WIX Archives
Re: Yikes! How many hours a year do you plan to fly?????
Posted by Tom on Thu Apr 18, 2002 07:07:23 PM
In reply top Yikes! How many hours a year do you plan to fly????? posted by bdk on Thu Apr 18, 2002 03:46:06 PM
You hit the nail right on the head there Brandon, I know of very few warbirds that average over 50hrs a year, most would be lucky to break the 20hrs a year mark. As for originality are we talking production line originality or service life? as I doubt that many of the spits on the circuit nowadays have a completely original airframe and I don't mean parts that have been put on during restorations etc. Most Spits had 'dings' during their service lives and usually the MU's just bolted on any bits they had in store to get the a/c flying again. I doubt if any of the early spits in Hendon have their original wings on them or tailplanes for that matter. The parts that we have replaced on the MKI are mostly due to dings it had in its service life and not due to any post service use, after an a/c has a major overhaul/restoration there's usually very little goes wrong with it between annuals, the odd little hiccup yes but nothing major like corrosion unless it has a salt water bath ;) Engines could be a problem in years to come but I think that there is enough demand to make spares/new engines, especially for Merlins. You'd be lucky to go through a set of spars for a spit in private use, the only reason that they've been replaced in the past is that the originals were past their fatigue life and had cracks detected during NDT testing or the a/c being restored didn't have much to go with in the way of wings ;) I hope we will be able to enjoy seeing the old girls flying for a few more years yet.
Tom ;)