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Re: Mustangs v Apache

Posted by david J burke on Sat Mar 09, 2002 11:10:50 AM

In reply top Re: Mustangs v Apache posted by Tim Savage on Sat Mar 09, 2002 08:54:04 AM

It's very public spirited of him to convert it to a 'B' in order to commemorate a wartime hero. Mostly in the U.K we paint an aircraft up to represent the period or person we seek to represent i.e The Fighter Collection with their Spitfire XIV painted as JE-J - as has happened in the U.S with a couple of Spitfire's in recent years. I don't go with the arguement that you need to do structural changes
in order for the public to appreciate something.
Your second point is that the arn't many original parts in any 'New' Mustang. As far as I am aware the are no 'New' Mustangs in production - the are repairs /rebuilds
but essentially you need to have at least an identity.
I did have the opportunity to look at the TFC P-51B
about a year ago and it's surprising how much of that machine started out in 1944 not 1982 so I guess it just depends on who does the restoration.
The point of warbird owners putting more money into them than they are worth is often the case with many types of aircraft. I have restored aircraft to fly which have cost to restore at least twice what you could buy one on the open market. The reason for this is that most of us cannot just take out the money from the bank to buy an airworthy Hurricane or P-40 for example but can afford a restoration on a 'drip feed'.
The point most enthusiast make is that they want to know what they are looking at and appreciate it when an owner goes to lengths to ensure the accuracy of the item.
Whether you are actually interested in something being what it really is or are happy to accept that it was once something entirely different is up to you - I am a great believer in 'why fix something if it isn't broke'
The 'armchair enthusiasts' as you put it have been responsible many times for alerting engineers and owners to aircraft at risk or indeed discovering aircraft which previously wern't discovered. If you find the comments
'tedious' you can always do something else - this forum isn't compulsary and before you ask ,yes I have used some spanners on an aircraft today.

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