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This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
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Scrapyard Finds

Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:42 pm

Hi everyone,
would just like to share some photos with you all of a few finds of mine. The Scrapyard is on private land and has some very interesting parts in it, the items seen on the surface are only a very small portion of whats in the ground in the area. Lets see if anyone can recognise any parts before I say whats there!
hope you enjoy the photos.
Can anyone I.d. the modular crew stairs for me?

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Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:45 pm

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Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:50 pm

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ok ill go first...it looks like a

Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:55 pm

...bunch of scrap metal...do I win?

Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:57 pm

Very close but not quite ;)


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Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:00 pm

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Last edited by Augsburgeagle on Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Parts is parts...

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:06 pm

Thank you for sharing - of course, the few "junkyard dogs" here on this site are indeed probably asking the same questions - where's the yard, geographically speaking (vague is cool, as long as we can narrow it down to a state and provinence - not so much to be nosey about your little trove but rather to better speculate, contemplate and articulate what goodies might have been beaten apart in this region), and - most importantly - what else is there?

No, none of the above immediately invokes a specific part-to-airframe identity (at least to me) but all appears to be of WWII vintage as judged by the shots of the DZUS fittings on the panel, the 23E50 prop half and what appears to be a cylinder underneath the stick. Carb boot is interesting. The ord rack there looks kinda familiar, but I cannot place...

So, do share a state or geographic region without fear of the WIX parts pigs heading your way (I think there are three of us; one of us drives and loves a hunt, the other is married to a job and can't get away, but not sure of the status of the third these days...). And, as you turn these pieces up and over, share a p/n or two with us if you see 'em.

(One out of the three I know for a fact loves chasing p/n's down and spends waaaay too much time in the TO library.) :lol:

Great post, newbie - please submit more pics of your finds!

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:06 pm

There are quite a few nice things to pull out, the small stuff is always great but the big parts are nice aswell!

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Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:17 pm

Glad to see the parts are of interest, just to put you in the ball park there are:
Ventura, Hudson, P40, Corsair and Avenger parts.

The P40 exhausts that have come out of here are pretty much in brand new flyable condition, unfortunately I don't own one though!

The really exciting stuff is small, for example finding a corsair arrestor hook, R2800 data plates, valves and control surface fabric still all painted up. Where the flap is buried about 10 feet away are 40 aircraft tyres.

Parts is parts... again...

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:22 pm

Well, it's far too green for the Sonoran desert - at least I got that much. Ain't no patch of desert around here that looks that lush, no matter how much water you put to it.

Looks to me as if you've found a "killing field" for a variety of WWII a/c there - stainless dishpan stuff and exhaust looks a lot like mangled B-17 and B-24. Some appears to me to be furnace dross - the stuff left behind after a smelting op. Your flap piece reminds me of Lockheed twin - I have a few dismantled PV-2 flap pieces that look strikingly familiar. Of course, I work outside in 105 degree weather. After awhile, all parts start to look the same...

Keep 'em coming.

Wild guess - Austrailia?

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:27 pm

Looks like some of them burned at one point.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:28 pm

Good deduction work there but no B24, 17. Australia is not correct and it isnt America
Hope you all like the pics, I was very happy to discover it all. Now if someone could find a luftwaffe dump for me I would be very happy

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if that was in england ..

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:32 pm

..they would declare it a heritage site and build a museum around a single piece of that! :roll:

Parts trove

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:36 pm

Ah, a little validation for Pooner when you mentioned some Ventura and Hudson in the pile - thus, providing some truth to the statement that "even the blind piggie finds an acorn once in awhile!"

If'n I send ya a nice brand new shovel, would you attack that pile with vengeance and see if you can find any other Allison P-40 or P-39 stacks in that wonderful treasure trove? I'd be happy to take even the most mis-matched and heat discolored short stacks you find in there to complete my mis-matched sets. I'm only a PM away - have PayPal, will make it travel! :lol:

Hmmnnn.... let's see. Lockheed tunnel gun pieces were made of steel and would have ended up in the dross pile. There's a fellow I know out here who'd be interested in that...

Keep diggin' man, keep diggin'!

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:47 pm

What a great find!

Nice p/n shots - yup, certainly some Lockheed Vega plant stuff in there. And not all of it went thru the furnance, obviously, as judged by your inked p/n's and some of the dishpan and muff pieces outside.


Any idea of how many airframes died here over the years? The nice piece of preserved Lockheed flap would indicate some of the parts may have filtered down to locals for eventual use on farms or ranches. Any intact larger pieces found in surrounding communities?

Where there's tires, there might be rims... and those rims attached to farm carts with hydraulics, oxygen tanks, bomb hoists and hydraulics and sometimes that leads to even more goodies found in sheds and lean-to buildings in the back.

At least that's how I used to track 'em out here in the American southwest, until all the neat little remote places were plowed under and over for housing developments. :cry:
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