Vintage warbird restoration

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[edit] Vintage Warbird Restoration

Restored Venom Jet
Restored Venom Jet


Vintage Warbird Restoration or classic aircraft restoration is the process of taking exotic and complex planes from the World War II and post war era, and performing processes such as maintenance, repairs, and refurbishments in order to replicate these military aircraft to what their original war time state once was. While some are simply restored in minor ways pertaining to appearance and the exterior of the plane, many more are brought to the Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA’s specific requirements of airworthy conditions. This process of restoration can take anywhere from 3 months to 1 year on average depending on the specific project, and can range in cost starting at twenty thousand dollars all the way up to one million dollars. Many museums do not hesitate to spend this kind of money on a featured warbird. According to Classic Warplanes, some of the tasks performed on these vintage jets include:[1]

  • Structural repairs
  • Standard maintenance
  • Interior and exterior paint
  • Decals and stamps
  • Upholstery replacements
  • control heads and radios
  • parachutes, ejection seats, and ejection seat cartridges
  • rewiring

[edit] Where Warbirds are Today

Once these planes are restored, they usually either go to one of the many collectors of vintage aircraft around the world, or are placed in working or living museums. When in these museums, they are put on display and continue to be flown for air shows, and private rides. According to Warbird Museum Links, a few of the most notable museums are:[2]

[edit] Tasks of the Examiner

A SBD-5 Dauntless Dive Bomber is salvaged from the depths of Lake Michigan.
A SBD-5 Dauntless Dive Bomber is salvaged from the depths of Lake Michigan.
The same model after restoration.
The same model after restoration.

To get these classic jets in their peak form, maintenance checks performed by certified examiners that specialize in this specific class of aircraft have to be performed at least once a year. During a standard maintenance check, the examiner looks over every aspect of the plane’s maintenance, construction, and parts involved in the assembly of the plane. For instance, each nut and bolt used in the restoration of the plane has to be government certified. Restorers can not go and purchase a bolt from the local hardware store; they have to purchase the supplies from approved catalogues and retailers. After the flight examiner has gone through the government issued list of tasks to check over, he or she will take the plane up for a test flight to make sure everything is the way it should be. If everything checks out, the examiner will sign the airplane off in the plane’s log book. Every plane has its own individual log book, and many times this book is just as important as the actual plane itself because it gives a detailed history of everything you need to know about the aircraft like where and when it was made, how many hours it has been flown, and any accidents that have occurred in it. Examiners spend a great amount of time looking over this log book, which goes along with just one of several tasks they focus intently on.

Many classic jet examiners are only certified in one particular aircraft because there are so many components involved. After signing the log book of the plane, the examiner is then able to teach the potential pilot all the specifics about flying the airplane, and eventually he or she will sign the new pilot off. This means the new pilot is legally able to fly that specific jet. When beginning the process of checking a potential pilot off, the examiner has to make sure that pre-requisites have or will be met by the intended pilot. For example, the pilot has to obtain 1000 overall hours in a certified airplane, and take a Practical test that takes roughly an hour and a half to complete. The Practical, which is actually flying with the examiner and doing specific skills, is dictated by a written manual issued by Washington D.C. called the Airline Transport Pilot Practical Training Standards (ATP, PTS), as well as an oral test that usually takes about an hour. On top of these assessments, the examiner focuses intently on the attitude and judgment of the new owner pilot because once a license is issued, it can not be revoked without bringing legal matters into affect. This whole process is called a “type rating” and means that the pilot is only certified in that particular airplane. If a pilot wants to become certified in another model of jet, he or she will have to go through the exact same process for each different airplane, which can become very costly. After this tedious process of getting checked out in a classic warbird is finished, the certified pilot is able to put this new accomplishment to use. Flying in a warbird is quite an achievement, and it is easy to understand why being humble about this might prove to be difficult.

[edit] Airshows

EAA's AirVenture 2004
EAA's AirVenture 2004

Warbirds are known to be among the fastest propeller-driven planes ever built. There are several different types of warbirds such as the Fighter, Trainer, Bomber, Jet, Transports, Utility, etc. These divisions of warbirds can then be broken down by manufacturer. Some examples of different manufacturers are the Hawker Hurricane, Meyers OTW, Avro Lancaster, Beechcraft C-45, Avro Shackleton, and Folland Gnat. These vintage warbirds are a huge component of airshows all over the nation, and they actually draw crowds to where they are exhibited and flown. Formation groups of warbirds are a highly anticipated feature of the airshow. Warbird Alley claims that some of the best-known airshows around the nation that feature warbirds are:[3]


Warbird Restoration is most closely focused with ensuring the long lasting survival of these vintage, exotic components of history to ensure their popularity for future generations. So many one-of-a-kind airplanes have been found and restored to their original state in hopes of preserving their significance in American war history. Finding the planes and resources needed to restore these jets has proven to be difficult for many of the people involved in restoration. Many enthusiasts and restorers had to learn that working on an airplane meant trips to junkyards, bargaining and trading with parts and skills, or begging with anyone who had a needed item. Some have even opted to rummage through old crash sites to find spare parts. If a part was unattainable, local businesses were then asked to replicate the part to the best of their abilities. Although this is a very time consuming, in-depth project, many have flocked towards this process whether it is as a hobby or profession. There are now at least 500 different companies that focus on aircraft restoration alone, and it is continuing to grow.

[edit] Clubs and Organizations

For the warbird owners, pilots, and enthusiasts, there are clubs and associations you can become familiar with. Some of the most well-known organizations are:

  • Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) was founded in September of 1953 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The primary focus of the group started with building individual airplanes, and it soon grew to include antiques, classics, warbirds, aerobatic aircraft, ultralights, helicopters and contemporary manufactured aircraft.
  • Warbirds of America (WOA) is a non-profit organization formed in 1966. A year after its start, it became a branch off of the EAA.
  • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) focuses predominantly on the safety involved in aviation as a whole. This administration was brought into action when the Air Commerce Act of May 20, 1926 was formed. The Act charged the United States Secretary of Commerce with fostering air commerce, issuing and enforcing air traffic rules, licensing pilots, certificating aircraft, establishing airways, and operating and maintaining aids to air navigation.
  • Classic Jet Aircraft Association (CJAA) founded in 1989, works with the federal government, specifically the FAA in Washington, providing valuable input to law and regulation makers.

All these different clubs and organizations primarily focus on group members communicating back and forth on any information pertaining to technical expertise, flight training, safety, and maintenance. One of their main goals is to establish a library devoted to the history of aviation and to the construction, repair, restoration, maintenance and preservation of vintage aircraft. These organizations allow aviation enthusiasts the opportunity to share information, stories, and their passion of aircraft quickly and easily.

[edit] Links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Spick, Mike. Classic Warplanes. New York: SMITHMARK, 1991. ISBN 086101622X
  2. ^ "Warbird Museum Links." Warbird Alley. 05/02/2007. 7 Feb 2007 <http://www.warbirdalley.com/museum.htm>.
  3. ^ "Major Airshows." Warbird Alley. 05/02/2007. 7 Feb 2007 <http://www.warbirdalley.com/airshows.htm>.
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