# Just food for thought about flying retired aircraft



## AAF (23 Sep 2011)

i have just been reading around the airshow websites, and i see all they airshow flyers (mostly from the states) have put all these retired aircraft into flyable condition....prime example being the F-86 "sabre"

My question raised to the panel is: why can`t someone or group in canada do something like that?....like what Vintage Wings did with the sabre. Would it be that difficult to get aircraft like the CF-100, CF-101 or the CF-104 (i know there is a jet team out there flying retired RCAF widowmakers) airworthy with RCAF markings, to show of the hertiage of our historic service. 

This issue has been bugging me, just thought i would open it up and see what people have to say


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## AJFitzpatrick (23 Sep 2011)

Canadian Warplane Heritage out of Hamilton does non-jet stuff ... I suspect the lack of flyable jet aircraft has a lot to do with getting jet qualified technicians and pilots to work for free ...  As much as I like this stuff, I'd rather not see limited taxpayer-funded budgets being spent on this stuff at the expense of operational budget.


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## aesop081 (23 Sep 2011)

Not only are the restorations expensive but so are the costs of operating them.


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## Fishbone Jones (23 Sep 2011)

AAF said:
			
		

> i have just been reading around the airshow websites, and i see all they airshow flyers (mostly from the states) have put all these retired aircraft into flyable condition....prime example being the F-86 "sabre"
> 
> My question raised to the panel is: why can`t someone or group in canada do something like that?....like what Vintage Wings did with the sabre. Would it be that difficult to get aircraft like the CF-100, CF-101 or the CF-104 (i know there is a jet team out there flying retired RCAF widowmakers) airworthy with RCAF markings, to show of the hertiage of our historic service.
> 
> This issue has been bugging me, just thought i would open it up and see what people have to say



 There's a team out there flying CF-104 Starfighters? Please provide details.


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## Container (23 Sep 2011)

"The Florida based civilian Starfighters Demo team currently operate one CF-104D and two CF-104 aircraft under the company RLB Aviation Inc"

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadair_CF-104_Starfighter

I saw them myself at the Cold Lake Air Show somewhere around 10 or 11 years ago. They were very cool.


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## Fishbone Jones (23 Sep 2011)

10-11 years ago is a long time. I worked on the 'rocket with wings' and would love to see them, in action again, at an air show.


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## Container (23 Sep 2011)

it didnt seem so long until I actually sat down and counted the years.......then i was shocked.


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## a.schamb (23 Sep 2011)

http://www.jetaircraftmuseum.ca/

The Jet Aircraft Museum is a relatively new organization located in London, Ont. They currently have a few T-33s and a de Havilland Vampire, and are looking to acquire more RCAF jets.


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## cupper (23 Sep 2011)

Container said:
			
		

> it didnt seem so long until I actually sat down and counted the years.......then i was shocked.



Like the story of Lot's Wife, it's never a good thing to look back.


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## AAF (26 Sep 2011)

Nice to see that the Jet Museum is going to attempt to basically do what Vintage wings did with the WWII aircraft and bring this hertiage to life for the younger generations to enjoy. I hope it all comes together and the search is successful


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## AAF (27 Sep 2011)

I was just killing time last night, and on global plane search i found a CF-5 and a sabre for sale down in the states. Hopefully the jet museum sees this and maybe starts making a move. I noticed on their website that there plan is to collect and fly all the former RCAF jets up to, but not including the hornet, so this would be a good start.


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## eurowing (27 Sep 2011)

I'm not positive of the timeline, but a serviceable (at the time which I believe was about 10 years ago) Vampire was flown into Comox and remains to this day.
What a piece of history, with no place to display it.


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## krustyrl (27 Sep 2011)

That Vampire is still sitting in the Hagar here. Although covered in a thin layer of dust, it looks like there are a few parts currntly being replaced.
Nice piece of flying historia.


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## WingsofFury (30 Sep 2011)

FYI - Starfighters have taken a hiatus from airshows as they are under contract with NASA doing a vast array of suborbital flight training missions.  They currently have a fleet of 9 Starfighters and have also been hired to carry a 19-foot-long, 900-pound rocket about the size of a Sparrow missile which has been developed to launch nanosatellites from a Starfighter.

Each jet in the fleet burns 150 gallons of fuel just getting off the ground while each $1,000 tire is good for only 12 landings.

More information on how the group is working with NASA can be found here.


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