and a post-war variant may dampen that support.

Again – please do not ‘quote’ posts directly above.

Yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was found under the raised wing. That would be the most obvious resting place.

With today’s machine tools and excellent manufacturing processes getting a Sabre working is not a technical issue. It is more one of opportunity. The much missed Paul Morgan was someone in the right industry to help with project such as this. An organisation such as Ricardo may have the skill, but unlike their founder, they have very little intrinsic interest in a project such as restoring a Sabre and the prices we see quoted, real or otherwise, I suspect reflect this.

Even items such as blocks, cranks, cams and con rods are relatively easy to reproduce at a reasonable price in small numbers with today’s modern tools and methods. Perhaps will-power is another ingredient needed to realize one of these projects, for most of the effort would necessarily need to be spent with the CAA to ensure that the finished product would be fit for purpose.

On the matter of reliability, much rot gets repeated about how bad the Sabre was. The reality is that it was no worse that any other new engine in the early stages of its development. Many issues were related to the quality of the workmanship within the new shadow factory in Liverpool built to manufacture the engine, and other issues arose due to poor training of service personnel. None of this was due to a design fault. And there was the small matter of Bristol not willing to help with manufacture of the sleeves. This is stuff you couldn’t make up given that the outcome of the war was far from certain.

In the days following D day when the squadrons used the dusty temporary landing fields dust was a major issue. Given the RAF’s experience in the Western desert, that this was not anticipated was just another in a long list of MOD failures that often defy words.

What is not in doubt is that the Sabre, a no compromise fighter engine, was one of the engineering wonders of WWII. 3000hp from just 36 liters on 150 grade fuel and 3500 with ADI was outstanding. And post war a production Sabre was run at 4000 hp, numbers unequaled by any other production Piston engine. Compared to the woes of the Wright R3350 in the B29 the Sabre was a trouble free engine.

+1 Great post

I think a live sabre would be a real crowd puller. For those who aren’t familiar with the ghostly howl of the mighty sabre, just listen to this.

http://www.hawkertempest.se/Sounds.htm

P-38

Surely the most complete and recoverable P-38 left.

Photo source: i don’t remember

That’s the one Fred Hagen went after – they weren’t prepared for it being under water though! I think there’s some spar separation unfortunately.

I believe they intend to return.

http://aeroarchaeology.com/salvages_P38.html

Ah yes, well spotted. They also smashed the right side cockpit canopy perspex and nicked the ring and bead sight. I fear for this unique aircraft.

Looks like they used a machete to remove the ring and bead sight unfortunately.:mad:

Hope they’re beginning to understand the value of it now…..but I doubt it.