World War II Planes Scramble Once More in Guerilla Actions
Sklarewitz, Norman
VAN NUYS, Calif.-Most World War II vet- erans reminisce now and then. Robert Denny can do that- he flew a P-40 fighter over China -- but he does the other vets one better. For Mr. Denny, the war is...
...Last sum- mer the Army paid $15,000 for one, to be used as a chase plane in a helicopter test program...
...In 1958 the Government sold a batch of them for about $1,500 each...
...Strube travels about 75,000 miles around the world yearly buying up old planes, often for their engines, instruments and arma- ments...
...Government occasionally buys back planes that it once dumped on the surplus market for next to nothing...
...is one of several aviation companies being paid handsomely by the Pentagon to put old warplanes back into fighting shape...
...Hairston recently paid out $2.000 for a load of junk offered by an airplane surplus company...
...One businessman in the field says T-28s cost about $3,000 a couple of years ago...
...has rebuilt two P-51 Mustang fighters being sold to the Bolivian air force by a used plane dealer for about $45,000 each...
...Others have been put to specialized uses like chemical bombing of forest fires or have been used for racing...
...Turning back the aviation clock is a costly business...
...Denny has found it profitable to live in the past-at least, when it comes to airplanes...
...of Tucson has a $3,750,000 contract from Brazil to overhaul 18 of its aging A-26 bombers, first made in 1942...
...Air Force base in Ari- zona, where unused planes are stored...
...The sudden enthusiasm for old warplanes has produced a shortage of parts and planes- and a sharp rise in prices for both...
...We're about cleaned out," says a spokesman at the Davis-Montham U.S...
...To outfit the planes for Vietnam com- bat, On Mark installed 2,500-horsepower engines to replace the old 2,000 h.p...
...Gordon Strube, owner of Consoli- dated Aeronautics Corp...
...One dealer grumbles that a four-bladed propeller costing $600 three years ago now sells for $2,400...
...Resurrection in War The U.S...
...Such sales are legal with State Department permission...
...For instance, the P-51 and the T-28 use the same propeller...
...The profit margin in converting such planes is re- spectable...
...The base has one A-26 left, and that one is in the base museum...
...In shops at the local airport here, half a dozen of his workmen are replacing nose cones on A-26 Invaders, a bomber used widely after the Normandy invasion but not manufactured for 20 years...
...now a division of McDonnell Douglas Corp...
...You would think the supersonic jet and the intercontinental missile would have made the old planes obsolete...
...Strube recently found 12 A-26s in a hangar at Wichita, Kan...
...Many old warplanes not scrapped after World War II or Korea have been converted for use as corporate executive aircraft...
...Denny, the war is still on...
...They were in- tended for pilot training, but the Pentagon has decided that the T-28 is useful for what it calls counterinsurgency warfare...
...Sim- ilarly, some South American nations with old U.S...
...It also strengthened the wings and added racks for more bombs...
...with about $50,000 worth of work added to the $10,000 purchase price, they can be sold for at least $75,000...
...The Columbus division of North American Rockwell Corp...
...The U.S...
...But when the Vietnam conflict grew, it quietly started scouring through old Govern- mnent storage areas and buying back World War II vintage craft from private owners...
...in North Hollywood, Calif., has 40 A-26s stashed away in Tucson air- port, "just waiting for customers...
...Richard Hairston, owner of Aero Sport Co., figures there still are 175 P-51s in private hands...
...France has been one source of T-28 spare parts...
...In 1944, a P-51 cost about $57,000...
...Not long ago, the Pentagon paid On Mark $400,000 each to rebuild 40 A-26s, double what the planes cost when they were built ini- tially during World War II by Douglas Aircraft Co...
...The Pentagon won't say what gov- ernments are getting the planes, but South Vietnam is one of them...
...now the asking price is $8,000...
...sold for about $2,500 a decade ago now are being offered by private owners for $10,000...
...Starting in 1953, the company built the single-engine prop plane for the Air Force and Navy at a cost of $142,234 each...
...stopped making slow, propeller- driven attack planes more than two decades ago...
...A Booming Market Hamilton Engineering Co...
...But limited warfare has produced an urgent need for relatively slow, economical.planes that can carry heavy loads of bombs, machine guns and other weapons to support antiguerrilla land campaigns...
...A-26s that the U.S...
...The Pentagon is repurchasing T-28s from private owners who got the planes as surplus to use for crop dusting or stunt flying...
...Its 12-cylinder Rolls Royce engine burns 62 gallons of fuel an hour...
...Most of them are being dis- tributed to 13 foreign governments, generally without charge, under the U.S...
...Most of the purchase was worthless scrap, but the buy included some hard-to-find engine mounts, still in their World War II over- seas shipping crates with the Army post office number faded but dimly legible...
...Denny of On Mark thinks he could find 75 A-26s...
...Since 1962, North American has been paid $30 million to convert about 320 T-28s for close air support duty...
...At the San Bernardino county airport in Cali- fornia, Aero Sport Co...
...An oil company had kept them for use by exploration crews...
...The spare parts situation is desperate in places...
...warplanes as gifts from the U.S...
...But air racing has all but died out, and flying a P-51 for sport, for instance, is expen- sive...
...On Mark just finished converting 50 A-26s for the Peruvian air force...
...models, plus anti- skid brakes and modern reversible propellers...
...military aid program...
...His On Mark Engineering Co...
...Many owners are sitting fast, figuring the prices will keep going up, but some are selling...
...Other workmen labor over wing fuel tanks and fabricate new exhaust pipes for a more powerful A-26 engine...
...has come full circle with the T-28...
...warplanes are refurbishing the craft for use in insurrections and local security...
...or have purchased them from private American arms salesmen...
...Some South American nations have received World-War II vintage U.S...
Vol. 2 • July 1968 • No. 4
