2996 Victor Posted January 13 Posted January 13 (edited) I'm aware of three WW2 aircraft that were assembled from the undamaged parts of several airframes and returned to flight; a P-51B/C Mustang named "Spare Parts", a P-39 Airacobra, also named "Spare Parts", and an F4U Corsair named "Sally". As I understand it, the donor airframes for these aircraft were actually write-offs, but had salvageable components. So I'm not thinking so much in terms of replacement of battle damaged control surfaces etc, or even wings, more of instances where a "new" aircraft has been resurrected from parts of several others. Were there other aircraft like these that were documented? Cheers, Mark Edited January 14 by 2996 Victor Clarity, hopefully!
spruecutter96 Posted January 13 Posted January 13 It will probably never fly, but I believe the Halifax bomber in Canada is a combination of two different airframes. There's a Ju-87 Stuka in Norway (?) which I think they are intending to get back in the air. It has been re-built from a hulk pulled from a lake, IIRC. There is also a P-61 Black Widow being restored to flight in the US. Again if I remember correctly, it was salvaged as a big pile of parts from a Far East jungle. Cheers. Chris. 1
mhaselden Posted January 13 Posted January 13 Alfred Price's "Spitfire: a Complete Fighting History" has these pics of a Mk XII Spitfire that was restored back to flight after a crash that totalled the original airframe: 1
Tail-Dragon Posted January 13 Posted January 13 (edited) Wasn't there a B-17 (Little Miss Mischeif) that had the entire fear fuselage and tail feathers replaced from a wreck, one part camouflaged, the other natural metal. Found a build here on BritModeller ... https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235084996-b17-g-little-miss-mischief-91st-bomb-group-bassingbourn-early-1945-revells-172-kit/ Edited January 13 by Tail-Dragon 2
brewerjerry Posted January 13 Posted January 13 Hi it was the late 70's, I spoke to an raf groundcrew guy who was at st mawgan and he was told there are three un serviceable blenhiem IV's over there, make at least one working one, they need them for the desert air force he made one, he had photos, but i never got copies or serials, it wasn't my area of interest at the time, i was only tagging along with another group member, we were on a weekend trip and were on the way to a dornier crash site cheers jerry 2
Graham Boak Posted January 13 Posted January 13 It probably happened quite a lot, as the RAF identity went with the fuselage (forward fuselage in the case of the Lancaster and probably of the other heavies that were designed to be disassembled for transport). Everything else was just spares. It may depend upon just what was intended by "written off" as opposed to being withdrawn from use and perhaps abandoned. I have some doubts about that Spitfire - that is definitely a write-off and there's no way that fuselage can be used again. 1
dalea Posted January 13 Posted January 13 Wasn't there an A6M at Rabaul that was assenbled from leftovers after all the others had departed? 1
mhaselden Posted January 14 Posted January 14 59 minutes ago, Graham Boak said: I have some doubts about that Spitfire - that is definitely a write-off and there's no way that fuselage can be used again. I'm only going from what the good Dr. Price wrote in his book. I agree it looks like a complete write-off - any repairs would be somewhat akin to Trigger's old broom. 1 1
FG2Si Posted January 14 Posted January 14 (edited) The RNZAF had a Corsair that was pieced together. I built it in 1/32. There was another B-17 but an F that was also pieced together from two different halves. Both were camo'd but different shades due to weathering. Zotz included it in their B-17 Heavenly Bodies decal sheet. Also either a Panther or Cougar but those were postwar. Carl Edited January 14 by FG2Si Fix typo 4
Kyle H Posted January 14 Posted January 14 Spitfire Vb ER824 was damaged while being transported onboard Empire Kingsley and repaired at Torbay, Newfoundland using two other damaged Spitfires, ES117 and ES881. The full story is about halfway down the page here: https://www.silverhawkauthor.com/post/canadian-warplanes-3-supermarine-spitfire Kyle 2
Hornet133 Posted January 14 Posted January 14 (edited) Very very common in RAF, RAAF, RNZAF etc. That was a major job done at Air Depots. The Germans also built airframes from parts taken from junked airframes. The 109G in Australia is a known 'bitsa' Also USAAF in the early days in the Pacific would do the same. Later because they had no shortage of replacements they would keep some demountable bits and junk the main major components. Edited January 14 by Hornet133 2
Ed Russell Posted January 14 Posted January 14 Strictly speaking not WW2 - but they were WW2 aircraft - the REAF cobbled up several Spitfires, including a PR one, from various Seafire and Spitfire spare parts for their war against Israel. 2
mhaselden Posted January 14 Posted January 14 The RAF also established the Civilian Repair Organization (CRO) which reconstructed damaged airframes. It was quite an extensive collection of companies. 3 1
SafetyDad Posted January 14 Posted January 14 52 minutes ago, mhaselden said: The RAF also established the Civilian Repair Organization (CRO) which reconstructed damaged airframes. It was quite an extensive collection of companies. As did the Luftwaffe in the later war years, with an extensive network of remanufacturing centres who reworked older and/or broken aircraft into serviceable fighters. The Australian 'bitsa' Bf109G is one of these reworked airframes. SD 2
