![]() ![]() ![]() McBurney has gone looking for support from economic development groups, educational foundations, historical societies and many of the Corsair's original sponsors. McBurney's new company, Bootstrap Aircraft is banking that the restored Corsair could become a darling of air shows, a staple at promotional events, a learning tool for school children and most importantly, a living testament to Connecticut's aviation history. "Any restoration project is a colossal undertaking," said Dik Daso, curator of modern military aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. #F4U CORSAIR PLANS FULL#Two years ago, after buying the wreckage of a late-model Corsair, he decided to devote his full time to a project that experts say may be daunting. He amassed acres of parts over the years, storing them in six Florida warehouses. McBurney, who wears a Corsair charm on his gold necklace and has a picture of a Corsair on every shirt he wears, was a natural target of conversation for those who share his passion.įolks who approached him offered everything from advice to old Corsair generators to hydraulic cylinders. His time traveling in air shows helped him out. "I decided if I couldn't buy a Corsair, I would build one." "It became pretty obvious that museums with Corsairs don't just give you the keys and say, 'Hey, take it around the patch,' " he said. But he never got a chance to fly a Corsair. After nine years of service, he began flying and restoring World War II planes professionally for several museums and flying them in air shows across the country. He joined the Air Force after high school so he could learn to fly. ![]() #F4U CORSAIR PLANS SERIES#Other intact planes were used in the short-run NBC series "Baa Baa Black Sheep" in the late 1970s - a show that fared poorly in ratings but is responsible for igniting an interest in aviation among young men. From behind the chain-link fence, McBurney would stare longingly at the curious WWII relic, with its signature U-shaped wings and 13-foot nose propeller. One of the intact, but non-flyable Corsairs sits on a pylon at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, where McBurney would ride past on his bike as a child. Only about a dozen are flyable, McBurney estimates. Today, only about 90 Corsairs remain, scattered throughout the world, Goodspeed said. "To most people, you just destroy it for scrap metal." "Unless you're really history-minded, it is really just an old plane for people," Goodspeed said. Often, the buyers were more interested in the airplane parts than in preserving the airplane as whole. ![]() #F4U CORSAIR PLANS PROFESSIONAL#"They pushed them off boats, ran them over with bulldozers, all kinds of nasty things," said David Schober, government affairs manager for the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association in Washington, D.C. Though they were still used during the Korean War, the Corsairs, like all World War II-era planes, became outdated. ![]()
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