Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 17, 2016 Report Share Posted December 17, 2016 (edited) I have been chasing down this dream for some time. It appeared I had it by the tail but some things have come up and I just can't make it happen right now. So I am giving my Sturmgewehr family first shot at this. It is not listed anywhere else yet.. This is a UH-1B Huey Gunship... It is complete minus T-53 Turbine Engine. It is not in flyable condition. This Aircraft was made in 1962 in Ft. Worth Texas for the US Army. Serial Number 62-1931.. It has the heavy duty tail boom on it. This aircraft last flew in 1989 for a forestry service. It was assigned N number N91284. This iconic Gunship was built and put on this earth for one reason..To kill people... and occasional transport.. so 2 reasons maybe.... This is a military surplus aircraft that ended up in civilian hands. It is perfectly legal to own. Would be great for a museum or in your out building. It is truely a sight to see. Most importantly it is a Warbird and nearly impossible to find. Soon enough these will cease to exist in civilian hands... This can be transported on a low boy trailer. Or there are several companies that will pick it up and deliver it directly to your door. No logs or data plates. Unknown times on the components. $40,000 Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com ** This is an excellent video of these gunships in action in Vietnam ** Edited December 18, 2016 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parakeet Shop Posted December 17, 2016 Report Share Posted December 17, 2016 Now that's cool, I hate to ask but are there any logbooks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2016 @Parakeet Shop , Unfortunately no logs or data plates on this bird. Otherwise a very complete ship minus Turbine Engine Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waffen Und Bier Posted December 17, 2016 Report Share Posted December 17, 2016 If I had not just Purchased a condo on the beach on an island off the coast of Florida......I started the other way I bought the Quilted cover for the top of the fuselage. If the mice and squirrels haven't made a nest out of it I could probably put it up for sale. That's a beautiful bird. If I were twenty years younger..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IGC Posted December 17, 2016 Report Share Posted December 17, 2016 Hands down the single coolest thing I have seen for sale on here. Awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2016 @IGC , Thanks for the feedback man! I am hoping a member of the boards ends up with it. Keep it in the gun community ... once it hits the surplus vehicle market one of those guys is gonna snatch it up .. thanks again for the feedback. I like to hear what others think about stuff like this. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IGC Posted December 18, 2016 Report Share Posted December 18, 2016 2 minutes ago, Aaron in Mohnton Pa said: @IGC , Thanks for the feedback man! I am hoping a member of the boards ends up with it. Keep it in the gun community ... once it hits the surplus vehicle market one of those guys is gonna snatch it up .. thanks again for the feedback. I like to hear what others think about stuff like this. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa I posted the link to your listing over on uzitalk. Hope you don't mind. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2016 @IGC, No sir not at all! The more the link is shared the better. I think things like this have a way of taking off and it brings a lot of positive attention to Sturm which is great. Always looking to expand the community here. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Jarhead Posted December 18, 2016 Report Share Posted December 18, 2016 Ladies, now you know what to buy for the guy who has "everything". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2016 @CT Jarhead, good point! Put a big bow on it and leave it in the driveway for when husband get home from work. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUNHEEP Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 (edited) I remember about 15 - 16 years ago, when I bought my 51 Dodge M 37, I could've bought a Huey complete with engine for 8K. What is a price on an engine going to cost today?any idea? Merry Christmas Edited December 19, 2016 by GUNHEEP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 @GUNHEEP that is crazy!! I've never seen one that cheap.. stripped airframes are more then that now. Well a overhauled engine would be huge money. But there are times out engines out there that could prolly be gotten cheap. To throw in and make it whole. Not sure on prices as most of this stuff changes hands quietly on various vehicle boards. Thanks for sharing your story about the huey. If you have any pictures please post them! Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 (edited) @GUNHEEP my buddy sold a complete one recently and it went for 65,000. Pictured below Edited December 20, 2016 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parakeet Shop Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 If the wing moves faster then the fuselage it is a helicopter and therefore unsafe.(and expensive).. Rebuilds are low six figures to start less the hot section and airframes start at five. You don't get to play rotor wing cheap. If you have to ask you can't afford it. Insurance costs this much a year. Logbooks and times remaining dictate $ price $ and make machine guns look like they are all made by Daisey. