Warbird Information Exchange

As Experimental-Exhibition, what does the FAA have to do with the design of the aircraft?

Paul (president of TSWM) told me that the reason the doctor donated the FW190 to the museum was the fact that Klaus Colling at Flug Werk promised the doctor a "plug and play" aircraft. The doctor called Paul to inspect the a/c once it hit the states to determine how much work would be needed to assemble it to fly. When Paul discovered that all the doctor had was a bare airframe and an engine (with prop, landing gear and etcetra) but with no electrical, oil, fuel, flight control systems present and/or installed, a bare cockpit with nothing present and/or installed, the doctor decided that he didn't have anymore money to spend on an already expensive airplane.

When I was there last Monday (11/12/12) Dale was working on the fuselage fuel cell and Steve was working on the cockpit instrumentation/panels/electrical work. Again I don't speak for the museum just relating what I was told by the parties involved and what I saw first hand.

Without knowing any of the persons involved, nor the deal they made, what I do recall is the following: IIRC the original idea / advertisment of Flugwerk was to provide a kit for the buyer to finish the plane himself. If I do recall correctly, first it was planned that the kit would make up 49 % of the finished plane (by money´s worth). And that would be without engine, instruments and electrical. But (if I am correct in that) one could buy the specified things seperately. It had to do with being able to be treated as "homebuilt", at least in some countries. I have no idea, if it really is / was regarded as homebuilt. BTW the airframes were not built in Germany, but in Romania. Nothing wrong with it, just to get it straight. IMO the initial enthusiasm of Flugwerk dwindled when Hans-Günther Wildmoser (Claus Colling´s partner) died. But a great achievement nevertheless, even if there are bits and pieces that might have been solved better.
Just my personal opinion. And: Well done, Barry.

Michael

Thanks for the background...and correcting my story. It looks like there was a bit more than just some "changes" that had to be made.


I don't actually know that much about the Flug Werk operation itself, so this was very useful. Especially so coming from someone actually living in Germany.

A quick check of Flug Werk's website reveals that they are apparently now working on P-51 replica(s). The reason I bring this up is because of the details about the way they actually advertise this project to potential buyers:

Note their use of the word "kit" and the fact that the additional parts are offered "depending on demand". Also note there is no mention of wiring or other internal systems. Indeed, the same page also includes this sentence:

I'm assuming, of course, that this is the same plan they had for the Fw 190s. It could have been different, but I doubt it.

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