Tu-2 Bats

[Clifford Bossie]

War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, NM owns several Tu-2s. One has been assembled for several years and is ondisplay outside the museum. Another has been on and on again - off again (mostly off) restoration for several years. Several others are in storage.

Here is the display one when it was being reassembled:



As it has looked for some time:







And parts of the one that is under restoration:

[Enemy Ace]

are those Ash-82's?

[retroaviation]

Thanks for posting those pictures, Clifford. I've always liked that airplane. I remember when they were trying to get Nelson Ezell to buy one for a while. I was sure hoping to get to restore it, but it obviously never happened.

They look like they'd be fun to fly and ride in.

Gary

[airnutz]

are those Ash-82's?

Yep. Another "odd bird" that'd be neat to see in the air for a change. Nice pics!

Last edited by airnutz on Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Enemy Ace]

What were they asking pricewise?

[retroaviation]

What were they asking pricewise?

I don't recall. Sorry.

Gary

[Michel Lemieux]

Seems fairly complete and of straightforward construction to my untrained eye.

Maybee Mr. Yagen would like to have one to go side by side with it's Tupolev R-6 when done

[Chris]

I was Santa Teresa two years ago and it doesn't look like they've touched the TU-2 since then. At least it hasn't moved away from the wall. I'd be interested in knowing if any are for sale too. I heard they have seven or eight stored at the Maguire Ranch somewhere near Fort Hancock.

[bdk]

I remember seeing pictures almost exactly like those last ones advertising one for sale for about $200K as I recall. Must have been about 10 years ago, maybe more.

I remember that Aero Trader had a couple in their backyard in Chino for a while. I've also seen at least half a dozen in China.

Looks like a really cool airplance, but I doubt we'll ever see one fly again. It would take way more time to restore than a B-25, is about the same size, and face it, these Soviet craft just don't have a great resale history. If you spent $2M to restore it, you probably couldn't sell it for $750K.

[Brad]

This newsletter will answer most questions about the TU-2s.

http://www.war-eagles-air-museum.com/ne ... 2008-1.pdf

[Chris]

Excellent Brad. Thanks for posting the link to the newsletter.

[bdk]

This newsletter will answer most questions about the TU-2s.

http://www.war-eagles-air-museum.com/ne ... 2008-1.pdf

To get to the remote airfield where the Tu-2s were in storage, he flew into Beijing and then, accompanied by Chinese interpreters and
Government representatives, endured a 14-hour train trip, followed by a 6-hour car trip and then a 3-hour four-wheeldrive “Jeep” trip.

Huh?

The field is about an hour by taxi (or an hour and a half by bus) from downtown Beijing. Sounds like he flew into Shanghai and took the train to Beijing. The taxi driver must have really found a sucker or someone was playing games for the road trip to be that long.

The base is 15 miles as the crow flies from Beijing airport and 20 miles from the center of the city of Beijing. The numbers just don't add up!

P.S. If you look on Google Earth you can see two more sitting outside and they have a couple more inside, freshly painted and on display.

There is also another one in downtown Beijing.

[old chuck]

I am an employee of War Eagles Air Museum, and would like to address the skeptical comment about the length of time it took to get to the “remote airfield” at which our Tu-2s were acquired, The place where we got the Tu-2s was NOT the “cave hangar” at the China Air Museum, which is indeed located near Beijing. The “remote airfield” with the cave in which the Tu-2s were stored is about 700 to 800 miles from Beijing. The descriptions of the lengthy train, car and jeep rides to get there are accurate, as confirmed by the two people who made the trip.

[airnutz]

Ahhh..Thanks Old Chuck. Too bad the Chinese were so destructive during the dismantling and shipping of the birds.
Seeing one give a hint of it's performance in the air would've been a kick! Pity.

Are there any left at that base?

[bdk]

The “remote airfield” with the cave in which the Tu-2s were stored is about 700 to 800 miles from Beijing. The descriptions of the lengthy train, car and jeep rides to get there are accurate, as confirmed by the two people who made the trip.

OK, please consider my skepticism revoked! Sorry about that. Can you tell us what town or base the planes were at?