What happened with all the second world war fighter planes ? there are only a few left in the museums .?

Question

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only a question .

Answer 1

Given how many thousands of fighters were built during WWII, it's unfortunate that more aren't around. Sadly, most were scrapped fairly quickly to regain materials. A surprising number were sold at very low cost to private pilots (a lot of them were former fighter pilots) following the war but most of those were just worn out over the last sixty years. Many were used for different puposes but most were just toys and transportation. Following WWII, there was still a lot of barnstorming going on right into the 'sixties and most of those privately owned warbirds were crashed and damaged too much to survive today. Some other aircraft, mostly German and Japanese, were captured or scrapped to prevent those countries from raising air forces after the war. This led to some amazing historic aircraft from those countries completely dissapearing, life the Me-262. It's a shame, but time is a hard thing to fight. Thankfully, though there are  few still flying, several companies are making very accurate replicas. Many replica fighters are actually a lot easier to own given their lower cost and more reliable mechanics, so it's safe to say that we'll be seeing Mustangs and Spitfires flying around in one form or another for a very long time.

Answer 2

Even less from WW I. Makes sense to me. Not much  good for anything other than to play with and look at. There's money in scrap aluminum.

Answer 3

Spair parts and people who know how to work on those planes. WW-2 service men are dying off fast. Federal Avation Admin. requirements for air frame and motors has all but a handfull of air craft still flying. It is a shame isn't it.

Answer 4

I remember reading were the government was selling some planes for as little as $75.00.Some bombers were converted to firefighting and cargo planes just remained in service. Or were sold to delivery services. The fighters were very expensive for private owners to maintain.

Answer 5

Most were obsolete in 1945, jets were the latest technology, and scrapped.  Others were given to the air forces of other countries.

Some were literally blown up in A-bomb testing, or destroyed as bombing/strafing targets.

60+ years later-many are too fatigued to continue flying and are statics; also they are VERY expensive to fly and maintain. So owners are selling/donating them to museums.

Answer 6

After the war there was a big shortage of metals.  I can only think that sadly, many were broken up and used for other purposes.

Mind you, 10 years ago I did see a flight of Spitfires landing at Southampton Airport all in different livery, fantastic.

One guy bought one in boxes (50,000 parts) and spent 5 years 24/7 to restore it. The Grace Spitfire.

http://www.ml407.co.uk/

Answer 7

Most were scrapped. They were considered worth more as raw material to get the economy going again.

There was no way to tell that 60-70 years later that they would be worth more intact. It was just the economics of the day.

Answer 8

Mostly scrapped or sold/given away to third world countries. Some have been sold to private buyers. I believe quite a few of them are still flying.

Answer 9

Melted down.

Answer 10

what was left was used for training and or sold for parts or even to the public