Is the N3N-3 still the next project?

Not yet decided. Other suggestions, including one by the Museum President, have been made. More details when available.Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, Womack, and Sodjahttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

The P-61 would be awesome!

As I have said before, the P-61 package will be done, someday, we hope. But since we only work from photo textures of completely retored aircraft in MAAM's collection, the Widow must wait a while, yet. Now if you have any pull with the upper ecelon of management at Northrop Grumman and can get them to drop a million or so on us, it could be much sooner. ;-) MAAM has the expertise to do the job. All we lack are the funds to complete her.Seriously, I can not understand why Northrop Grumman would not jump at the chance to make the only flying P-61 in the world a reality. Can you imagine the impact of a heritage flight consisting of the Northrop P-61 Black Widow in close formation with the B-2 Spirit from the same manufacturer appearing at air shows all over the country? I can not think of a more impressive duo - both black, both deadly, the epitomy of stealth in there time. Sounds like a company PR man's dream, to me. Believe me, MAAM has tried, too. But offers of technical drawings from their own museum in California (which we already had) were the extent of the help offered.If you are not familiar with the story of our P-61, visit the Widow's Web at www.maam.org. The recovery and restoration is a story that rivals that of the "Lost Squadron" P-38. The difference is there are many restored and flying P-38's, relatively speaking. There are no P-61's in the air, and only four on static display in the world.Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, Womack, and Sodjahttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

I know what you mean Bill. I read in AOPA Pilot that Northrop wouldn't help out with the N-9M that Chino built. Northrop was afraid of a problem with Product Liability. If they helped rebuild it and the airplane crashes into a house somewhere because of a bad aileron cable, the homeowner could come back and sue Northrop. Now that the 18-year statute is in effect, they might be more willing. However, they still have to be careful not to interfere with participating to the level where they could be sued. It's a pretty lame excuse I know, but that's the world we live in. Now that I think about it, I sent AOPA Pilot an editorial on the subject, that was printed in the next issue.

Yeah, we got that one from them, too. It does not wash. There is a little thing called insurance, after all. I'm sure the museum would be happy to indemnify them, if that was the condition. We already pay crippling insurance on BT, for instance. The P-61 would have to be covered the same way in order to be allowed to fly by the FAA. It's not stopping Boeing from rebuilding what will be the second flying B-29 at Renton, either. It's just so much (many?) bull-feathers and a sorry comment on the company.Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, Womack, and Sodjahttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

Well... the N3N gets my vote. The prospect of a classic biplane with a Rob Young flight model and components designed with the MAAM Team's customary attention to detail is very exciting. In fact, with the (possible) exception of a T-6 Texan, I can't imagine another airplane that would be a more perfect candidate for the MAAM treatment!Ken

Hi Bill,I completely agree that this would make a fantastic demonstration. Having just returned from the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, where I was part of the Emergency Response contingent with the St. John Ambulance District Support Unit (for the duration of the Tattoo Fairford had a larger Emergency Response fleet than Heathrow,) I saw my first B-2. On Saturday and Sunday it was flown over from its US base, executed a single pass down the display flightline, and flown back home ! Very impressive. Each day it was escorted by a trio of F-15s as there was "someone out there" in a van trying to record its radar signature. Obviously the returns from the F-15s would have blotted out the B-2's very nicely ! I guess the P-61 could do the same job !Cheers,Alastair

Yeah, if the Spirit has a radar signature of a bird, I suspect the P-61 would have the radar signature of a London double-decker bus. People who have never seen a Widow are always surprised at its size. The P-61 is fully as big as a B-25 and was the largest fighter of the war.BTW, let me put in a plug for the RIAT Fairford Scenery by VisualFlight. I bought it last week and it is quite amazing what they have been able to cram in and still have decent frame rates. It's a great place to put 'Briefing Time' and the DC-3 through their paces for the crowd. This is the sort of thing I have had in mind for our scenery. I would love to see World War II Weekend depicted in this way. Any takers?Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, Womack, and Sodjahttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

We want Womack, we want Womack, we want Womack!You can do it, Bill. How could you resist? A mere year's work should crack it. You've had enough sun on Hawaiian beaches to last you a while now, surely ..Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Funny you said that, Bill ! Having just received the RIAT package myself, and, with equipment security issues causing me not to take my camera system to Fairford (this time), I was planning to use BT and the DC-3 to illustrate what I did over the weekend to my friends at Toomuchfs.com !If you and the others at MAAM could do something similar at Reading for the WW2 Weekend I'm sure it would be well received.Perhaps you could drop a line to VisualFlight and get some tips ? Cheers,Alastair

Here's another vote for a N3N-3. My first hour of logged flight time was in one of those. I'm amazed that there are so few training biplanes out for FS2004 and the N3N would be perfect for that platform.

>order to be allowed to fly by the FAA. It's not stopping>Boeing from rebuilding what will be the second flying B-29 at>Renton, either. Damn... I seriously wondered where that B-29 disappeared to (from the Museum of Flight parking lot).