[Milsurplus] Ocean dumping

[J. Forster]

Todd, KA1KAQ wrote:

> Yes, well...when they started surplussing out P-51s from Guard units
> in the early 60s for a few grand each (under $10K in what I read, from
> $3K to $5K typical), a fair number of civilian pilots got them and
> made their final flights in them. Seems they were a whole lot more
> plane than the average pilot could handle, particularly lining up for
> take off and landing. [snip]

There were also likely maintenance issues. Military aircraft can require a lot
of it, and they might not get it in civilian service. The authorities might not
really have wanted a bunch of civilian pilots running around all over the place
either

> [snip] but reading the old catalogs and magazines you see complete BC-375
> packages for sale and so on. Also a lot of gear with blank 'placed in
> service' tags (although this isn't proof positive that the gear wasn't
> used). [snip]

Well, as the war was winding down, there were certainly overruns. How could you
POSSIBLY know, how many would be needed to finish it out? Would you want to tell
a general "We only built 1745 BC-375's because that's what we estimated you'd
need to finish off Hitler and Tojo? It'll be 3 months before we can make more"
No likely, IMO.

-John