Jet Warbirds. Will there be any left?

[Warbird Kid]

Ive heard this before. "There are less jet warbirds out there than WWII warbirds"

This seems like a shame! Now I know there are many factors in keeping a warbird flying, let alone a jet warbird! My fear is that in 20 to 30 years there wont be any of these warbirds that fought the cold war in the air!

From what i gather it still seems like there is an ok amount of F-86's in the air compared to other aircraft like the F9F.

Does anybody know about any other aircraft either being brought back to the skies or why these aircraft are not in the air? (besides the obivous)

F-84, F-94, F9F, F4D, F-100, F-104, F-106, F-8, A-4, F-4, A-7, B-47, and yes maybe even the B-58?

[Old SAR pilot]

Well, according to the FAA, there are the following that have valid "N" numbers, and are not registered to the U.S. government. Which are really airworthy can be answered by some of the folks here on WIX.

F-84 - 6
F-89J - 1
F-100 - 9
F-101 - 1
F-102 - 1
F-104 - 7
F-4 - 1
F-5 - 6
F9F - 5
A-4 - 37
A-7 - 2
T-37 - 6
T-31 - 5

[Warbird Kid]

Thanks Old SAR pilot.

Nice to see a list of whats out there still. I cant find too many pictures of those flyable aircraft

[Ryan Keough]

Well, if you include the Russian jets into that mix... there will be lots. Take a look at the population of Mig-15s, 17s, and 21s out there as well as the L-29 Delfin and L-39 Albatros. There will be more CT-33s out on the circuit over the next few years too.

It's a matter of efficiency... you can get a lot of hours for a tank of gas on a piston plane versus a few minutes of AB and a little diddling around in a jet. If you were a private warbird owner, you'd get more for the buck with a piston warbird than a jet it seems... though the L-39 comes pretty close from what I know.

[PhantomAce08]

Well, according to the FAA, there are the following that have valid "N" numbers, and are not registered to the U.S. government. Which are really airworthy can be answered by some of the folks here on WIX.

F-84 - 6
F-89J - 1
F-100 - 9
F-101 - 1
F-102 - 1
F-104 - 7
F-4 - 1
F-5 - 6
F9F - 5
A-4 - 37
A-7 - 2
T-37 - 6
T-31 - 5

F-101????
F-102???
F-89????

Where are these?

[Warbird Mechanic]

I remember when Darryl Greenameyer still had his Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. He got into big trouble with the FAA when oneday he decided to take it through the sound barrier over a quiet neighborhood. He really angered many homeowners when he unknowingly broke out some windows in several of their homes as a result and the feds made him purchase brand new windows for these homeowners. He had to replace every single window he broke that day.

If you ever look in Trade-A-Plane there are several ex-military jet aircraft for sale in it.

Jim

Edit: I made a typo. My bad. I meant F-104 Starfighter and not the F-102 Delta Dagger. Thanks.

Last edited by Warbird Mechanic on Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[RickH]

F-104 Starfighter

[rwdfresno]

The Czech Aero jet trainers seem to be really accelerating in popularity due to their "reasonable" operation costs compared to jet fighter aircraft. There are more than 200 L-39 Albatrosses and 100 L-29 Delphins on the civil registry.

With any luck we will count ours among the fliers in the next year or so although we have some bugs to work out including replacing the right main gear and possibly the nose gear, a hydraulic pump issue and a nitrogen leak that we have yet to chase down. While somewhat "reasonable" on fuel we do burn up a lot of kerosene just taxing it around and firing it up on occasion.



Ryan

[daveymac82c]

I am not sure, but I think that there aren't too many cold-war airplanes left because those airplanes had and still have a significant "military capability" that prop planes of WWII do not have.

What I mean to say is that a cold war era airplane in the hands of a civilian is far more dangerous than a WWII airplane; especially an airplane with nuclear capabilities.

As for restorable cold war planes, there are probably still quite a few out there being used by "third world" militaries, or are mothballed, or mounted on polls. Interest in them is probably not at its peak yet.

Cold war era jets in museums, from what I have noticed, often have their spars sawed or are somehow "altered" in order to make them unflyable.

At my museum, we have a CF-100 Canuck and Vampire that could certainly be restored to flying condition given time and money (We have engines in the CF-100 that were in running condition up until 1987, and since then has been displayed outside (year-round). The Vampire is also pretty much complete, but we'd need to seek a "good" engine for it.

ok, it's late, I'm blathering, it's time for bed.

-David

[Old SAR pilot]

The F-89J and the F-102 are owned by the Helena Vocational Technical Center, Helena, MT. The F-101 is owned by Dennis Kelsy, Franklin, WA.

Airworthiness on these is doubtful, but they are on the register.

For further info on registered warbirds, check out:

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... nquiry.asp

[cott]

There is also an F-101 at a small museum in Palmdale, CA. It is no longer USAF property, through a strange mix-up with paperwork. Apparently the museum bought it through Trade-a-Plane a couple years ago. They aren't planning on flying it, but it may be a candidate in the future.

The Air Force was pretty upset about the whole thing, at least according to the person I spoke to in Palmdale. It sure would be cool to see one of those in the air.

Are there any Canadian F-101's that might be available?

[fritzthefox]

There is a Mig-21 at HAO in Hamilton, OH, that pretty much just sits in the hangar. I know the engine works, because they've tested the afterburner on a short jaunt down the runway. I think it is flyable, but it never does. I dunno if it's too expensive to fly or simply too scary.

Nice conversation piece, though.

[RickH]

An F-102 still has significant military capability ? Give me a break ! Any F-16 or 15 driver worth his salt would eat any of these for breakfast ! What's more what would you arm it with ? The weapons most of them carried are long gone and most were questionable when they were in the active inventory.

It takes a significant amount of time, money and expertise, not to mention FAA oversight to get one of these aircraft in the air. It also takes a significant amount of effort just to start and launch one of these for a single sortie. As it has been so ably demonstrated, they would NOT be the weapon of choice for a bad guy.

Take for instance the AH-1 Cobra. There was a great stink generated when a guy cobble up a flying Cobra from parts. OH the horror ! It's a Huey drive train with a skinny fuselage. BIG DEAL !! You'd have thought a nuclear weapon was stolen .

It's all bureaucratic BS on a grand scale. It's not about making you safe from military capability in the wrong hands, it's about legal liability if one goes down.

[Warbird Kid]

Rick I agree.

I believe that the military is still worried about these aging jet aircraft being used by somebody they wouldn’t want using them, but come on!

These cold war fighters and bombers may have not seen there peak in interest over the general public and hopefully they will. But we should start to really try to figure out what is still out there and attempt to preserve at least one of every kind that can still fly. Just a thought.

Imagine seeing a USAF Heritage flight: P-39, F-84, F-100, and F-15?

[rwdfresno]

Truthfully the biggest threat in this country is someone flying a spam can with a dirty bomb over a stadium.