Bob- That looks great. Pencil or pen and ink? Crossing over the B-17s could be risky in the wrong place.
My airplane was built in June of 1944 serial number 44-73287. It was sent over to the European theater during the war but we do not know if it ever left the depot. It is rare for 2 reasons 1 it was over there during the war and 2 it is the same wing and fuselage combination that it left the factory. After it came back to the US it went through a couple of air guard units and a lot of time in storage. It was sold in 1958 for $987.50 to it's first civilian owner and eventually is was sold to Mark Clark the broker in Rockford Il. He sold it to Jack Rose who rebuilt it in 1984. Mark then sold it to his best friend and it went back to Rockford. Mark then sold it to a guy in California, Mark then sold it to me in 1989. So obviously it is one of his favorite airplanes just from the commissions. I have owned it longer then any other entity. Worry Bird has won Reserve Grand Champion at both Oshkosh and Sun N Fun, the preservation award at Oshkosh and best Mustang. Jack Rose lived in Spangle Washington and Bob Frisch lived in Spokane. They new each other and Jack decided to paint it in Bob's markings. Bob named it Worry Bird after the bobbing head bird that goes up and down pecking a glass of water. Airframe has somewhere around 2,700 hours engine is about 100 since I last had it rebuilt. Jack passed away last month he had rebuilt several airplanes to high standards over the years. Worry Bird id very correct. The IFF lights are in the wing and they work There are replica guns in the left gun bay and when you pull the trigger the solenoids work The original low pressure oxygen system was installed about 3 years ago The gun sight works It has the tail warning radar unit and antenna on the stabilizer The original florescent lights are installed and they work The gun camera is in the wing and when the gear goes up the door in the wing opens up so it could take pictures The flare gun and spent flare shells are in the cockpit and the mount and hole in the side of the fuselage is still functional. All of the marking to align the guns, gun sight and gun camera are on the prop. Lots of other authentic features as we add more each year. Only thing left that I know of is the radio and gas tank that I haven't installed since I have a back seat there.
Thanks, Taz. It was drawn with an HB pencil on Bristol Board, rough finish. The image is a bit muddy from being a small card print but not too bad.
Mike- I remember driving cross country from NYC to California in 1961 with my family and seeing P-38s and P-51s lined up at several desert airfields. Was really chapped off Dad, a P-38, P-47, and P-51 pilot, would not stop so I could check them out. In 1945, you could buy a brand new P-38L from the factory for $1200. The P-51Ds and Hs were still being used by the AAF and new USAF (1947) postwar, especially in guard and reserve outfits, as the P/F-80, F-86, and F-84 were coming on line.
Back in '45 when P-38s were selling for $1200 or whatever how would a civilian go about buying one? Any idea how many were actually sold (new) to civilians? A couple inflation calculators converted $1200 in '58 to around $12,000 today, which just seems crazy. If one had the money to buy a new P38 or P51 back then, how would it be done? Very cool info on your Mustang Mike, and also Bob, thanks for sharing?
Going rate for a P-38 is rumored to be 3.5 Million Just before the big run up there was one asking 1.4, A friend and I were going to partner up on it and offered 1.2. We lost and now it is 3.5. That was only about 8 years ago. Back in the 50's and 60's there were auctions to sell the excess aircraft. You might be able to find copies of the original sales brochures. If I remember correctly a lot of them were bought by companies who removed the instruments to use on new Cessna's and they scrapped the rest of the aircraft. At my first Oshkosh in 1974 there was a P-51 for sale at $64,000. My dad had just appraised our home at $64,000. He sold the house in 1999 for 134K but by then a Mustang was 750K plus. Recently a buddy advertised a propeller for 60K and several people were anxious to buy it quickly. I had sold it to him for 42K. Anyway I was told the going rate is 80 to 95K now. Glad I have a spare. Same with wheels and recently I found out my spare gun bay parts are worth their weight in gold. You can find current Warbird's for sale at Courtesy Aircraft in Rockford Il. or in Trade A Plane.
Kurt- After WW-II, the AAF really had no need for the P-38L and they rapidly went out of service. Especially since they cost roughly twice as much as a P-51D both to acquire and service. The P-51D was still in wide use until completely replaced by jet fighters. My father was flying them in 1947 at Shaw when I was born. P-51Ds flew close air support in Korea, when the P-47D, already retired, would have been much more suitable. The Corsair worked pretty well in that role because the big P&W radial shared with the P-47 could lose a few cylinders and still keep flying. Not sure how you went about buying a P-38L back then, but the price is well documented in several books. Tony LeVier bought one, but he had pretty good contacts at the factory for some reason. P-38s and F-5s were used for mapping in the west postwar.
Buying a P-38... for the instruments.... to put in Cessnas.... amazing. Like a lot of things (boats, houses, 10 yr old+ luxury cars etc) the purchase price is only the beginning of course but still surprising how few of these WWI fighters are still around. Couple hundred Mustangs but I believe only ~10 Lightnings. Courtesy Aircraft has some nice stuff! p-63 King Cobra project anyone? Apparently airworthy B-26 Invader for $160k!? That Lockheed Electra is lovely Inventory List It's been 4 years since I had a ride in EAA's Aluminum Overcast, but planning on visiting the Lone Star Museum in Galveston sometime soon for a ride in their T-6. Still get chills thinking about that B-17....
I got to thinking about the EAA's name of " Aluminum Overcast". That was originally applied generically to the B-36.
...and the B-36 is more appropriate, IMO. I was surprised when a B-17 was named that after hearing the B-36 called that forever.
As I often do, I did a search to refresh memory, or just to look at cool old pics, and my 'search tree' mentioned a plane that I'd never heard of... I was looking at the XP-58 Chain Lightning and found the Beechcraft XA-38 Grizzly. Interesting...
According to EAA's B-17 Aluminum Overcast History it pre-dates B-36s: "Aluminum Overcast proudly carries the colors of the 398th Bomb Group of World War II, which flew hundreds of missions over Nazi-held territory during the war. Aluminum Overcast commemorates B-17G #42-102515 which was shot down on its 34th combat mission over Le Manior, France, on August 13, 1944."
