A hard question..............

[Chris Brame]

Well, the restrictions cut out my uncle's F-7B (B-24J) "Hi-Priority Stuff", and there's not enough of a P-43 available to qualify, so... Douglas B-18! A homely old bird with the reliable heart of a DC-3, and half a dozen of 'em left so at least ONE deserves to fly again.

[Don Martin]

Okay Hairy, just ONE TYPE of aircraft. Well I just got to have Six Turnin' and Four Burnin'! And I'm Stinking Rich? Okay, I'll take ALL THAT REMAIN! AND MOVE THEM ALL TO A LITTLE OLD FORMER SAC BASE in the Great White North that has the room for us to PLAY! I love the round engines, BUT a little JP-4 behind the ears will drive the women WILD!

[airnutz]

It ain't the question that's hard....it's the answer that's a b*tch!

Somethin' tells me I ain't gettin my Westland Whirlwind MkI....or a
Welkin for that matter. The ME 209V1, only has 1 seat..and I wanna share!
...So give me a d*mn OV10 Bronco...and I think I'll be happy with 4th choice!

PS
Can I put contra-Griffons on my Bronco??
Just to visit Reno once in a while...or just grins...

[JohnH]

Martin B-26

I second that.....either the one in Kiriwina...which I'd have to practically manufacture a brand new nose and cock pit section for, as well as all the other missing parts on it, or if I could get it, Flak Bait, the 200 mission veteran that is stored at the NASM. Speaking of FB, I wonder if they are going to assemble it and put at at Udvar where it belongs?

John

[Martin Edwards]

Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-15, oh wait a minute, they scrapped it....darn!

[airnutz]

For those who aren't familiar with a CAC CA-15 is, see here what
Martin can't have...a Mustang with "brassy ones", is called a Kangaroo...
www.cardmodelers.org/archive/nov03/liketosee.html

Originally planned for an R-2800...it has something to offer for everyone!

[Dan K]

Oh yeah, I'm definitely with Martin...the Kangaroo was an awesome beast. But the fact that the Philistines dismembered her renders a rebuild impossible.

Unless...

Perhaps the next thread will read, "What currently extinct warbird would you replicate with those unlimited funds?" I guess then I'd be drawing straws between the CA-15, the SC-1/-2, and the mighty TBY Sea Wolf.

But, like I stated, that's for an entirely different thread...

[mjanovec]

I'd have to pick the B-26 too. I can't think of many more aircraft in WWII that served as well as the B-26. Plus, it's one of the prettiest planes of all time, with a nice torpedo shaped fuselage.

I'd restore the one currently on static display in France, since I think the flying example should be a later model with the longer wings. However, I tend to think the USAFM should always have one on static display and that Flak Bait at the NASM is much too historic to risk flying again...so we're left with the French one (sorry, France).

For a paint scheme, I think I'd go with "Mild and Bitter". A little history of Mild and Bitter pulled from the 'net (written by J.K. Havener):

"It [the B-26] was the first Allied bomber in the European Theater of Operations to complete 100 operational missions. This was accomplished by Mild and Bitter on an afternoon raid on a Nazi airfield at Evreux/Fauville, southwest of Rouen, France, on 9 May 1944. She was a B-26B-25, Serial Number 41-31819, of the 450th Squadron in the 322nd Bomb Group (M) of the 9th Air Force and had flown her first mission on 23 July 1943. She did all this on her original engines, amassing a total of 449 hours and 30 minutes on them, 310 hours and 40 minutes of that in combat! During this time she never aborted due to mechanical failure, and not one of her many crewmen was a casualty."

A bunch of B-26 firsts are mentioned here (where I got the info about Mild and Bitter):

http://www.billsb-26marauder.org/b26_firsts.htm

[tom d. friedman]

i'd go for something ultra rare from ww 2 such as a japanese ki-61 tony fighter or an italian macchi 202 fighter as my 2nd choice

[hairy]

It ain't the question that's hard....it's the answer that's a b*tch!

Somethin' tells me I ain't gettin my Westland Whirlwind MkI....or a
Welkin for that matter. The ME 209V1, only has 1 seat..and I wanna share!
...So give me a d*mn OV10 Bronco...and I think I'll be happy with 4th choice!

PS
Can I put contra-Griffons on my Bronco??
Just to visit Reno once in a while...or just grins...

I like the cut of your jib, suh. I had nothing in my "rules" about mods (e.g Me-163 with a motor out of a Aim-54 Phoenix), and in my book if its your 'plane you can do what you want with it, I (we) may not approve, but its not up to us, we ain't payin' the bills.

Griffon Bronco? cooool!

Remember "unlimited budget ", this would cover the research and development of such mods.

Last edited by hairy on Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Walrus 7]

Foul!

CA-15 contravenes Rule #3

Mind you, if the thread topic was "if you could turn back time" the Kangaroo would be a monty ... but I think I'd come up with a better name.

Walrus (also could have been better named)

[Locobuster]

Remember "unlimited budget ", this would cover the research and development of such mods.

Yes, indeed it would, very good point!

[hairy]

Wasn't the Ca-15 design originally based on the Mustang, wouldn't that classify it as a modification therefore within the rules?

[Walrus 7]

CAC did many things that were based on other aeroplanes: Boomerang, Wirraway and Ceres were all Harvard-based.

Certainly there is serious Mustang influence in the CA-15. I will concede that it is acceptable under those rules. There's a thought: build a CA-15 and take it racing in the US!

Walrus

[hercrat]

What else?.........an H8K2 Emily flying boat. Only one left anyway and it should be flying!