Warbird Information Exchange

I wonder if they could be sold to civilians as a static display once they were demilled? Question relates to an individual thinking of using them in a restaurant theme.

I could be wrong, but I rather doubt it. The F-14s that are being demilled are being cut in half.

John

i seriously doubt it, they are demilling the most ridiculous stuff too, needlessly & at addition taxpayer expense. they've cut worn out flight helmets for example, like they are a danger to national security. another example is ejection seats the d.o.d. has been on an obsessive tangent on demilling before the 9/11 attacks & now after, they are in high gear. the big fear by them is that surplus stuff that makes it on the public market still has the potential to be added or adapted to current military or historical weaponry that is long retired & rendered obsolete, that is owned by the collecting public, & then have it possibly used against our own u.s. government by wacko militia factions & in country terrorists. not to mention that they are also fearful of obsolete u.s. military stuff that is bought on the surplus market & then sent out of the u.s. to terrorist in other countries. it all stems from an embarrassing incident inwhich somebody at the d.o.d. sold a worn out & stripped, but operable f-18 hornet to a private citizen a few years ago, but that's another story. so now to save face this cutting / demilling thing is the standard to avoid other government goof ups. regards, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Tom,

Unfortunately I agree with you. In the post 9/11 atmosphere we live in, the politicians and the military are close to fanatical about not allowing former articles from military use falling into the hands of civilians. I find this to more than just abit paranoid if I may say so. When did we as a nation forget that we could trust our fellow citizens. And let's face it, anyone with the wherewithall to restore a former Warbird is gonna keep some pretty good personal security on his investment due to the cost involved.

As to the idea that de-milled "modern" aircraft could ever be placed into civilian hands......highly doubtful.

Yes:

Brainless and senseless govenrment in action! What else is new?

We've got one of those too.

I have no idea which one is the worst...

Unfortunately the policy on demil is DoD policy. When we were doing the TA-4 I continued to ask the question "since when does Dod policy supercede public law ? ". I asked verbally and in writing. NEVER got an answer from the bureaucrats who are apparently afraid of the very people they are supposed to be working for. ( rant mode off) The average elected official wouldn't put this stuff into legislation unless it was put forward by a govt employee of whatever alphabet agency was pushing it. When the other side is allowed to make their case ( if done professionally and with the facts) , it would never get through committee, much less to a vote) That's how we were able to stop the demil legislation ...3 times !

RickH



I work with the bureaucrats all the time at work. You've got to beat them at their own game. You've got to make friends with them, and make them think your idea was their own. You can win, but not with an argument. You've got to be really slick! It sounds like that's what you were doing. A good trick I've found is to play one bureaucrat against the other, by letting the others know about the nasty things they keep doing.

dhfan wrote:



dhfan:

I'm with you! Too much gov't is bad anywhere. Whoever's is worse isn't important. The important thing is to try to fight bad regs with help from Congressmen, and to vote for the right people who will lessen gov't control. Every gov't wants more power, and we know that power corrupts. So, it's good to resist it through legal and democratic means.

Also, the thing that sickens me, is when gov't says "we know what's best for you, we can take care of you better than you can"! If they start saying that, you've got socialism forming right there! The scary thing is that our US gov't does that too. Anyway enough said, but it's not said often enough. Regretfully those involved in aviation deal with it from the F.A.A. all the time, and when it goes overboard it turns your stomach!

If they are not going to fly again, why can't you just weld them back together and fix them up cosmetically for a theme restaurant?

TTFN....Kenn

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May all your bent wings be F2G Corsairs!

Because if they released them then they would lose CONTROL of them !

A lady named Tina once bought the cut up remains of an F-4. The fuselage was cut in front of the tail, the wings were cut at the wingroot, etc... She paid, with her own money, I might add, to put the pieces back together again. The job was pretty good cosmetically and there was NO way this airplane would ever fly again. Hell, it could barely stand up on its own and when it was moved to its new purpose built hangar in Alamogordo it DID suffer a wing repair failure. It was about this time that the AF ( or DoD ) found out about it and decreed that all fighter type aircraft sold for scrapping would be certified as destroyed by a govt inspector who would verify that they were reduced to 1" pieces by grinding them up. Nothing was to be removed intact.

Can you say paranoia ?

I can hook you up with an F-111 if you're interested. It's complete minus engines, and the airframe itself is comprised of high time components that are longer considered airworthy. It's one of only two I know if that are in private hands.

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Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

The 'Vark was one of the biggest maintenance dogs ever to serve in the AF. Definitely an aircraft that will never be a viable flying warbird...

Hmmmm.... Of what use would a helmet or an ejection seat be to a suicidal terrorist?

Rob, is one of those F-111's nearby your location, just off of a Texas Hwy?

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

has anybody everseen the guillotine they use to hack up big airframes like the b-52, large missiles etc. it's a sight to watch & see, & sad as well as entertaining

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!