to buy 10 P-51 Mustangs, perserved in their shipping crates, for $2000 each. That was in 1960, shortly before he left to be a mercenary pilot in Laos. Each of those planes would be worth about a million dollars today, as seen by looking at the inventory available at <a href=http://www.courtesyaircraft.com/">this warbird broker. He owned a P-51 for a few years in the 1950s and flew it all ovre the country. He sorely regrets not buying those Mustangs back then, but you know what they say about hindsight.

As for the old planes, some of them actually are being built today. For example, you can buy a factory new Yak-9 fighter (with an Allison engine) from Russia. There are also very good replicas of planes like the Me-262 being built. In the Feb 28 issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology, there was an article about the first flight of either a restoration or a very accurate replica of the Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar, fitted with a Pratt & Whitney engine. There are many warbird restoration projects underway and other efforts to find and restore long lost warbirds like Glacier Girl. Recently, a B-17 made its first flight following a 15 year restoration project, becoming one of only 14 airworthy B-17s.