F2G Super Corsair Project Sold?!

[kalamazookid]

I noticed that the Courtesy Aircraft sales log shows a F2G Super Corsair project being sold. Typo? Possibly the wreckage of Race 74?

http://courtesyaircraft.com/sales-log/

[Warbird Kid]

It appears that a -1 and -4 project were sold at the same time too. My guess is to the same buyer. If I had to put money on it, my guess would be Chuck Wahl and Vultures Row Aviation. Next to John Lane and Airpower Unlimited, they've quickly become the one stop shop for Corsairs. Certainly is exciting nonetheless.

[paulmcmillan]

With the replacement spar issue now resolved the Corsair has joined the “data plate” club of

P-51
P-40
Spitfire
Hurricane
Bf-109

[JohnB]

With the replacement spar issue now resolved the Corsair has joined the “data plate” club of

P-51
P-40
Spitfire
Hurricane
Bf-109

And...that's bad?

I'll go out on a limb and risk the wrath of the purists out there who think
any warbird without 100% wartime metal is a bad thing by saying that's good news for those of use who put aircraft numbers and airworthyness ahead of originality.

[mike furline]

https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/search.aspx#k=f2g%20corsair

[mike furline]

Not much to work with, but less has been used before.
https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/search.aspx#k=f2g%20corsair

[paulmcmillan]

I'll go out on a limb and risk the wrath of the purists out there who think
any warbird without 100% wartime metal is a bad thing by saying that's good news for those of use who put aircraft numbers and airworthyness ahead of originality.

No its a good thing..

I forgot to add Mosquito

But other than P-47 and maybe FW190 - I can't think of any other aircraft that may be added to that list in my lifetime

[menards]

So how does the "data plate" thing work anyway? Obviously one would need $millions upon $millions to complete such a project...but for the sake of conversation, assume $ is no object.

Do you actually need to start with physical bits? Does the physical need to survive? Is there a certian % that needs to remain original?


For sake of example, what it stopping someone(other than money) from going to one of the shops, executing a work order to build a P-51B airframe, doing a little google research, finding a P-51B that went MIA on some training exercise and "saying thats my plane!"?

[menards]

I'll go out on a limb and risk the wrath of the purists out there who think
any warbird without 100% wartime metal is a bad thing by saying that's good news for those of use who put aircraft numbers and airworthyness ahead of originality.

No its a good thing..

I forgot to add Mosquito

But other than P-47 and maybe FW190 - I can't think of any other aircraft that may be added to that list in my lifetime

Can you add the P-38 to that list? Wasnt white #33 is basically a new-build plane using some bits as pattern pieces?

[Warbird Kid]

So the current list is at:

P-38
P-47
P-51
P-40
Spitfire
Hurricane
Mosquito
Bf-109

[marine air]

No, they're not "manufacturing" P-38s. I wouldn't include the Mosquitos in the same list either. To me, there are aircraft types that are in such demand and will continue to be in the foreseeable future that an investor can justify paying $3 to $5 million for a data plate build. Investor gets on the phone on Monday and by Friday they've contracted with a shop to build them a new Mustang or Spitfire. P-51C's and Spitfire Mk IX's for example. We will see about P-47's. The Mosquito is more of a limited batch type rebuild. I would put them in the same category as the ME-262's, F3F's , Flug Werk Fw-190s and unfinished Oscars. Plus, the Mosquitos have lots of parts out there to source from. The P-51's and Spitfires now have every imaginable part able to be sourced new.
The P-40 might be the next type that you can have any model built mostly from scratch. Lots of good things going on .

[menards]

No, they're not "manufacturing" P-38s. I wouldn't include the Mosquitos in the same list either. To me, there are aircraft types that are in such demand and will continue to be in the foreseeable future that an investor can justify paying $3 to $5 million for a data plate build. Investor gets on the phone on Monday and by Friday they've contracted with a shop to build them a new Mustang or Spitfire. P-51C's and Spitfire Mk IX's for example. We will see about P-47's. The Mosquito is more of a limited batch type rebuild. I would put them in the same category as the ME-262's, F3F's , Flug Werk Fw-190s and unfinished Oscars. Plus, the Mosquitos have lots of parts out there to source from. The P-51's and Spitfires now have every imaginable part able to be sourced new.
The P-40 might be the next type that you can have any model built mostly from scratch. Lots of good things going on .

I think you're splitting hairs. You are trying to differentiate "aircraft types that are in such demand" vs ones that are "limited batch". Where exactly do you draw the line? We are talking about "data plate rebuilds", which would make them ALL "limited batch rebuilds" would it not? its not like there are 1000s of even 100s or even 10s of "new-build", "old data plate" Mustangs rolling out of shops every year.

With regard to the P-38, if you were holding on to a P-38 registration/data plate and some bits of an airframe, and $ was no object, could you enter into a contract with a number of shops and have an all new metal build P-38 roll out of a hangar? I think we've seen that happen already.

Last edited by menards on Wed Sep 29, 2021 10:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

[menards]

So the current list is at:

P-38
P-47
P-51
P-40
Spitfire
Hurricane
Mosquito
Bf-109

I would also say the B-17 should be on the list. "Champaign Lady", "Liberty Belle" and Ray Moore's "Lucky Thirteen" are all basically data plate rebuilds around a collection of bits. "Desert Rat" is also cuspy as it had to have much of the original structure had to be rebuilt with new metal. The progress all of these groups have made over the last 20 years was thought to have been impossible 20 years ago.

[Hooligan2]

It always astonishes me the "resilience" of some airframes; for example, I wonder if one or two of the Bearcats that have been lost in the last 50 years or so will one day reappear?

(Around 1976 a friend of mine found the data plate from a Percival Proctor on the then abandoned Sandown Aerodrome on the Isle of Wight in the UK. Think he still has it - what am I bid? )

[Mike]

I'll go out on a limb and risk the wrath of the purists out there who think
any warbird without 100% wartime metal is a bad thing by saying that's good news for those of use who put aircraft numbers and airworthyness ahead of originality.

No its a good thing..

I forgot to add Mosquito

But other than P-47 and maybe FW190 - I can't think of any other aircraft that may be added to that list in my lifetime

You missed off Zeros too (Blayd and the Russian ones are effectively replicas)