Spitfire and Buchons for sale

[marine air]

to my first airshow in 1968 with my dad in his Champ. Later he went to Texas to buy a Corsair but got beaten to the deal by Howard Pardue. He bought his P-51 out of Texas in 1977. I remember the Edwards name as my dad's friends in Orlando that owned the mustangs "Color Me Gone" and "Ge Ge" went to Harlingen every year. My dad gravitated towards the EAA but we knew a ton of people in the CAF and from Texas that flew at airshows held be both the EAA and the CAF.
Heard lots of things out of Texas and the CAF about bad airplanes, bad people, bad accidents, and bad business dealings. Plus many good things.
This week on the board is the first time I've ever heard anyone bad mouth Connie Edwards.

[Pogo]

Yeah, I sure don't get it. I mean, I never met him, but anyone who keeps all that stuff UNDER A ROOF gets an automatic pass in my book right there.

[corsairkid]

Does anyone else agree that a sleek, "right looking" aircraft, the 109, was beat with an ugly stick when it was transformed to the Buchon? Ughhh!

[Lightjug]

Ever since Gary posted of his visit, my mind has been filled with lottery ticket dreams. Seeing those aircraft nestled beside each other - the engines, oh my all those beautiful Merlin's and that zero time Daimler Benz. As many have said I hope they all end up with good owners and grace the skies in the near future.

[JDK]

Does anyone else agree that a sleek, "right looking" aircraft, the 109, was beat with an ugly stick when it was transformed to the Buchon? Ughhh!

No. Much prefer the Buchon. But then, I would.

[Sopwith]

I must admit that I have always thought that the Buchon looked really great, don't know how to put my finger on it but the Merlin engine gave it something special in looks department. As they say though, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I can appreciate it's not everyone's cup of tea.

[RacingMustang]

Well...I can see that I was wrong in my initial post after watching that video. Sincere apologies to all I offended; I see that Connie and his family are great people and I rushed to judgement off of a simple video and without knowing anyone involved.

I still think the video/interview could have been done by AOPA a little better, but that's all. Now...back to our topic.

[marine air]

I admit to a bit of sticker shock at the prices. Then again, the U.S. dollar is pitifully weak and there is a world market for these aircraft. Price is negotiable. In the video he says "I don't want any bargain hunters" and sounds kind of gruff. He's old and I think the point he was making is yes, he wants to sell them and he is far from broke or desperate, so don't waste his time with garbage offers on any of his stuff.
THese aircraft, particularly the Buchons are interesting. A person could spend a couple million rebuilding one to airworthy, or they could be conserved , cleaned, reassembled as is in their movie paint and displayed. How many warbirds in collections are flown anyway? Or a peson could buy and hold. I bet over the long term, you would get a pretty good rate of return on your investment. I remember when they were only worth about $75,000.

[Warbird Kid]

I think the EADS should buy the lot to fill out there collection so they can go toe to toe with the BoBMF. Could an Allison V-12 be supplemented for the Merlin or DB? Would the Allison fit inside the original cowlings so the aircraft would have the reliability and power of the Allison and the look of an original ME/BF-109?

[Obergrafeter]

the video he says "I don't want any bargain hunters" and sounds kind of gruff. He's old and I think the point he was making is yes, he wants to sell them and he is far from broke or desperate

now that is the understatement of the Century !!!!!!

[mustanglover]

the video he says "I don't want any bargain hunters" and sounds kind of gruff. He's old and I think the point he was making is yes, he wants to sell them and he is far from broke or desperate

now that is the understatement of the Century !!!!!!

Ober knows, and several others here also know, these airplanes have been for sale for many many years and the prices that are quoted are basically unchanged. I took a couple gentlemen from Belgium there several years ago and Connie wanted about 5 million for the Spit and Mustang together. And if I remember right, he said you had to take at least one Buchon as part of the deal for an extra million. Connie likes to package deal and it was always to his advantage....LOL.

Connie's quarry and mill made all of my kitchen countertops and that process was a lot of fun from picking out the 25 ton block in the quarry to making the templates and having the stone cut and polished.

[JDK]

For those wondering the Spanish FiO (Fundación Infante de Orleans, the most 'natural' operator of a Buchón, as Spain's premier warbird orgnisation) released this statement yesterday, dirty web translation first:

Thank you heart your interest so FIO integrate into the collection and put in flight one of the bushings that have just been put on sale in the United States.
Unfortunately, a project of this magnitude is economically unacceptable for the Foundation, which at this time is more focused on their survival in a plane as well to the collection.
Within its capabilities and limitations, the Foundation makes every effort to preserve and maintain the aeronautical heritage in flight, but an initial economic outlay of more than EUR 2 million is out of our reach.
We will continue working to someday give you the good news that a buchón to fly in Spain.
Thank you again for your interest and encouragement to continue working to preserve our heritage! (Translated by Bing)

And in Spanish:

Agradecemos de corazón vuestro interés para que la FIO integre en la colección y ponga en vuelo uno de los Buchones que se acaban de poner a la venta en EEUU.
Desgraciadamente un proyecto de esta envergadura resulta económicamente inasumible para la Fundación, que en este momento se centra más en su supervivencia que en incorporar un avión así a la colección.
Dentro de sus posibilidades y limitaciones, la Fundación hace todo lo posible por preservar y mantener en vuelo el patrimonio histórico aeronáutico, pero un desembolso económico inicial de más de 2 millones de Euros está fuera de nuestro alcance.
Seguiremos trabajando para algún día poderos dar la buena noticia que un buchón vuelve a volar en España.
Gracias de nuevo por vuestro interés y ánimo para seguir trabajando por preservar nuestro patrimonio!

It took major fundrasing to secure a Polikarpov I-16, probably the most important single seat type in Spanish history, but they did it. If someone was to done a Buchón, I'm sure they'd be delighted. Stranger things happen, too, though not likely.

Regards,

[Mike]

I think the EADS should buy the lot to fill out there collection so they can go toe to toe with the BoBMF. Could an Allison V-12 be supplemented for the Merlin or DB? Would the Allison fit inside the original cowlings so the aircraft would have the reliability and power of the Allison and the look of an original ME/BF-109?

EADS already have three, they struggle to keep even one of them working at any given time.

And Erickson is already having his Buchon re-engine with an Allison.

[Mike]

We will continue working to someday give you the good news that a buchón to fly in Spain.

The last time that was tried it didn't end well, which goes a long way towards explaining my antipathy toward the type in general.

[Rajay]

In regard to the informal Buchon vs. original DB-powered Messerschmit "poll" a few posts back, for my 2 cents I much prefer the original DB-powered Messerschmit for "looks" because the Hispano version (powered by a Merlin?) just doesn't look "right" IMHO! The nose looks too swollen or fat compared to the lean inverted DB engine. As far as I'm concerned, Merlins may be awesome, but they belong on Spits and Mustangs, not Bf-109's!

BTW, in addition to the recent video on Vimeo.com about Connie's Buchon collection, there is now a very good, full-length feature story on his sale of the Buchons, etc. in the latest edition of AOPA Pilot magazine.

The rest of the issue is dedicated to "Seaplanes" and also has a feature about the San Diego Museum's PBY which also has a great recent video on Vimeo.com, and a little featurette about Addison Pemberton in Spokane, WA, "Fly the Whale" in Manhattan, Carbon Cubs on floats, etc. Probably the most interesting issue of AOPA to come along in a while....