Warbird Information Exchange

Totally disagree. The bigger the plane, the better...IMO...

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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..."

What if some of us fanatics wrangled up the Mauler, Guardian, and Fireball for one museum?

And put a TBM in there for good measure.

dmx makes a very valid point regarding appeal by the public. Of course, we would all take some interest as the B-23 or Shack lumbered by, but the public might take a quick glance and turn back to looking around or talking or doing whatever they had been doing. BUT, when the dark blue AM-1 comes screaming across the field making strafing and bombing runs, I bet every eye would be fixated in awe at the site. The public may think its a Hellcat or Avenger, but they won't care. What they will care about and love to see is that Mauler working the field over.

As a bonus, it was most likely designed and manufactured by the very same folks who created the great Marauder.

It is my belief that there are fewer and fewer people each year that care about old airplanes. It is unfortunate, but true. Most airshow spectators today want to hear jets screaming by at mach 1+. Thank God there are still some of us around that live for the older stuff. The warbird operators on the west coast realized back in the 80's that they could no longer afford to go to a show for gas and a room; and the costs have skyrocketed since then. That's the primary reason so many shows have gone out of business.
As an example, the last year of the Yakima WA. show saw both the Blue Angels and Snowbirds appear and the promoters lost their A**es. As much as I love going to the CAF's Airsho, it has gotten smaller each year for the last 3 or 4. Unfortunately, it's a revolving circle. They make less money each year, so the next year they spend less (meaning inviting fewer airplanes and giving them less for coming). There are a thousand reasons why people aren't spending their money on airshows, but it basically comes down to less disposable income perhousehold per year. It sucks, but that's how it is.

RICK