Light Attack T-34 Variant

[skymstr02]

Nope, sorry. The process is going on in Milton, and I'm in Madison, MS.

[marine air]

Back in the 80's when the t-34's began getting really popular, some of the people that were responsible for that movement (Earl Parks, Charlie Nogle) brilliantly grew that market for the A's and B's and all the upgrades and STC's. No one that was financially involved in the movement wanted to see the C's flood the market the way the T-28 B's, C's and F's and the Spanish T-6's successfully flooded those markets, to this day.
One owner, in Sevierville, Tn. paid as much for the nicest T-34A on the market as he could have paid for half of a very nice King Air, or ALL of a P-51D MUSTANG. ($400k) About that time the first couple on the warbird scene crashed because the owners ran out of fuel or whatever. Fueling the argument of "too hot for civilians."
The "very important people" in the warbird movement worked with the EAA and FAA and the U.S. Navy and Beechcraft to ensure that these would be timed out upon their retirement and never available on the civilian market.
Remember, this is America, "whoever owns the gold, makes the rules."

[sdennison]

So if one found a supply off shore and willing sellers, could one or more be brought back into the good old US of A? I'd have trouble thinking it was high tech military weaponry.

[John Dupre]

Back in the 80's when the t-34's began getting really popular, some of the people that were responsible for that movement (Earl Parks, Charlie Nogle) brilliantly grew that market for the A's and B's and all the upgrades and STC's. No one that was financially involved in the movement wanted to see the C's flood the market the way the T-28 B's, C's and F's and the Spanish T-6's successfully flooded those markets, to this day.
One owner, in Sevierville, Tn. paid as much for the nicest T-34A on the market as he could have paid for half of a very nice King Air, or ALL of a P-51D MUSTANG. ($400k) About that time the first couple on the warbird scene crashed because the owners ran out of fuel or whatever. Fueling the argument of "too hot for civilians."
The "very important people" in the warbird movement worked with the EAA and FAA and the U.S. Navy and Beechcraft to ensure that these would be timed out upon their retirement and never available on the civilian market.
Remember, this is America, "whoever owns the gold, makes the rules."

Didn't Beech actually license at least one example of the C model as a civilian aircraft? I thought someone like Charlie Nogle was instrumental in getting them to do that but in the end Beech priced the aircraft out of reach? What about the early model Mentors reengined with Garrett turboprops?