WIX Archives
Re: Finnish Buffalo poll
Posted by Steve T on Thu Jan 08, 2004 09:31:26 PM
In reply top Finnish Buffalo poll posted by Chris Martin on Thu Jan 08, 2004 03:14:09 PM
All--
Interesting to see the "tilt" among the respondents here toward (a) retaining the Finnish livery on the B339 and even (b) allowing the restored and/or conserved aircraft to remain in Finland. And I agree. The Finns operated Brewsters with considerable success (through necessity), more so than any other air arm. The F2A is perhaps analogous in a Finnish context to the Spitfire in a British context, or the F4F in a US Pacific context: a national symbol of courage and defiance in the face of near-insuperable opposition.
BUT: I very much like Jim C's idea about using this B339, while it is under rebuild, as a template for construction of, say, five "new" B339/F2A airframes, in exactly the manner already famously employed to put the classic Me262 design back into the air. That way one could have:
--one original B339 fully restored in a Finnish museum
--B339/F2As at Pensacola, Quantico (they've wanted an F2A since the dawn of time!), Hendon...and two more rumbling around "loose" on the airshow circuit! Could it work??
S.