Warbird Information Exchange

I recently was going through an edition of "The Aircraft Yearbook for 1942", a publication that highlighted the accomplishments of various OEM's, subcontractors,ect for aviation in that year. The book was filled with an incredible amount of facts. One that I found extremely interesting was that (according to the publication via Bell Aircraft) that the P-39 "Airacobra" consisted of 9,000 "parts". They did not specify if this included subassemblies, GFE (Goverment Furnished Equipment), or misc items like map cases, relief tubes ect. This got me thinking and I started wonder if this number was even correct and if it was or was not how did it compare with other fighter aircraft of the era. With all the information on the WIX I thought the forum can provide me with some answers. Here are some of the aircraft I would like to know the amount of parts (these also have been successfully recreated/rebuilt in the warbird market).

1. P-51C&D (Pacific Fighters, TriState Aviation, Cal Pacific Aviation)
2. F3F-2 (Texas Airplane Factory)
3. ME-262 (Texas Airplane Factory/Me 262 Project)
4. KI.43 IIIA "Oscar" (Texas Airplane Factory/Gosshawk)
5. A6M3 Model 22 "Zero" (Museum Of Flying/Yakovlev, Blayd Corporation)
6. FW190A-8/N (FlugWerk)
7. Yak-3M (Flight Magic/Yakovlev)
8. Polikarpov I-16 (Flight Magic?)
9. Curtiss P-36/P-40 (Pacific Aircraft,Matt Nightengale)
10. Hughes H-1 (Wright Tool Company)

That number may indicate individual part numbers catalogued, but may not count multiples of certain parts or AN standard parts. If you included every nut, bolt, and rivet- including all the engine components, the number would be far more. Perhaps that was a list of the parts manufactured at that particular factory only and excluded purchased parts.

Polikarpovs were put together by the 'Aviarestoration Company', Russia in conjunction with Tim Wallis and the Alpine Fighter Collection in N.Z.

Dave

VCS1, I can tell you that the F-4 Phantom parts index is about six to eight inches thick ! There are at least 4 rows of part numbers on both sides of the page !

VCS1,

I'm looking at a blueprint drawing for just one rib on the outer wing panel of a TBF & it has 104 parts to it. This includes all of the bolts, rivets, nuts, cotter pins, etc. There's at least 17 ribs on one outer wing panel alone. Not that I'm an A & P or have done any restorations, but I would say that the 9,000 is extremely low, & might only be the bigger pieces, not all of the rivets, etc. Probably doesn't include the engine either, I would imagine that that has a butt load of parts too, if you include all the nuts & bolts.

Mac

I've got a replacement parts manual for the Bf 109G, and many of the large parts listed within are indeed subassemblies. Smaller replacement parts are called out as well, such as lock washers, nuts, screws, etc- things you might need to replace on an individual basis.

Haven't tried to count the parts within, but it's approximately a lot.

Lynn

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