Warbird Information Exchange

Via Warbird Digest's FB, and their homepage:

FHCAM unveiled their Me-262 new paint scheme.

http://warbirdsnews.com/warbird-restora ... RhJNKR-TRs

Thanks for that.

Wow, one flight and done! That seems like an awful lot of work for one flight when they could have easily just restored the engines to static condition and made a real nice display.

Does anyone know if the one flight was decided upon by the rarity of the aircraft or the "seemingly" unreliability of the Jumo engines?

Sept. 30, 1945

Now I'm starting to wonder if the Stuka will have a similar outcome.

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"They done it, they done it, damned if they ain't flew." December 17, 1903

Yes, me too! Especially with FHCAM declaring that their long nose 190 will never fly due to its rarity.

So, right now, we have 3 airframes that FHCAM has declared will either make one flight only or never fly among it's W.W.II aircraft collection.

Is that nose art ?

Phil

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A man's got to know his limitations.

That is the emblem for the Watson Whizzers.

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"They done it, they done it, damned if they ain't flew." December 17, 1903

No objection from me. A multi, multi-million dollar one-of-a-kind authentic 2nd World War warplane. Fly it once, film it once, park it forever. Smart investment plan.

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]

Yes, disappointing news. Years ago, when FHCAM was releasing articles, and video, of the rebuilding of their Jumo engines by Aero Turbine, I thought it was stated they were making an investment into the newly manufactured fan blades, and other engine parts, in order to be able to run the engines safer, and longer, between engine overhauls. I assumed this meant in flight?

Maybe FHCAM's plan to fly their rarer aircraft more, changed with the passing of Mr. Allen? Whatever the case, I am grateful FHCAM shares their collection with the public, and I'll have to be content with being able to see, and hear, them fly on video for years

Maybe I am missing but it states: "likely will be grounded." Just because there is nothing scheduled doesn't mean it won't fly in the future. Now perhaps they won't, but that was a lot of work to only get one go out of it.

Whether it's for one flight or a thousand you'd have to do the same work. It does make sense when one thinks of the rare types which have been lost; N9MB being the most recent.

Mark Allen wrote:

Absolutely! A good aerial photo-shoot can provide all the beautiful color pictures for magazines, books, and museum brochures for many years to come, and can be justified, especially as special care will be taken for this flight. Then the hard-copy is available for generations to see, and study.

Flying again-and-again increases the risk markedly, without necessarily any better photos than from the one good photo shoot.

One can argue there are enough surviving Me.262s that using one as a flyer is worth the risk, and there is merit to this argument - there are three other Me.262s just in the US. But there are also flying replicas that can be used to provide the pleasure of seeing one in flight, without risking an original.

One-and-done works for me!

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Kevin McCartney

And I'm guessing that when it does fly, it will be well recorded in the latest HE media, not just some guy with a home video setup or cell phone.

Not a bad idea, fly it once so you can say you did it.

Hopefully, the engines will be properly preserved/pickled/maintained so they can be started again.

Back when Doug Champlaign had his museum in Mesa, I went there and they were doing work on the '190s engine...every so often they'd run it.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

It's a beauty for sure.

Given the collection's penchant for utmost authenticity, any insights on why they chose the fighter nose, rather than the original photog nose? Moreover, seems like that would be a rarer bird amongst the rarest of birds, which would make it that more attractive to the s who know what's up (us)?

Interesting choice in that respect, but mad props to them. A first rate resto as we've come to expect from them.

It may be because the fighter nose and current scheme was what it had before the photog nose. Just a guess.

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]