WIX Archives
By definition ......
Posted by Christer on Sun Jun 16, 2002 05:43:00 PM
In reply top Not getting through am I? posted by James D on Sun Jun 16, 2002 03:16:49 PM
...... an original item is something manufactured by the original manufacturer or by a licensee.
An item manufactured according to original drawings and specs by someone else is a replica.
An aircraft can be regarded as an item but, you can also say that it was built by assembling a large number of items which makes it quite complicated. That is why we discuss the %-age of originality.
A warbird, in good condition or a mere wreck, found in the middle of nowhere is by this definition original, no matter how much of it is left. It?s when you start rebuilding it that deviation from originality begins.
If you start with a project in good condition it can be finished with a high percentage of originality.
If you start with a wreck it can?t but, it can be rebuilt using items manufactured according to original drawings and specs. As I understand it original drawings are redrawn to modern standards and if original drawings are not available, a drawing can be made using an original item as a pattern. Isn?t that called reverse engineering?
I would believe that the easiest item to manufacture is the data plate but, if you have an original one, it makes it easier with the authorities.
Is originality important? For historians counting kill marks, yes it is. For all practical purposes, no it isn?t. As a matter of fact, modern airworthiness requirements dictate the substitution of a large number of items, which means that a 100% original flying warbird is never going to happen.
If someone starts with next to nothing, data plate or no data plate, collects some bits and pieces, manufactures most bits and pieces and rebuilds a flyable warbird, then that?s a great acchievement. By definition, however, it?s not original.
Is it less valuable? Well, the real value, the actual cost, is probably higher the lesser the originality but, the imaginary value, the addition of an historical artefact, is lower.
Is that important? No, not to me anyway because I couldn?t afford either of them. What?s important is that they?re there, no matter how they got there as long as the whole true history is known.
As usual this is my humble laymans opinion,
Christer