Can WIX sponsor warbirds?

[sabredriver]

Can a idea.. let says if enough people in WIX have a cause they wana see done good for, let say wish to help get another B- series bomber back to flight or help restore , could WIX ever become a sponsorship front/group or organisation maybe or be a leader in helping?

Is this idea too complex?

[RyanShort1]

I've personally toyed with the idea of using www.doolittleraid.com to try and raise funds to restore the B-25B over at Aero Trader. It's 3 serials off of Doolittle's aircraft...

Ryan

[mustangdriver]

Ryan that would be an awsome idea. To try to get that B model together. Does anyone know if the noseart panel taken off of the Ruptured Duck still exists?

[daveymac82c]

I think that it would be a great idea to use WIX as a way to raise funds for aircraft restorations. Possibly doing the same thing with getting guns for "Lil" we could devote a calendar year for one project. And that project could also be like Gary's "Lil" thread that we have come to know and love.

Sabredriver, fantastic idea.

-David

[Dan K]

It would appear that the following is already attempting something similar.

http://www.aircraftrestoration.org/news.php

Would a "restoration of the month" format be more practical than devoting an entire year toward a single project? Just thinking out loud.

The biggest challenge: Who will decide where the funds go?

[daveymac82c]

Thinking out loud is what we need to do. Brainstorming is the best way to express ideas and get things movin'.

I just figured that a year would be a good length of time to be able to raise a significant amount of funds to help. I just figured that a month might not be enough time to get a decent amound of funds together.

Then again, I don't remember how long the donations were going for Diamond Lil's guns.

Perhaps, based on the size of the project a given amount of time could be allotted. Say for a large bomber a year, and a Stearman (or something of that size) say 3 months?

Just ideas.

I am pretty confident we can figure a way to help warbirds all around North America.

Cheers,

David

[daveymac82c]

By the way, that website looks pretty good, but it doesn't look like it's being used. The forum is dead and all the pages are relatively bare.

I suppose WIX could help with that.

-David

[rwdfresno]

Would a "restoration of the month" format be more practical than devoting an entire year toward a single project? Just thinking out loud.

I guess it depends on the mission of the donations. Are we trying to put a few hundred or thousand in the fund to help a currently funded current restoration or is the mission to restore an aircraft that would not likely be restored otherwise.

If the goal is to throw some well needed bucks towards a currently funded project (ex: guns for the B-24A formerly known as Lil.) then a monthly is a worth while idea.

If we are talking about trying to fund a project that likely would not go anywhere for the next 20 years or more without funding (ex: ones like below) then we are looking at a many year commitment. It would take $500,000 - $4,000,000 to get these going depending on the aircraft. You are basically looking at a serious campaign to raise money at that scale. Probably broken up into smaller fund raising campaigns for measurable success. For example first a campaign to raise money to have the cockpit section of the B-25 restored then use that completion (or near completion at least cosmetically) as a marketing tool to raise even more money.

[Dan Newcomb]

If anybody out there wants a project I will be glad to nominate ours. Right now for example we need to come up with $70,000 for new fuel tanks. Any and all money is tax deductible. What kills most restorations is a lack of funds. Give me the bucks and I will get it built.

[Dan Newcomb]

Let me expand on this a little. If you really want to see us continue to fly open the old wallet. There is no way around it. What we do is ridiculously expensive. Multimillionaires donate aircraft to us because they can’t afford to operate them. We have many highly motivated and talented members in our organization and we always welcome others to join the talent pool but the main limiting factor is and always will be MONEY. Our labor and talent is freely given. Most of us spend a lot more than the $160 bucks a year dues on our war birds. If you love it like we do you have got to be motivated and involved. If we sit on the fence too long all of this will go bye bye. Pick a project, any project and give it your support. Break it up in smaller segments is a good idea but we need consistency. End of sermon.

[Lynn Allen]

I feel and think that the Redtail project would a great start
But I like Mustangs That's where my $$ would go....

Lynn

[Dan Newcomb]

Lynn then what are you waiting for? You can do it.

[bdk]

OK WIX attorneys, what individual liability could I incur as a "member" of the WIX community if I donated to a project and the restorer drilled through their finger (or worse)? Would this group need to be incorporated to insulate me from any liability?

This could certainly be a problem if the WIX owned an aircraft.

P.S. Whatever happened to the Whirlwind project?

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... icate.html

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... d343561732

[rwdfresno]

BDK, as you mentioned the only way for this to make any sense is to have the money go through a 501c3 corporation. For both tax and liability purposes.

To be honest the much better idea in my opinion is to just sponsor join a campaign sponsoring a warbird project such as the PBJ and have all the money go directly to the CAF and not be filtered through a third party as it will just make things much more difficult tax wise. Setup a deal where we earmark money somehow for the specific aircraft. The PBJ is a great cause, there are already plenty of P-51s flying and they are worth millions to anyone who invests money in them so not really quite as worthy a cause to me as the PBJ which is likely worth less than it costs in man hours and $ to restore the aircraft and it is in the hands of someone who will likely never sell it. Also is a one of a kind. Also they are well progressed in their restoration effort already and they have what is actually a reasonable amount of money left to restore it.

Ryan

[O.P.]

I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

I donate once a year to some aviationish, and that is usually for a selfish reason.

I am pretty much not going to donate to anything I have no part of, or cannot have a part of.

The large "Org" in my area and around my area is an old boys club. You can't even hope somebodys going to die to get a chance at being a part of it. You will flat out never have anything to do with it, ever, no matter how much money you are willing to give. Their "the ORG's"planes are private feifdoms, and will remain that way forever.

It's pretty much a crying shame because the plane I am interested in being a part of is always in pieces scattered around the hangar. I know how much it would cost to fix/annual/repair/ect on some of the things on it, and I can pay cash to see it happen tommorrow morning. No one gives a crap. Heheeeee, It isn't even a "Dirty little secret", It is a known fact, that plane is pretty much the personal property of 5 guys who don't even fly the d@mn thing, and have to be threatened with its removal and have to find someone else to fly it to Texas for the big airshow.......I've expressed a lot of interest, and everyone, absolutley everyone, including members from that chapter and other nearby chapters, just laughed and said don't bother....

I guess that, and a couple of other things, have seriously jaded me on stuff like that. I will not give any of my "Aviation" money to anyone or anything unless it directly benifits me immediately. Collings foundation is a great example, give them money, get a ride in the plane, pretty simple.

There was talk of a WIX airplane before, I know it was just talk, but what it all boiled down too is , Give us some money, We, "Meaning the only person qualified to fly the thing" will keep the plane here,"3000 miles away from me", and you guys can help kick for the maintenance. Sounds familiar.....heheeeeee

I'll just give my cash to my buds for gas money. I need the good ole boys and the mega retired sit in the museum all day and look down your nose at O.P. for invading your personal fiefdoms, like I need a hole in my f***ing head.

They can keep their broke d1ck airplanes, and I'll keep my cash.