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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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Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 12:47 pm

Or how about an F-111

Ran across these interesting "aircraft" for sale by Uncle Sam....
I know we can't keep them all...but....What a shame.


govliquidation.com are currently listing a number of aircraft for disposal.
Event 8763 contains the following AMARG inmates.

Lot 2 (4 x F-111) comprising:

66-0048 [AAFV0314] EF-111A 27thFW
66-0050 [AAFV0311] EF-111A 27thFW
67-0035 [AAFV0323] EF-111A 27thFW
68-0260 [AXFV0161] F-111G 27thFW

http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=5875888

Event 8762 lot 8930 is over 50 airframes at NAS Fallon, illustrated with
some low-res photos of former AMARG inmates.

http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=5871931

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 12:59 pm

OH BOY! My chance to own a skid tub filled with 4" X 4" squares of scrap metal.

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:14 pm

The fine print....

Purchaser must completely destroy material using a shredder, shear or baler that will effectively destroy the item to prevent reuse, recognition, or reconstruction of the item to the satisfaction of the government appointed verifier.

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:33 pm

Shred an A4 ....or A7 ....WHY ?
Hardly cutting edge , i can sort of understand the F111'S they (in my opinion) are still a very capable aircraft ...I know A4'S and A7'S are still in serivce but this is with freindly countries ..........
To emulate a wise person from this site...
Bob the ever so confused and slightly sad at bureaucracy

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:53 pm

expat wrote:Shred an A4 ....or A7 ....WHY ?
Hardly cutting edge , i can sort of understand the F111'S they (in my opinion) are still a very capable aircraft ...I know A4'S and A7'S are still in serivce but this is with freindly countries ..........
To emulate a wise person from this site...
Bob the ever so confused and slightly sad at bureaucracy


There is absolutely no rational reasoning behind it, but it is DoD and Pentagon policy, so---go fish. Moons ago a civil F-5 (assembled from salvaged parts purchased @ various surplus auctions, sounds of KLAXONS :shock: ) and an early A-4 got out amongst the 'great unwashed' and got on the civil registry causing both the Oak City Clown College and the five sided puzzle palace to push out a head gasket because.....................drum roll please.....................'they was weepins uv war' (and a CESSNA 206 can't be,after all, it's a pryvat aereoplain) and no one who actually helped pay for one should ever be permitted to actually take possession of one. It got even squirrelier when Homeland Insecurity came into being.(todays threat level is a sort of 'off purplish')
So it's like wondering why when as a kid you asked 'why?' your Mothers final answer that closed the discussion was 'Because'. :ouch:

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 3:00 pm

I wonder how many scrapping company's actually care which parts they torch...

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 3:37 pm

All of them if they can legally make a buck. Many of the statics in private museums came from those places, and many airworthy aircraft as well.

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 3:53 pm

DoD says "scrap 'em" so it's done. Whether or not it makes any sense.
Rules are rules....regalrdless that a parted-out nA-7 is no more a threat than my dog.
Bureaucracy at its finest.

More coming soon...

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 4:05 pm

The Inspector wrote: Moons ago a civil F-5 (assembled from salvaged parts purchased @ various surplus auctions, sounds of KLAXONS :shock: ) and an early A-4 got out amongst the 'great unwashed' and got on the civil registry...


This sounds a very intriguing story! Is there any chance someone could let me (and any other similarly uninformed posters) know more, or simply SNs or N-regs? I'd love to read the story.

And now back to your reg sched shred thread.

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 4:49 pm

K5054NZ wrote:
The Inspector wrote: Moons ago a civil F-5 (assembled from salvaged parts purchased @ various surplus auctions, sounds of KLAXONS :shock: ) and an early A-4 got out amongst the 'great unwashed' and got on the civil registry...

This sounds a very intriguing story! Is there any chance someone could let me (and any other similarly uninformed posters) know more, or simply SNs or N-regs? I'd love to read the story.


