Warbird Information Exchange

Many 'modern' military planes have been de-milled. Wiring has been cut, vital engine components removed and in some cases, critical structural members are severed. In other words, it would take a massive effort (months) to make them fly again.

I believe Lindbergh used to refer to the Spirit of St. Louis as being kept in flyable condition for many years while it was on display. Time has undoubtedly caught up with it. The fabric has shrunk and is cracking and would need replacing prior to flight. The tires probably would not be able to withstand a take-off run. The engine ignition wires are deteriorating, etc. This is just one example of a highly maintained museum aircraft that couldn't be made flight ready very quickly (in my opinion) simply due to it's age...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Glad you guys understood what I was trying get to ask although maybe my scenario could have been thought out or worded better. Of course in a real situation the people are what's important.....it isn't a realistic scenario at all really. I was just picturing sort of a far fetched kind of story where as many of the planes as possible could physically make a short ferry flight, legalities type ratings, and crew will guess aside.
Funny the Enola Gay was mentioned as the picture in my head as I was trying to figure out how to word my question was the Enola Gay lined up to take off the and the DO-335 and Hoover's Shrike the next two to go.
Thanks for the replies so far. Exactly the sort of answers I was hoping for.
One more thing....the converted B-25 oon display at Pensacola would be on the list of aircraft that wouldn't make it. In my late teens I was tasked with cutting out wiring bundles while volunteering at Air Heritage. I had a stomach ache the whole time and still regret it. I feel like I was destroying history but have to remind myself of the importance of its current role as well.
Thanks again and I'll be watching for your replies.

hehehe. It would take 2 years to get that ready.

Sorry couldn't help myself.

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

I wonder if the the engine/lift fan displayed next to the STOVL X-35 at UH is the engine it flew with?

Maybe the XV-15 and Concorde at UH could be cranked up with not much fuss... believe both were flown in.

Supposedly the Raiden at planes of fame Chino was pretty close to airworthy, but as a sole survivor and difficulties with insurance appraisal kept it on the ground (rightly so IMO).

I volunteer at the Planes of Fame in Chino, CA. We could fly out about half of ours on almost zero notice. We might have one or two maintenance issues, but the flyable planes would largely fly. The non-flyable ones would, of course, not. About half of ours are flyable.

I am talking about the military planes. We have only 2 flyable civil aircraft (A C-182 and a Beech Barron).

This is for Chino ,CA.

We'd probably lose a lot in Arizona since we could not get enough pilots there in 24 hours.

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There are two kind of aircraft, fighters and targets

I don't think any of the Smithsonian's aircraft could be flown out in 24 hours. No matter when they might have been flown in. One of the things they do is remove the fluid and nitrogen charge from the landing gear struts; disassemble the struts and insert a stop to allow the struts to appear to be correctly inflated. On the older aircraft the tires have been heavily processed with preservatives but in most cases are no longer airworthy. Just finding out of production tires could take years. The Smithsonian also coats the interiors of its engines with special preservatives to prevent corrosion which would have to be removed by disassembling them. Same with fluid lines they generally get some kind of internal preservative coating not conducive to operational use with lubricants or fuel. Traditional fabrics like cotton and linen tend to deteriorate over time as well even if the finish still looks good. Engines along with coatings also often have dessicants like silica gell crystals installed in the crankcase with blanking plates between the exhaust stacks and cylinder heads. It would take more than a couple of days just to remove those on Enola Gay. I think the USAF and USN museums follow a lot of the Smithsonian's protocols.

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"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.