Good Morning, Oppo

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
08/19/2019 at 08:15 • Filed to: good morning oppo

!!!CAPTION ERROR: MAY BE MULTI-LINE OR CONTAIN LINK!!!

It’s Monday, Oppo. Time to get back to work.

BT-13As under construction at Vultee’s Downey, California plant in 1942. A primary trainer, the BT-13 was better known as the Vultee Vibrator to its pilots. More than 9,500 were built and, after the war, surplus BT-13s were sold for a few hundred dollars each , and the engines were often placed on other aircraft and the airframes scrapped.

DISCUSSION (6)

user314 > ttyymmnn
08/19/2019 at 10:22

surplus BT-13s were sold for a few hundred dollars each

That sounds like a great deal, until you realize:

That’s probably two month’s salary

You’re talking about trainers; rode hard and put up wet. It’d be like buying a used cab or rental car. Like Jeff Foxworthy said:

Buying a used rental car is kind of like going to a house of ill repute looking for a wife. Anything that’s been driven that hard by that many people, you really don’t want to put your key in it.

ttyymmnn > user314
08/19/2019 at 10:28

I think most were bought just for the engines.

facw > ttyymmnn
08/19/2019 at 13:04

For those keeping track of aviation genealogy:

ttyymmnn > facw
08/19/2019 at 13:07

Kinja'd!!!

There’s always a bigger fish. I took this at NAS Kingsville back in 2008.

facw > ttyymmnn
08/19/2019 at 13:11

Strictly speaking I think McDonnell bought some of the General Dynamics aviation assets as well, but I left them out to keep things simpler (I also avoided tracking back the history of any non-Vultee corporation for the same reason).

My company bought out a ma jor competitor. They had company posters up all over their HQ, and we just slapped stickers with our name and logo on over theirs on the posters (leaving slogans that no longer made any sense) . It’s some combination of hilarious, pathetic, and sad.

ttyymmnn > facw
08/19/2019 at 13:24

It’s some combination of hilarious, pathetic, and sad.

And cheap.