Interesting posts. Although I have no reason to doubt that there still are indeed lots of "hidden warbird treasures" to be discovered out there in the barn and brothel community's. For this conversation I'll focus on the original posters thoughts of perhaps what could be still found in some obscure barn that we enthusiasts would conclude to be an 'exotic' warbird. (To me 'exotic' means P-51's, P-40's etc and not stearmans, BT's, AT-6's etc, but absolutely nothing against those types)
Although I'm certainly no authority and will never claim to be one, I still feel relatively convinced that the chances of finding one of the more exotic warbird types hidden away in a barn somewhere, i.e. P-51, P-47, P-38, Hellcat, etc. (talking significant remains and not bits and pieces) are slim. To be clear, this means a relatively intact warbird of the type I listed and one that NO ONE in the serious warbird restoration community knows exists.
I'm convinced that all the intact 'big exotic stuff' minus what's still out there under water, in swamps, on top of mountains, in jungles, under ice caps, on the moon, etc. are well known to these restoration folks. Do I know this to be fact? Absolutely not, but all the folks 'in the know' or who claim to be in the know state this conclusion adamantly time and again. Nothing I love better than to sometimes prove people wrong, but in this case I'm almost convinced those big, bad warbird know-it-alls are right.
Many of us warbird enthusiasts wonder why all the secrecy over most warbird restorations and such, and this conversation touches on that aspect to an extent. What many of us may think is a new, unknown 'find' in such a place as an old farmers barn, usually has been known about for a long time by those intent to acquire it in secrecy.
So to sum up. All the above is how I've been informed and educated as to how things really are out there in the warbird world by those who 'do'. In a nutshell, just when you think it's a new undiscovered find, you find out it's been well known for years. But again just to be clear, I'm more than happy to be completely wrong with everything I've stated if someone indeed ends up finding a complete P-51, Corsair or Hellcat sitting in someone's barn untouched and unknown to anyone other than the farmer and his daughter.
PS ... I really hope I'm simply full of BS in this post.
