WIX Archives

Re: P-82 trade

Posted by Douglas A Birkey on Tue Jul 30, 2002 02:35:43 PM

In reply top Re: P-82 trade posted by Tim Savage on Tue Jul 30, 2002 10:29:31 AM

In defense of the Collings Foundation, we currently operate over twenty aircraft on an extreme level of operational tempo rivaled by few. The B-17 and B-24 make apox. 130 nation-wide stops per year. This means that our bombers are in the air over three hundered days out of the year, multiple times per day on most occasions. Can any other operation rival this? I do not think so. In addition, we have also proven that we are competent when it comes to safely and succesfully operating our F-4 Phantom, the most complex and demanding warbird flown within the industry. While the accidents we have experienced have been unfortunate, we have returned all but one of the aircraft, the A-26, back to flying condition (The Corsair will fly in the fall). Considering that we have been highly active members of the warbird industry for seventeen years, our record is not too bad.
Douglas A. Birkey
Collings Foundation
: : I hope they dont crash this one!
:
: I get so sick of hearing this statement regarding the CAF
: .
:
: Would you say this about the Collings Foundation or the Ai
: r Zoo if they were getting a new airplane? I believe perc
: entage wise and for the number and years the aircraft have
: been operated, they don't have a much better record than
: the CAF. I calculated it out for the WW board at one poin
: t, and was myself shocked. The Collings foundation has w
: recked a B-25, B-17, F4U, and an A-26 in the fifteen or so
: years they have been operating, and their fleet isn't tha
: t big.
:
: Don't forget that the CAF operates 140 airplanes and has d
: one it for over forty years.
:
: I am not defending some of the absolute stupid things that
: have taken place with the CAF and some of its pilots, but
: is a lot easier to take potshots from the sidelines when
: you aren't involved in the operation and flying of these a
: ircraft.

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