Warbird Information Exchange

As long as they don't end up in the back corner of a hangar collecting dust...AKA - Kermit Weeks.

Phil

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A man's got to know his limitations.

There is no guarantee that Paul Allen would have flown the Me.262 and FW.189 - he did not fly the FW.190D due to its rarity and I would think that he would have done the same for the .189. The .262 may well have been flown a few times to demonstrate this as a flyer, but then placed on static thereafter. The Stuka may have been more of a flyer, in part because this was less original - from what I understand, quite a fair portion of this (including all of the wings) is new-built.

Personally, for these very rare (unique or nearly so) types, I would prefer a static display of an aircraft with more original structure, than a flyer that is substantially rebuilt. Flying the .262 can be justified, since there are nearly a dozen original in existence (including three others in the US), but the .189 - a sole survivor - should I think be desplayed status with as much of the original structure as possible; there has been so little information on the .189 about what Allen's intentions were for this airplane.

I am sure we all hope that the family plans to finish these aircrafts prior to dispersing them, rather than selling "as is."

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Kevin McCartney

The 262 was to be flown once or twice and then probably parked. A lot of great pilots were burned alive in the 262 thanks to it's crappy and primitive Jumo 004 and 005 engines. These were to be modified and improved in the FHC example. Just look up Mackie Steinhoff and his experience in the 262. He was an exceptional fighter pilot.
Personally, I think the science and knowledge that goes into engine rebuilding. systems overhauls, etc. make it okay for most airplanes to be flown. So much technology since WW II. Although if I owned a Sea Fury, Lysander, Blenheim, Zero, etc. it would make sense to put an American powerplant for as long as it's going to be a flyer.
The FW-189 had the Argus engines and should be a lot safer to fly was it's a multi-engine. Variants of the Argus and being rebuilt and flown in the Storch, Pilatus P-2, ME-108, etc. and seem to be reliable. The FW-189 "Owl." was a unique design. Kind of a predecessor to later battlefield designs like the O-2, OV-10, and OV-1. It might yield some useful insight and is a design worth studying. There really wasn't anything else comparable to it's design and it served many roles. Sadly, few were built and only one has survived.

The Me 262 was set to fly as many as 15 test flights ahead of being placed on display at the FHCAM, and however much flying it was to do after that was undetermined - that was according to Steve Hinton and Jason Muszala (Senior Manager, Restoration at the FHCAM). Also, according to Jason Muszala, the Fw 190D-13 was not going to be flown unless a decision was made to fly it, at which point it would be re-restored to FHCAM's criteria. The Fw 189 and Stuka stood a good chance of being regular flyers, though the FHCAM's regular flyers weren't flown much at all in recent years either.

Don't quote me, I seem to remember reading that FW-190D-13 towards the end of it's restoration had some issues that made it a non airworthy restoration. Those issues would have to be rectified before it could be flown.

I hope the rumours are just that, museum closed due to COVID. Let us see what happens when the world opens up again.