WIX Archives
Pacific Fighters
Posted by Rob Mears on Sun Feb 29, 2004 02:34:21 AM
In reply top Re: Pacific Fighters TP-51B/C ready for flight testing. posted by Historyman on Sat Feb 28, 2004 04:50:05 PM
Definitely a unique accomplishment for John Muszala and Pacific Fighters. I can't wait to hear about the flight-testing and maybe see some in-flight pics of his work as well. He had the fuselage on display at Oshkosh three or four years ago and that alone was enough to leave me stunned in anticipation of seeing the finished aircraft crackling to life on the flight line.
I'm not sure I could place much of what comes out of John Muszala's shop in the 'homebuilt' category. There's a big leap between RV sport planes and a substantially authentic reproduction of a P-51B. I've seen Sterwart S-51's that were assembled in stunning fashion to resemble the plane that inspired their creation, but building bona fide warbirds from factory blueprints still ranks in a class all its own, in my opinion anyway.
This plane should compliment well the growing efforts of other fabrication shops like FlugWerk, and the folks who brought us the new-build Yaks, Stormbirds, Oscars, etc.
In another 50 years I'd bet we see more new-production warbirds on the ramp than we do airframes with traceable wartime service histories.
Any airframe we expect to remain airworthy will undoubtedly become farther removed from its historic identity as years of necessary repairs and parts replacement change the scope of what we are actually witnessing in the skies during air show season. I for one am fine with this, and I hope to see more concurs-quality reproductions filling the physical voids of understanding that currently antagonize so many enthusiasts like myself. I want to go to a show and be able to inspect an Me-110 that has be finely picked over and detailed by some group of folks who have dedicated large parts of their lives to seeing out factual details of that particular ship and creating a living, breathing blueprint to reflect their knowledge. Anyone who frequents the shows knows the truth of how important it is to witness a particular plane take to the skies to complete th whole circle of visceral understanding.
So bring it on Mr. Muszala! Can't wait to see another dreamer's dream taken to wing :)