Build WW2 Planes: Is It Possible?

[FredGarvin]

The P-38 was restored and flown. There was a show on the discovery channel about the first flight.

http://p38assn.org/glacier-girl-continued.htm

A fantastic resource for this area is the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Granted, they do slant towards the RCAF and the RAF, but their collection is astounding. They have the only flying Lancaster as far as I know. They also have a Spitfire.

http://www.warplane.com/pages/aircraft.html

 

[Danger]

You can get surplus items all day long but they have to go through the red tape and be "released" from government control.

Okay, I don't know what the procedure was, but that buddy who drove the Spit had a friend outside of the club who owned and flew an F-4C PII.
You aren't taking into account the international arms dealers either. In South America and most of Africa, you can buy anything that you can afford including Tornados, Jaguars, F-16's, SAM 7's... you name it. Bringing them home might not be that easy. Vampire jets were a dime a dozen in Argentina a couple of decades back, and F-5's (one of my favourites) are popular everywhere.

They are either privately owned or they use RC models.

Also, some are redressed common planes. A family a few miles from here owns 5 Harvards that they rent out. Any full-scale Japanese Zero that you see in a movie is one of those. They're very hard to tell from the real thing.

Sorry, but he sounds like a nut.

Well... he did marry Evo...



I shouldn't scoff, though. I'm trying very hard to be her next ex-husband.

Re: Spitfires

According to http://www.warbirdalley.com/spit.htm, there are still ~50 Spitfires in air-worthy condition. I don't know the status of all though.

Maybe it was 2 in North America... I'm easily confused.

It was probably the only one with a sufficiently strong frame to do that.

Believe it or not, the Ju-52—which has to be the butt-ugliest thing ever designed with wings on it—had no airframe redline. It had nowhere near the power needed for Mach-busting, but still...

The literature also said that a P-47 flew through a brick wall with the implication that the pilot walked away and the fuselage was intact.

That doesn't speak too highly of the pilot; most try to avoid that.

I don't think a Spitfire was strong enough to withstand the forces.

Wouldn't need to. British pilots fly through air.

A fantastic resource for this area is the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.

There's a very nice museum in Hangar 10 at Calgary International as well.

Thanks both for the links. I don't have time to check them now, but I definitely will later.

 

[FredGarvin]

Okay, I don't know what the procedure was, but that buddy who drove the Spit had a friend outside of the club who owned and flew an F-4C PII.
You aren't taking into account the international arms dealers either. In South America and most of Africa, you can buy anything that you can afford including Tornados, Jaguars, F-16's, SAM 7's... you name it. Bringing them home might not be that easy. Vampire jets were a dime a dozen in Argentina a couple of decades back, and F-5's (one of my favourites) are popular everywhere.

No one can vouch for foreign countries. However, in the case of the aircraft mentioned before, there are not that many countries that operate them. There's a vampire sitting on the ramp right across from our manufacturing plant. It was bought from the Swedes.

Also, some are redressed common planes. A family a few miles from here owns 5 Harvards that they rent out. Any full-scale Japanese Zero that you see in a movie is one of those. They're very hard to tell from the real thing.

Now you're really showing your Canadian side! Those are AT-6's for us yanks.