2996 Victor Posted January 14 Author Posted January 14 Many thanks, everyone, for your answers - much appreciated. This certainly seems to be a very interesting rabbit hole! 9 hours ago, dalea said: Wasn't there an A6M at Rabaul that was assenbled from leftovers after all the others had departed? You've jogged my memory with this - not sure whether it was this exact aircraft, but certainly one Zero was cobbled together for testing in the early days when the A6M was still considered unbeatable. I think it was beaten back to the States by the Akutan example. 6 hours ago, Kyle H said: Spitfire Vb ER824 was damaged while being transported onboard Empire Kingsley and repaired at Torbay, Newfoundland using two other damaged Spitfires, ES117 and ES881. The full story is about halfway down the page here: https://www.silverhawkauthor.com/post/canadian-warplanes-3-supermarine-spitfire Kyle This is a very interesting example(s), which I want to look into more. I'd like to know how the completed "ringer" was painted, too! Thanks for the link. 8 hours ago, FG2Si said: The RNZAF had a Corsair that was pieced together. I built it in 1/32. There was another B-17 but an F that was also pieced together from two different halves. Both were camo'd but different shades due to weathering. Zotz included it in their B-17 Heavenly Bodies decal sheet. Also either a Panther or Cougar but those were postwar. Carl Beautiful build, Carl, that's an absolute stunner! Another fascinating subject where its origins from several donor aircraft is apparent. Is there much info about it? 9 hours ago, brewerjerry said: Hi it was the late 70's, I spoke to an raf groundcrew guy who was at st mawgan and he was told there are three un serviceable blenhiem IV's over there, make at least one working one, they need them for the desert air force he made one, he had photos, but i never got copies or serials, it wasn't my area of interest at the time, i was only tagging along with another group member, we were on a weekend trip and were on the way to a dornier crash site cheers jerry That's a great story, Jerry, it would be great to dig up the photos and serials, wouldn't it? Unlikely after all this time, though. 10 hours ago, Tail-Dragon said: Wasn't there a B-17 (Little Miss Mischeif) that had the entire fear fuselage and tail feathers replaced from a wreck, one part camouflaged, the other natural metal. Yes - I read about it last evening - not sure how the original tail section didn't simply fall off! The account I read had it suffering a second mid-air collision over the North Sea and being lost with all crew, but the photo rather suggests otherwise. Perhaps it was the other aircraft that went into the sea. Thanks again - this is proving fascinating! Cheers, Mark 2
gingerbob Posted January 14 Posted January 14 Then there's the "DC-2 1/2" in China... Not sure how related this is, but I've been curious about the re-serialing of Hurricanes when rebuilt/converted from Mk.I to Mk.II. 2
2996 Victor Posted January 14 Author Posted January 14 3 minutes ago, gingerbob said: Then there's the "DC-2 1/2" in China... Yes, I'd forgotten about that one as well - a weird and wonderful beast taking the concept to extremes, I'd say. I can't imagine it would have been nice to fly.....like driving a car with a really bad tracking problem but multiplied at least tenfold!
GiampieroSilvestri Posted January 14 Posted January 14 (edited) The Macchi MC202 of Italian ace Franco Lucchini had the right wing replaced with the wing of another aircraft and for Luftwaffe aircraft it was normal to be repaired with parts from wrecked aircraft at Frontreparaturwerke. Saluti Giampiero Edited January 14 by GiampieroSilvestri 1 1
stevehnz Posted January 14 Posted January 14 10 hours ago, dalea said: Wasn't there an A6M at Rabaul that was assenbled from leftovers after all the others had departed? This sounds like the one or a similar one to the one that now resides in the Auckland War memorial Museum. 1 hour ago, 2996 Victor said: Is there much info about it? Some photos of it on Asisbiz & even more on this Facebook page if you do FB. Steve. 1
2996 Victor Posted January 14 Author Posted January 14 12 minutes ago, stevehnz said: This sounds like the one or a similar one to the one that now resides in the Auckland War memorial Museum. Was that the one painted white with green crosses? 12 minutes ago, stevehnz said: Some photos of it on Asisbiz & even more on this Facebook page if you do FB. Fantastic, thank you! Cheers, Mark
stevehnz Posted January 14 Posted January 14 21 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said: Was that the one painted white with green crosses? If the same one then yes, not sure our one was from Rabaul, it may have come from Bougainville, but would have been painted in the white with green crosses surrender scheme. Steve. 1
Fukuryu Posted January 14 Posted January 14 4 hours ago, Ed Russell said: Strictly speaking not WW2 - but they were WW2 aircraft - the REAF cobbled up several Spitfires, including a PR one, from various Seafire and Spitfire spare parts for their war against Israel. The first two Spitfires the Israeli Air Force had were built from RAF junkyard salvages plus useable parts from downed REAF aircrafts. The first one, D.130: 4 1
2996 Victor Posted January 14 Author Posted January 14 2 hours ago, 2996 Victor said: You've jogged my memory with this - not sure whether it was this exact aircraft, but certainly one Zero was cobbled together for testing in the early days when the A6M was still considered unbeatable. I think it was beaten back to the States by the Akutan example. I was thinking of the Neumann Zero - link to J-Aircraft here. 1
2996 Victor Posted January 14 Author Posted January 14 4 minutes ago, Fukuryu said: The first two Spitfires the Israeli Air Force had were built from RAF junkyard salvages plus useable parts from downed REAF aircrafts. The first one, D.130: Fascinating, Daniel, thank you! It would be interesting to know the colour of the paintwork - it looks like its retained the colours of the donor aircraft. Cheers, Mark 1
Pete in Lincs Posted January 14 Posted January 14 On the edge of Lincoln, close to Waddington is a small industrial park where, during WW2 sections of Lancaster were used to build complete Aircraft from damaged ones. 2
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