Warbird Information Exchange

You know, I sometimes feel a bit guilty not paying much attention to 50's and 60's warbirds. I know EDowning and a few others out there probably feel a bit "cheated" at times. Who knows. ... I'm a big 1939 to 1945 guy, but I do have an interest in Korean war era warbirds as well. If there could ever be a gathering of Korean war era warbirds, what could we possibly see put together?, how many F-86's could we possibly get together that fly? And who here has ever seen more than one Sabre fly together at an airshow? Any photos?

Mark the 50's guy

I am with you! I have seen two F-86's and a Mig 15 fly formation long time ago at Boeing field in Seattle. My dad has pics from that day and could tell you more about that day then I could as I was a young pup 11 or 12 at the time. I would love to see a REAL movie about the air war, I think that Bridge over tokore (spelling?) is the only one that covers any part of the air war?

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" excuse me stewardess I speak jive"

I've got an 8x10 I took A KPAE during one of the AIR FAIRS in the late-ish 80's showing Ben Halls F (P) 86A (s/n 12 I believe), the Boeing Canadair SABRE, and Paul Entrikins MiG 15 in tight formation hanging in my front entryway-

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

The 1950's were a great era in American military aviation, as we all know.
I'm kind of surprised no one flys an F11F these days. It was a relatively simple aircraft and it seems that airframes are all over this country.
Much rarer is the Skyray. Would really like to see one in the air. What about Skyknights? An overlooked aircraft if you ask me. My boneyard book shows a quite a few sitting in the desert sun (20 years ago.). F-89. That's a cool bird. Is it lack of engines and spares or lack of interest that these planes and many others are not airworthy today?

F-86's and Mig-15's are great, but where are all of the naval Warbirds from the Korean war era? Sea Fury's and Corsairs are most common, but I'd love to see some Panthers, Banshees, even Phantom I's.

Unfortunately, those early jets have a LOT of strikes against them, including:

1) Ancient jet technology, with less than reliable engines, prone to flameouts, compressor stalls, etc.

2) Huge gas guzzling jet engines, which eat up much more gas than their piston bretheren.

3) Rarity of the planes make restoration very difficult if not impossible due to the availability of parts.

4) Ancient ejection seat technology, which makes flying the older jets more risky than modern counterparts, i.e. - L-29's, L-39's, etc.

5) Lack of performance in regards to speed, range, and overall reliability in regards to more modern jets, i.e. - T-33's, F-86's, L-29's, L-39's, etc.

6) Not as much notoriety or "glory" as their piston engined counterparts such as the Corsair, Bearcat, Fury, etc.

7) Much more finicky and harder to maintain than their piston engined counterparts, due to having more complex systems.

8. Not as much demand by airshows and event organizers than the popular piston engined Korean era birds. This translates into no or lesser money for appearance fees to keep the jets maintained.


As much as I would like to see some more early era jets, unless you are a Paul Allen type, it just wouldn't be feasible or practical to maintain one in flying condition, IMO. This is especially true in light of the current av gas crisis.

Great response ... enjoyed reading this one ...

so



That will never temper my love for them. Maybe some 1/1 replicas, which seem to be the thing nowdays, with some easier on the pockets engines.
I always have been, and always will be, a Navy guy.


A boy can dream....

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr excuse me how can you create a demand at a airshow for a flying warbird WHEN the bloody warbird doesnt even exisit to fly??

People need to restore the unheard of types to flight status so they can be demanded!!!

Wasnt a demand for ME262 or TA-4 or F4 civil warbird 15years ago and now they fly everyone wants to have them at a airshow themselves..

So if someone could help restore the early 40s and 50s jets one by one to flying status MANY more people would be come wowsed

You clearly haven't been talking to Eric D. aka "Mr. Carbon Footprint"

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Don't touch my junk!!

Well, unfortunately, you just can't change history overnight. Everybody is very familiar with W.W.II, but there is a reason that the Korean conflict is called, "The Forgotten War". I doubt that even 2% of the general population even knows that we had a war in Korea, much less when it happened. Other than "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" and "The Hunters", there really haven't been many aviation themed movies to give audiences exposure to the Korean conflict. Besides this, both of those movies were made in the 50's. Compare this against how many aviation themed W.W.II movies have been made. Probably about 50 or so.

W.W. II was a popular war, Korea was not, hence the public's fascination with props vs. early jets.

I would say the cougar was the exception.
Every jet qualified NA flew the TF-9J which served well into the 70s.
My step-dad said it was the best jet he ever flew in and the
only one he ever ejected from.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Yes, I've heard the same thing! I don't count the Cougar since it was a swept wing jet and more modern than the Panther. I was fortunate enough to see the world's only flying (at that time) Cougar back in the early 90's. Too bad it was lost over the Gulf with the Hippy ex-Blue Angels pilot flying it. Did they ever find out what caused it to go down?

That was Col John Verde USMC ret who was one finest Marine jet fighter pilots ever. Commanded VMFA-122 in VN. I don't think he flew with the BA but did fly C-119s carrying supplies to the French in VN.

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Don't touch my junk!!

I had heard that he did, but I'm not for sure. He was a strange bird. The first time I saw him get out of the Cougar in his flight suit, he had a VERY long braided grey hair pony tail which went all the way down to his butt. Before I knew who he was, I thought, wow, another typical millionaire hippy non-pilot type who thinks he can fly a jet fighter plane. Boy was I wrong!