Simviation Forum - Whats the classifacation of a warbird?

Jul 29^th, 2006 at 12:01pm

masmith Offline
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Is it 1939-1945, or any aircraft that has seen combat?

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Reply #1 - Jul 29^th, 2006 at 12:25pm

C Offline
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Generally it seems to encompass any ex military (combat) type, although it's more generally used on types that were used during or after WWII (you don't hear of many pre 1939 types being referred to as "warbirds" very much).

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Reply #2 - Jul 29^th, 2006 at 1:28pm

HawkerTempest5 Offline
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My take on Warbird is a piston engine combat aircraft from any historical period. Anything you would find at Flying Legends.

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Reply #3 - Jul 29^th, 2006 at 7:21pm

Drake_TigerClaw Offline
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War Bird is a little hard to define since military aircraft include civilian planes repainted with military logos. I tend to think of a WarBird as being an armed combat aircraft, a plane built for war hence WarBird. Usually craft refered to as WarBirds tend to be from the first or second world war, probably because of the more romantic view of aviators from that era.

Wikipedia has one discription of the term here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warbird

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Reply #4 - Jul 30^th, 2006 at 7:00am

Tweek Ex Member

"Warbird is a term used to describe vintage military aircraft. Although the term originally implied piston driven aircraft from the World War II era, it is now often extended to include all military aircraft, including jet powered aircraft, that are no longer in military service."

That does make sense, as nowhere in the word 'warbird' does it suggest a specific type of aircraft, or time period.

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Reply #5 - Jul 30^th, 2006 at 7:28am

C Offline
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Quote:

"Warbird is a term used to describe vintage military aircraft. Although the term originally implied piston driven aircraft from the World War II era, it is now often extended to include all military aircraft, including jet powered aircraft, that are no longer in military service."

That does make sense, as nowhere in the word 'warbird' does it suggest a specific type of aircraft, or time period.

I'd pretty much agree with that, other than the caveat that the term is really only applied to aircraft of WWII vintage or younger...

"Great Warbirds" - that was a good airshow - anybody ever go to it (back in the days at West Malling - now a housing estate - and then Wroughton...)?

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Reply #6 - Jul 30^th, 2006 at 12:32pm

HawkerTempest5 Offline
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Quote:

"Great Warbirds" - that was a good airshow - anybody ever go to it (back in the days at West Malling - now a housing estate - and then Wroughton...)?

No, sadly I never did. A pal at work who went to most of them gave me all his programs a few years back however, but I'd sooner have been there myself.

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Reply #7 - Jul 30^th, 2006 at 4:17pm

Ivan Offline
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warbird must have been in military service
Yak-52 is a warbird (official primary trainer of the soviet airforce), whle the An-2 is not (even though it was operated by DOSAAF)

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Reply #8 - Jul 30^th, 2006 at 4:24pm

Hagar Offline
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Quote:

warbird must have been in military service
Yak-52 is a warbird (official primary trainer of the soviet airforce), whle the An-2 is not (even though it was operated by DOSAAF)

I wouldn't consider the Yak 52 or any primary trainer a warbird. That Wikipedia description seems about right to me.

PS. The Harvard (AT-6, SNJ, whatever) is the only trainer I can think of in the warbird category.

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Reply #9 - Jul 30^th, 2006 at 7:17pm

Airshow_lover Offline
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I think its the same kind of question as:

"When does junk become antique?"

or:

"When does something old become 'vintage'?"

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Reply #10 - Jul 30^th, 2006 at 8:26pm

Drake_TigerClaw Offline
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Quote:

I think its the same kind of question as:

"When does junk become antique?"

or:

"When does something old become 'vintage'?"

Well thats easy to answer, it becomes antique or vintage as soon as someone will pay more for it than it's worth.

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Reply #11 - Jul 30^th, 2006 at 8:44pm

Airshow_lover Offline
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Quote:

Well thats easy to answer, it becomes antique or vintage as soon as someone will pay more for it than it's worth.

Then there's the answer

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