Warbirds for sale

Especially if you are (you're) a pilot....

 

The thing you are missing is the cost of restoration and operation. You will spend many times the cost of a Daytona restoring that Sea Fury, and at least a Daytona or two operating the other ones.

 

I remember just a few years ago the Fuddy Duddy B17 was for sale for $4 million or so. Sounds like a steal, but then again all the replacement parts have to made from scratch pretty much and it likes fuel.

 

There was a time that you could buy a fully operational P-51 for about $50,000 or so. Of course, that was around 1960, before the Warbird movement.

 

A friend of mine traded a P-51 for a Beech 18 back in those days, and figured he got the better end of the deal. He needed something he could make money with!

 

And do not forget, with CGI the chances of renting it for movie or TV use goes to nearly zero.

 

I love the 'spad'. Courtesy always has a good selection of aircraft to drool over. BUT
From the ad

Lets go cheap and assume A&P cost $65/hr, 400 hrs is $26000. Will also burn more (expensive) gas in 1 hr than most would use in their classic cars in a yr. No that is not a pretty good value compared to classic cars.

 

That's still a ton of money. Over $400k inflation adjusted. Easy financing and leasing didn't exist back then so it had to be all cash, too.

 

$500/hr, no big deal. Price to play.

 

To own and operate something like that, you really need your own full-time mechanic. That's not an airplane you can just pull into any old repair station, and furthermore that 400 hours doesn't include fixing things which break during the operational season-- and they will break.

When you get to warbirds and antique aircraft, you need a mechanic who is willing to sign stuff off that other mechanics might shy away from. It's not unsafe, but it's certainly not how it left the factory and it may require unorthodox ways to keep it airworthy. Most repair stations, and most A&Ps, don't want to to take on that risk.

 

A great colour-scheme and a superb photograph.

The F-86 is a bit less practical than the Dino: not so good for popping to the shop for a newspaper or taking your son to school!

These guys have some great aircraft for sale but for a few $ more:

https://www.platinumfighters.com/

Cheap compared to cars but lots more fun!

 

Very cool site- I've been in a few of those

 

I have been operating Warbirds for 32 years. And I bought several from Courtesy including my P-51 which Mark used to own in the 70's. I have the original bill of sale in 1958 for $958.00.
Really the worst cost is insurance. I was recently quoted $50,000 per year for my Corsair with a $350,000 deductible. So I take a chance and only have liability.
2 full time mechanics and my own hanger help bring the costs to a reasonable level.

The appreciation can be almost as good as cars but a little more predictable. About 10 years go I offered 1.2 for a P-38 that was asking 1.4. That airplane is now worth over 6 million.

There are a lot of reasonably priced Warbirds, such as T-6's and T-34's that are steadily appreciating every year. And very inexpensive to operate.

Some neat facts
Airplanes typically operate in cruise at 65% power, cars on the highway are less then half of that number.

The P-51 Rolls Royce Merlin engine was first designed in the late 30's. By WW2 it had 1,650 cubic inches putting out 1,490 hp, 4 valves per cylinder, overhead cams with 4 valves per cylinder, and a 2 speed supercharger that automatically shifts to high blower around 12,000 feet.

P-51 will cruise as fast as my CJ and the Vne is almost double. And it can go higher then the jet.
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If my dad was still alive I would have bought the P-38 for him. He flew them in North Africa and Southern Italy early in WWII. I can only imagine what it was like with 1000 hp on each wing with 4 50 cal machine guns in the nose with a 20 mm cannon in the middle of the 50s. He had some good stories.

 

Remember one of the flight schools down here, which had an operations manager that liked to do a bit of wheeling and dealing on the side, he came into an Oz built P51 back in the mid 70s at the height of the GA boom. Even with cheap fuel and no landing charges, I think he considered it one of his worst deals - as it sat for a couple of years with no takers.

One less T28 recently. Judging by the first pass, this guy shouldn't have been anywhere near a stick, pity the poor bugger with him.....and very nearly the crowd too!

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=knUSh_1552297124