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Originally Posted by tsofian
Why do you feel I have "rushed" to this?
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Because you are suggesting scavenging an air force out of the remains of experimental programs without really giving any reason why it would be worth the effort.
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Originally Posted by tsofian
I've been involved with Morrow Project since the 1980s. I've worked closely with engineers from Boeing (it was actually McDonnell Douglas back then) to look over these systems. The weapon systems for the AH-56A were to be built by Emerson Electric. They were designed and developed in St. Louis and would have been built here. I was lucky enough to get a large amount of information on them before Emerson closed their weapons divisions.
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I've worked for two different defense contractors and with several more, first on archaic systems and then on research and development. I have seen what goes into these programs, I've seen what happens in the middle, and I've seen what is left at the end. I have never laid hands on these specific aircraft but it would not surprise me if I had laid hands on things that came out of them.
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Originally Posted by tsofian
As for the disposition of experimental platforms think what happened to the Avro Arrow (every bit of it that wasn't hidden against specific orders was destroyed) The TSR2-two air-frames saved everything else scrapped or used as range targets. Sometimes parts are saved or reused in other cases everything gets scrapped. Sometimes things get donated to museums or sold off.
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And my point is that what you can buy discretely is only a fraction of what is needed to make them work. Once you have invested millions of dollars in a prototype it is amazing how many uses you can find for the whole or for the parts. So how do you (Morrow) sneak in and grab this stuff without it being noticed? Remembering that there is probably no greater level of scrutiny and oversight than with these kinds of prototype systems?
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Originally Posted by tsofian
I saw an AH-56A at an Army surplus yard in Times Beach, Missouri in the early 1980s. It was for sale, but sadly no one was available to ask the price and then Times Beach ceased to exist because of dioxin contamination.
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If it was flyable, then that is one airframe with no logistical support. Why is that better than just buying a couple of perfectly legal hueys?