When I flew the Merlin (P-51) we burned in the low 60GPH for normal
cruise. At a low crusie we could get down into the high 50's GPH. Take
a flight of 1000 miles to get there and 4-5 hours each way and any
flying at air show you can get an idea of just fuel costs to attend.

Let's see, that's about $240 per hour for fuel. The P-51 alone now
costs over $1 million, and is almost completely useless outside of
being extremely, almost painfully cool to own.

For some reason, I hope that a guy who can afford to own an utterly
useless $1 million dollar plane can probably afford to **** away $240
per hour to fly it.

Maybe I'm getting too cynical in my dotage, but I think there must be
more to the warbird no-show at SNF than economics. Someone forgot to
butter someone's bread, and they simply stayed home, despite perfect
weather.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"