The US Civil Register lists the following six F-5 types:
F-5A: N3J, N685TC, N695TC
F-5B: N586PC, N675TC, N8910

There are 40 T-38 types on the US Civil Register. 33 are registered to NASA, 2 are registered to Boeing, and the rest appear to be privately-owned, including museums.

There are 49 A-4 and TA-4 types on the US Civil Register. I'm too lazy to try to figure out who they all belong to. Many are listed in ways that make me think they're private warbirds (we know for sure that several are flying in private/museum hands). The majority are probably operated by contractors who provide training and other services to the US Government. At least one appears to be a training aid at a tech school.

Keep in mind that the fact that a FAA registration exists does not mean the airplane actually exists, or is in any kind of operational condition or in any particular state of completeness.

K5054NZ wrote:reg sched shred thread.

Lemme hear ya say that phrase three times in rapid succession!

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 5:17 pm

K5054NZ wrote:
The Inspector wrote: Moons ago a civil F-5 (assembled from salvaged parts purchased @ various surplus auctions, sounds of KLAXONS :shock: ) and an early A-4 got out amongst the 'great unwashed' and got on the civil registry...


This sounds a very intriguing story! Is there any chance someone could let me (and any other similarly uninformed posters) know more, or simply SNs or N-regs? I'd love to read the story.

And now back to your reg sched shred thread.


Both the F-5 and the A-4 were featured in a pre movie PEPSI commercial shown with 'Top Gun' in theatres and I think on the VCR tape too which is supposedly how their existance came to the attention of the Feds. :drinkers:

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 5:28 pm

bdk wrote:All of them if they can legally make a buck. Many of the statics in private museums came from those places, and many airworthy aircraft as well.


What i'm saying is lets say someone takes off the wings or tail and lets the scrappers keep wings/tail. Now, take another plane, and let them have the fuslage.

See where i'm going here?

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 5:56 pm

The Inspector wrote:
Both the F-5 and the A-4 were featured in a pre movie PEPSI commercial shown with 'Top Gun' in theatres and I think on the VCR tape too which is supposedly how their existance came to the attention of the Feds. :drinkers:


I doubt that is the case since those airplanes were all featured in various aviation magazines at different points before that movie came out.

K5054NZ wrote:
The Inspector wrote: Moons ago a civil F-5 (assembled from salvaged parts purchased @ various surplus auctions, sounds of KLAXONS :shock: ) and an early A-4 got out amongst the 'great unwashed' and got on the civil registry...


This sounds a very intriguing story! Is there any chance someone could let me (and any other similarly uninformed posters) know more, or simply SNs or N-regs? I'd love to read the story.


He's talking about the F-5 (and T-38s) that Chuck Thorton put together. Nothing secret or unsavory about any of the airplanes and the way they were assembled. It was all very legal at the time. I think this would have been in the 82-86 timeframe. The A-4 was also a legal airplane and was destroyed in a crash as I remember. I don't know the N numbers off any of them off hand but I think all the F-5/T-38 examples will be N----CT unless somebody else has built some up since then.

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:38 pm

I can't believe I am saying this but I think the government has a point. In some ways aircraft design has stagnated since the mid 60's. So any aircraft of that vintage are nearly as capable as any newer designs in terms of performance or can be made so. Many of those types are also pretty demanding in terms of performance; your average really rich guy pilot probably doesn't have the skills to fly one safely and the FAA (A Quinn Martin Production) really doesn't have them manpower to oversee letters of authorization for the handful of potential owners with the bucks to make one flyable. Aside from making noise they don't have a lot of value in civilian hands. So the potential for a flyable vintage 60s jet to make off for places unknown, or to crash into a crowd of civilians is very real to the powers that be and the demand for other views is too small to counter act it.

My real quibble is lumping the T-34C and T-37 in with the real weapons. That is just a shame. I really hoped for a T34C racing class at Reno.

Re: Anyone need an A-7 or A-4?

Mon Dec 03, 2012 8:30 pm

There's still a few unshredded frames out there (Would make a heckuva' bird bath/weather vane/kiddie playset). :wink:


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vought-A7-Corsa ... 53e0401dbf
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