Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum

Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum (http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/index.php)

- Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces (http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/forumdisplay.php?f=8)

- - Fw-189 update (http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=60426)

Re: Fw-189 update

Amazing....sadly a project that still requires some years and a lot of $$$$ to be completed and finished. Hope someone with the financial capability will carry on.

Nice photos indeed...good for modellers as well.

A

Re: Fw-189 update

Thought $1.5m for the airframe was a good low price.

Re: Fw-189 update

Mmmmm how much of that bird is still original....

Re: Fw-189 update

I know the main wing spar was too damaged for use. When it comes it aircraft...regardless of how many original aluminum parts you have (even if near perfect)...you have to replace everything.

Aluminum age hardens...and it is far too risky to fly any aircraft without replacing 80% of the airframe.

Re: Fw-189 update

Sure, if you want to make it airworthy. So what is the use of recovering an aircraft if you throw away 80% anyway. My take: Just preserve it to static status and use as much as possible of the original

Re: Fw-189 update

If I were the "new owner" I would restore it for stastic display, or at the most for taxying on a nice grass field (like the Lancaster "Just for Jane", for example).

Regarding it being 100% original or not, I guess that not all preserved machines in Museums are 100% originals....some do have spare parts taken from other machines (eg: "Friday the 13th" Halifax), etc...Some parts do need being replaced by new built ones (using the blue prints), etc...Am not a specialist, but it take time and money to preserve them, even for statistic display. Last time I was on the "Le Bourget Museum" I was trully disgusted to see the Spitfire IX, the P-51D, Fw 190 A and all WW2 machines with an immense amount of dust over them....on an open kind of hangar...Boy I would pay to polish those birds and take care of them....and there they were, lost and forgotten by many....painting getting old, not a coat of polishing, nothing! I saw some of those birds some 30 years before well preserved, stored and polished...and I was disgusted to see them again 30 years later.

From some Members of this Board post here, the NASM do take care of "their birds" like treasors....boy you can watch yourself like on a mirror, on the canopy of his He 219 or the Ar 234....You can say whatever you want about the Americans, but surely they know how to make money, how to keep Historical things, and how to restore old planes...(and how to fight a war!)

Anyway, this is the SOLE Fw 189 A that survived....this is not a machine you find around the corner every day...

A.

Re: Fw-189 update

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Manrho (Post 308750)

It is more valuable restored.

But...I agree with you.

Look at the gorgeous Japanese Zero that was recovered many years ago...LOADS of original paint. But...it now hangs restored from the ceiling of a museum, nothing left original.

The Fw190 out of Russia that Flying Heritage has...was a BEAUTIFUL wreck. Nothing left original. Now restored and flying...though they spent $15M...it is worth maybe $5M at the high side.

Same with Me109 G6 411077. the entire fuselage is made new.

Re: Fw-189 update

There are legal reasons, as data plate restoration does not need type certification. Still, those aircraft are effectively replicas with little or no historical value, and sadly lots of authentic stuff is destroyed in the process.