Courtesy's Firefly

italian harvard · **Joined:** Fri Jan 14, 2005 7:13 pm **Posts:** 73

bdk wrote:

italian harvard wrote:

The firefly always gave me the impression of a "chubby warbird"

Like a TBM? You know, some of us "chubby pilots" need a bit of extra space.

I'd love a TBM!!! But I'm scared by fuel consumption

Well, maybe I didnt use the proper word, it's not chubby, it's more goofy.. Dont know, to me it just looks ugly!!
Talking about chubby ppl: i'm 1,87m x 100kg, so I'm no Mickey Mouse either.. A friend of mine always say "I think the plane that would suit u would be a P-47!"

Alex

Cadillac_of_the_Sky · **Posted:** Mon Jun 13, 2005 7:13 pm

Alex,
I agree the any bird requires more investigation, further than just "Do i have the money?" I ment that when I said...

Quote:

If I had the money and the plane would be feasible to do, I would be looking in to it!

I didn't elaberate as well as you did. Great points though, thank you!

Big ups to the Italians and their restoration volunteers! Send some over here!

Cheers
COTS

Cadillac_of_the_Sky · **Posted:** Mon Jun 13, 2005 7:15 pm

That last post was not to say we don't have great fine folks over here that are willing to volunteer their time. Big Ups to all of them as well!

COTS

HarvardIV · **Joined:** Mon Oct 04, 2004 9:08 pm **Posts:** 1437

I think it would be a doable project for anyone with some rebuilding experience, after all it's not a B-17.

B29Gunner · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:43 am

HarvardIV wrote:

I think it would be a doable project for anyone with some rebuilding experience, after all it's not a B-17.

Or even worse, a B-29! :wink:

agent86 · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 3:57 am **Posts:** 926

Yes,its defininitly doable for someone with rebuilding experience.And as for expense?Well,Its definitly not a Havard IV now is it?I cant seem to find catalogs full of Firefly parts like I do for Havards/T-6's.Therefore I find the amount of money that you have spent on your Plane doesnt really have any bearing on how much it will cost to resurrect this plane.Bring a big box full of money if you want to play fighter pilot in this Firefly.A REAL BIG BOX! and you also might want to brush up on your part locating skills. :shock:

One thing that I will agree with you on is, Nope,Its not a B-17!

JohnH · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 7:35 am

bdk wrote:

I recall a Harvard that had sat in a hangar in Chino for over 25 years. It had been ferried to Chino right after it was surplused by the RCAF. I think the asking price for this completely original plane was about $90k at the time. Reportedly the new owner spent nearly $200k with Pacific Fighters for a museum quality restoration. This was back in the late 80's. All this for an airplane where parts are readily available and the airframe was in fantastic condition.

That was a neat airplane......the guy was from Santa Monica and it was the Oshkosh Grand Champion in 89 right? He's since died, the airplane was sold at the 1990 SMO Auction. I have some air to airs in storage.

John

wendovertom · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 3:31 pm

Thinking out loud - how will this plane be valued in say, 5-10 years?

I wonder if it is worth it to someone to bang out a deal, bring the plane to somewhere with less humidity and inside, maybe put $80-100K into stopping corrosion and make it a viable ramp queen until its worth returning to the air - mercenary yes but it saves a warbird (no matter how odd looking it is)

Tom P.

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 6:11 pm

JohnH wrote:

bdk wrote:

I recall a Harvard that had sat in a hangar in Chino for over 25 years. It had been ferried to Chino right after it was surplused by the RCAF. I think the asking price for this completely original plane was about $90k at the time. Reportedly the new owner spent nearly $200k with Pacific Fighters for a museum quality restoration. This was back in the late 80's. All this for an airplane where parts are readily available and the airframe was in fantastic condition.

That was a neat airplane......the guy was from Santa Monica and it was the Oshkosh Grand Champion in 89 right? He's since died, the airplane was sold at the 1990 SMO Auction. I have some air to airs in storage.

John

Hi John,

That was Bill Melamed's Harvard 4 which went to Lone Star in Texas, right? Restored by Pacific Fighters for, at the time an astronomical amount as far as T-6/harvards were concerned!

T J

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

T J Johansen wrote:

That was Bill Melamed's Harvard 4 which went to Lone Star in Texas, right? Restored by Pacific Fighters for, at the time an astronomical amount as far as T-6/harvards were concerned!

That's the one! It is/was fantastic!!!!!

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