Warbird Information Exchange

In a somewhat related concept to half-and-half restorations, a while back, I started listing examples where parts of one aircraft were grafted onto another, or two or more incomplete airframes were combined to make one flyable aircraft.

First, the military examples:

• A B-17D (40-3097) that had its tail replaced with one from another airplane (40-3091).[1]
• A B-25 made from the nose of one airplane and the remainder of another.[2]
• A B-26 (41-31813) that had two replacement tail sections (Unknown, 41-34784).[3]
• An F4U that was completely built up from parts.[4]
• A Model 28-5MN fuselage (Y-72) repaired with the wing of a PBY (BuNo 2305).[5]
• A Sea Fury made from two (TF925, VW232), and possibly three (VX730), different airframes.[6]
• A DHC-4 (A4-173) that had both the left and right wings replaced before it ever reached Australia.[7][8]
• An F-4C (64-683) being repaired with the nose of an F-4B.[9]
• An EA-6B built from three airframes (BuNo 156482, 158542, 158547).[10]

Next, a few other non-military examples:

• A CL-601 (1003) that had its tail replaced with a new build assembly, giving it a new serial number (3991).[11]
• An M-18 (MSN 51) repaired with the forward fuselage and wings of unfinished example (MSN 80) following an accident.[12]
• An MH-60T (6043) built from an SH-60F (BuNo 164097).[13][14]

Finally, a few restoration examples:

• An F-100D (56-2995) was restored for the Museum of Aviation using the wings of a second airplane (56-2928).[15]
• The Commemorative Air Force is ironically repairing a PBY (BuNo 64097) in the same way as the wartime example above - using the wing of a second airframe (BuNo 64092).[16]
• The DHC-4 noted above (A4-173) was eventually restored with the wings and tail from a third (A4-164) airframe.[7]

Anybody know of any other examples?

EDIT (22-08-07): A few more pictures and a profile of the F4U came up as a result of another thread.

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Does CNAC's classic DC-2 1/2 count?

https://cnac.org/aircraft02.htm

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Airliners...

There was a story about American Jet Industries rebuilding one damaged 727 using the rear end of another - or something like that.

I believe a BEA Trident damaged by a wayward Ambassador at Heathrow in the 1960s was rebuilt using the tail unit of another written off in the same crash. The repaired aircraft was the one that later crashed at Staines - the tail unit was relatively unscathed and I remember seeing it on the dump at Farnborough a few years later.

The tail unit of the BOAC VC-10 destroyed by terrorists at Dawson's Field was used in the repair of another VC-10.

ARCO's famous Blenheim rebuilds used parts from several airframes and the current flyer now sports a different nose!

1952 twister that ravaged Carswell AFB, caused a big parts and assembly shuffle to get much of SAC back in the air. A friend that was intimately involved in the grafting process, said it took months to get all the paperwork fixed for those aircraft.

Love the DC-2.5 story.

B-17G "Little Miss Mischief".

At least one, possibly two, A-1E Skyraiders were repaired in Vietnam by grafting good front halves and rear halves together at a joint adjacent to the wing trailing edge. There's a photo of one with a gag stencil that says, "GLUE SECTION A TO B".

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

How about 3? B-29A 44-61535 on display at the Castle Museum is a composite of 3 B-29s pulled out of China Lake.

Tail of 44-61535, Fuselage and inner wings of 44-70064, outer wings of 44-84084. Although the majority of it comes from 064, 535 Raz'n Hell had a much more impressive war record and she carries the Raz'n Hell nose art

You beat me to it, Ken.

Surprised no one has mentioned The Blue Tail Fly, a semi-famous F9F that had a NMF front end and a GSB tail.

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-leg ... rent-f9fs/

There is an entire detailed chapter about that in two of the B-36 books ("Magnesium Overcast" and "B-36 Photo Scrapbook" both by Jenkins).
They reproduce the HQ SAC "Confidential" (an actual security classification) briefing slides as well as a lot of "Restricted" ..another security classification...photos of the damage.
Great stuff.
While some cannibalization did occur, many of the necessary parts were new, an easy enough job since the Convair factory was literally across the runway.
One ship that lost it's front fuselage became the basis for the NB-36 nuclear test bed, which needed a new nose anyway.

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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.

While not quite as dramatic as stitching a new back fuselage on a B-17, there are some well known photos of a Navy F9F with the detachable aft fuselage from another aircraft...probably a common occurrence in Korea...but this ship is half Navy blue, half aluminum.
Given many early jets had that feature, I bet there were instances with the Air doing that as well with F-80s, 84s, 86s in Korea..and F-100 and 105s in Vietnam.

Other examples:
-The "Guppy" series of outsized freighters. They were stretched with pieces of other Boeings.
-The KC-135E modifications used engines, pylons, stabilizers, hear and other parts from used commercial 707s and 720s. The carcasses of the donor commercial jets were at D-M for 20 years.
-And don't forget that's how the B-17D "Swoose" gots its name.

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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.

There's at least one passage in the Jack Broughton books that suggest that was done on occasion with F-105s.

Don't forget the infamous Lockheed Orion-Explorer hybrid, created from the an ex-TWA Orion (c/n 195..the third one produced) where its damaged wing was replaced with the wing from the fourth Explorer (c/n 148).
While the wings were similar, they were not identical....the wingspan increased by nearly six feet.

It is remembered as the aircraft in which Wiley Post and humorist Will Rogers were killed in. The aircraft was owned by Rogers and the wing swap and float mods were not approved by Lockheed.

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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.

there was a Finish single seat f-18 that had the whole forward section replaced with a twin seat unit. It crashed not too long after. https://www.flightglobal.com/pictures-s ... 89.article

almost every flying P-51, the piper enforcers used parts from several 51s,

How could I forget the classic DC-2 1/2? Yes, that counts!

A more modern example is the Boeing 747 (VH-OJH) that Qantas rebuilt after a runway overrun just so they could keep their "no jet hull loss record".[1]


Okay, I'm going to need to see that one.


This is why I enjoy asking these type of questions, I learn about all sorts of interesting stuff I have never heard of before.

You actually reminded me of the picture that made the rounds online back in 2019 of the MiG-23 in Libya that was assembled from parts of three different airframes.[2]


That's actually a really good point.

A bunch of former CAC Sabres have had their tails swapped around in this way.[3]

Given that we have so many examples of aircraft being named "Franken[name]", I think it's only appropriate to note that "Christine" has been used a bunch as well: the longest serving F-14[4], the sixth B-2[5][6], JetBlue's first A320[7], and a KC-130F that later became Fat Albert.[8]

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

George Maude's P-40 is the fuselage of AK803 with the wings of AK933. Then the wings donor, AK933, got the wings of yet a third plane.

Then there's all the Tora Kates, part Harvard, part BT-13.

August