Keeping Me Out of Your Warbird?

Sure! Just jump in a Corsair, start 'er up, get 'er going down the runway
and then shove the throttle all the way forward. You'll never forget that
ride down the runway on your back.

A military prop fighter is more difficult to fly safely than is even a
modern jet fighter.

WDA

end

"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
...
Looking over recent photos of the P-38 "Glacier Girl", and reading
all ($$$) that was involved in its restoration, I was wondering...

What's stopping me from laying low during the next air show
and in the early hours of the morning, climbing into the cockpit
of my favorite warbird, and flying it off to my secret hideaway
runway and storage facility where I also keep my illicitly gained
Rembrandts, Van Goghs and pre-Columbian Indian art?

I have read of some British and American pilots, shot down over
Nazi occupied Europe, stealing LW aircraft to make their escapes.
Obviously no "keys" required for startup.

Do restored warbirds have some sort of security system added to
keep unscrupulous members of the public such as me, from taking
one up for an unauthorized flight? Some sort of starting "key"?

What about current military aircraft?


SMH

"W. D. Allen Sr." wrote in message
news
Sure! Just jump in a Corsair, start 'er up, get 'er going down the runway
and then shove the throttle all the way forward. You'll never forget that
ride down the runway on your back.

Yeah.......pushing that mixture RICH like they do in that 150 ought to make
for an exciting start with that 2800!!!! :-)))

A military prop fighter is more difficult to fly safely than is even a
modern jet fighter.

As Moses said holding up the ten commandments of which this could easily
have been the first........
"Behold..........behold the word of GOD!!! :-))
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt

Stephen Harding wrote in message news:40279357@news- What's stopping me from laying low during the next air show
and in the early hours of the morning, climbing into the cockpit
of my favorite warbird, and flying it off to my secret hideaway
runway and storage facility where I also keep my illicitly gained
Rembrandts, Van Goghs and pre-Columbian Indian art?

Do restored warbirds have some sort of security system added to
keep unscrupulous members of the public such as me, from taking
one up for an unauthorized flight? Some sort of starting "key"?


For many years in the 90's Amarillo Texas had a yearly airshow. My partner and
I took vacation to cover the close to AM security shift to :
A. see the planes up close!
B. The local Warbird museum got a fed grant based on hours donated to the cause.
Over the years lots of "lookie lousers" came out a 2 AM for a looksee and many
went to jail for unrelated matters. (Warrants, Dope, Liquer ect)

The T birds did require a 24 Hr armed guard as part of the deal so we talked
a third guy into covering that and all swapped out every coulpla hrs.

This was pre 9-11 so I'm positive it's even tighter now.

Gerry
A Campus Cop in Texas

"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
...
Looking over recent photos of the P-38 "Glacier Girl", and reading
all ($$$) that was involved in its restoration, I was wondering...

What's stopping me from laying low during the next air show
and in the early hours of the morning, climbing into the cockpit
of my favorite warbird, and flying it off to my secret hideaway
runway and storage facility where I also keep my illicitly gained
Rembrandts, Van Goghs and pre-Columbian Indian art?


Not an aircraft, but an F-16 engine:

As the story goes:
Hill AFB, early '80's

A couple of SP's had been making off with lowlevel stuff, and fencing to a
mil surplus place downtown. Kept getting bigger and bigger, until the store
owners got nervous. They called the FBI.

"String em along. We'll be right there"

The FBI guys kept upping the stuff they wanted, and the SP's kept delivering

Finally, "Ok...we want an engine. An entire F-16 motor"
"OK"

So the two cops grabbed a bobtail tow truck, drove over to the engine shop,
hooked up to an engine on a trailer, and drove out the gate.
Look like you know what you're doing, and you may get away with it.

They're probably still in jail.

Pete

Unfortunate, but true: About 20 years ago, a friend had his award winning
Christen Eagle stolen from his locked hanger. It has not ever been found. The
insurance company was good to their word. (His hanger was 3 doors away from
my Pitts.....).
VL

Good old stories.
The three Pensacola sailors who stole a T34 (2 seats!) to go to New
Orleans. They ended up somewhere in Northern Alabama out of gas in a
field. I presume their next post was Portsmouth (NH) brig.
A crew chief was taxi-checking a Sabre at Williams AFB (AZ) way back
when and temptation got the better of him. He got airborne okay but
getting down - he was talked down by an IP but pranged the bird
successfully - i.e. he didn't kill himself.
As for getting airborne with stuff hanging on - one of our F86Ds at
Naha got airborne with a intake screen still attached. Nobody had a
good explanation for that as the screen was painted bright yellow.
An F4 got airborne with the big clunky gear downlocks still attached.
They're big things like pipes sawn lengthwise and clamped about the
shiny part of the retraction cylinder rams. They're also painted red
and have streamers attached.
One of my classmates got airborne at Nellis back in the 'Tiger program
days' in an 86 that had not been refueled from the previous flight- on
the turn out of traffic he found he had about 250 pounds of fuel left
- he got down okay, and got 'counseled' by his instructor.
Another one got one the shortest flights ever made at Bainbridge - the
fuel selector on his Piper PA18 was not positioned properly and about
25 feet in the air the engine quit cold. He got down okay, and went on
to a great flying career culminating in a 747 captaincy.
I 'recurrented' an old friend of mine in fighters - he got me in a
Sabre dance in a 104B. I'd neglected to ask what he'd been flying -
took it for granted he was still flying T33s. Nope - he'd been flying
T29s. OOps! But we survived.
Be ever pessimistic - it's a survival trait for pilots.
Walt BJ