Warbird Information Exchange

Never ever thought I'd see the old navy T-34Bs up for sale.

https://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/auc ... CI21372601

My dad bought one of those thirty years ago. Dennis Buehn worked some deal with the Navy. A few were released and the rest were to be held as "trading material" as they came off the line. They had the old blue and white recruiters duty paint scheme. They are military stock B models. I know we had to reskin the magnesium control surfaces and our aircraft only had about 3,000 hours total time. Ours was flown to Nashville on a ferry permit. Very sad that the Navy didn't sale the rest a few decades ago. Typically, they were maintained very well until parked.

That looks like one of the T-34's that was sitting on the ramp the last time i visited the Naval Air Museum in P-cola about a decade ago. Based on the airplane's reported condition, I'll venture that a decade of outdoor storage has wreaked havoc on the airframe.

Would make a good pole dancer.

I have to admit, that's the right decision. Not quite the level of "why do they have that?" of some of the aircraft that NMUSAF gave up a while ago as part of their exchange program, but definitely something they don't need.

Also, on a hunch I checked and yes, the entire T-34 "flight" on the NNAM ramp is available:

• T-34B, BuNo 85993
• T-34B, BuNo 140813
• T-34B, BuNo 140818
• T-34B, BuNo 140868
• T-34B, BuNo 140876
• T-34B, BuNo 140926
• T-34B, BuNo 140929
• T-34B, BuNo 144044

If it were up to me, I would also think long and hard about deaccessing some of those other duplicate aircraft on the ramp. (e.g. two A-3s, two C-1s, two P-2s, two T-2s, five A-4s) I know some of them represent different variants of the same airplane, but some of them have to be near duplicates, right? There's also the C-46, which, although the USMC did operate them as R5Cs, I really have to question whether it is relevant enough to the Navy to include. (a la the Luscombe 8 and DH.89 that were at NMUSAF)

Of course there's always the risk of going too far, but I think these recent thinnings of national collections are a good thing. There are a lot of more deserving aircraft on that ramp that badly need TLC and having less aircraft makes that significantly easier.

Not to get off topic, but on the subject of recent large airplane auctions, does anyone know how the auction of those aerial tankers at Greybull panned out?

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

How does an FAA Bill of Sale not being issued affect the ability to get any of these planes back in the air?

Thanks,

Mac

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WWII Naval Aviation Research - Pacific
https://www.ww2nar-pac.com/

You may notice in the T-34 pics , in the background is the sole surviving North American AJ Savage. The Navy's first turboprop aircraft design and they were operational in squadron strength. It's sad that it was donated and flown to the museum fifty years ago and they've never gotten it out of the weather. What's the bias? Can't they at least squeeze it into a workshop?

I do think it is sad to see the Savage sitting out in those conditions for so long. A very interesting aircraft, delivered with two R-2800’s and a single turbojet buried in the fuselage.

Not an insurmountable one, but its another hoop to jump through that might scare off someone without the resources necessary.

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Thanks for the reply, Shrike.

Mac

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WWII Naval Aviation Research - Pacific
https://www.ww2nar-pac.com/

Amen, while a largely forgotten type by many, the Savage as a sole survivor and a historical type (first as designed nuclear capable carrier aircraft) deserves a much better fate than rotting on the ramp for decades.

WELL, now that the aurction is over, did anyone on here get one of the T-34s??

Please Savage, etc fans, start your own thread.

And with the prices paid (mostly around $30k with one over $50k), were the buyers paying parts value, or viable project value?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)