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21 smoker Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 If I remember correctly..HUEY369 had an engine and trans donated to them on their project by a family farmer in Iowa..valued at over 200K..If I was still current that woiuld be a cool project...just finishing a 1944 WC 51...Goes along with the M 38 and M 274A5...A&P is out of date...last one I fixed was a Raven...ha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waffen Und Bier Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Storage would be an issue for me as well. My father in law had a 1942 L-4 (former US Army Air Corps plane). He offered it to me when he went to sell in the mid 1990's. My wife vetoed it as being impractical. She's long gone, but I still have some machine guns and my bikes (which fit nicely in the condo). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim B Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 19 hours ago, Aaron in Mohnton Pa said: @GUNHEEP that is crazy!! I've never seen one that cheap.. stripped airframes are more then that now. Well a overhauled engine would be huge money. But there are times out engines out there that could prolly be gotten cheap. To throw in and make it whole. Not sure on prices as most of this stuff changes hands quietly on various vehicle boards. Thanks for sharing your story about the huey. If you have any pictures please post them! Aaron - Mohnton, Pa There has been an ENORMOUS inflation in the value of military vehicles since the 90s Back then nice running Duces were running around five hundred when they came up at civic auctions in the upper midwest. Bought a few running well under $300.00 Warbirds started going into the stratosphere in the mid 80s. Same "investors" who warped the valuations on Hemi Mopars. Back in 74' my father was offered a pair of P51 Mustangs that formerly had been part of a rural NDs Highschool's Avionics class. They were just sitting in an old barn with spare engines and truck loads of NOS spares. $2500.00, yes that's right...two thousand, five hundred bucks. While we had the cash my mom swore she would divorce Dad if he thought he was going to start filling HER Yard with dead airplanes. Sad part was even back then there was an easy 50K margin in the deal. Up through much of the 90s there were still deals to be had in Canada on DeHaviland Tiger Moths. When the Canucks decom'd them they literally gave them away to farmers who mostly burned them to salvage the wire for use around the farm. A few did end up in barns. Bought a decent Tiger, barn find that needed a complete overhaul for $3800.00 in funny money in 96' and rolled it over without even moving it three weeks later to a buyer in California for a quick 4K profit. Few years ago a fellow I know in Finland sent me pix of some abandoned Soviet air field he found. Line of YAK fighters with trees grown up around them. The Russians just forgot about them. Just no real way to import them here. Tons of warbirds like that, even here in the States. Know one fellow who bought a B25 Mitchell. It had been awarded to a Legion Post in a rural community post war. Over the years the town died, the Post closed and the Mitchell sat there. This was in the early 90s ? Anyways he recruited a crew of Army Air Corps Vets who spent roughly a month refitting the air frame before flying it out taking off from a gravel road and taking it down to Kansas. That's right, no inspections, no flight plans with with seriously OLD Vets in the Cockpit...they kept it treetop level the whole trip. I recall him telling me he had roughly 30K into it to get it down to a private strip in Kansas...Big Brass Ball Balls. There are still a few Warbirds like that out there. Know one abandoned town that has a Freedom Fighter, think there are like under 30 people living there currently. Post WWII a ton of Warbirds were given to VFW/Legion posts as well as schools. Much of this ended up crushed eventually. Know of one P38 that was cut up for scrap in the 80s. It was just a nice, mostly complete airframe but even then I thought what a waste. Your price is quite fair these days for what it is. Choppers received way less collector love than fighters or even small bombers. There were a ton of Huey's distributed to various Agencies...most were just scrapped eventually. The issue is cost to rebuild for your typical collector/accumulator. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 @Jim B , really cool stories man. Its unbelievable what is still out there hiding. Walter Soplata's war bird grave yard he amassed is just fascinating to read about. I figured their would be a lot of guys on these boards who were also into the military surplus vehicle market. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim B Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 21 hours ago, Aaron in Mohnton Pa said: I was into it up through the 90s, between the Internets & idiot Reality TV shows most of the old market has been ruined when you have characters valuating a crapped out 6X6 at 3K. No meat on the bone. I can recall buying BREN gun carriers for $400 in unaltered condition. Most up here they cut the armor off and used them for skidding timber out of the swamps during the winters. Same deal with WWI Artillery Tractors. When they were surplused in the inter War Era a good share ended up in the Timber industry, some went to Mining. Real Rare items these days. There are all sorts of things sitting in mostly Ghost Towns across America. Working on getting a 105mm transferred from a forgotten town's War Memorial to my town's new memorial. Something to remember is a fair share of these VFW/Legion awards are still considered US Govt. Property...you don't just pull it up on a trailer and say Good to Go ! That can put one in the Federal Pokey. Earlier items such as WWI French & German cannon were often a different deal however there are still cannon from the War between the States that are viewed as property of the DoD. During the SA War a bunch of things came back from Cuba & the Philippines that were incorporated in Civic memorials, that was mostly State Militia so DoD has zero claims on it. You can see a bit of this stuff cluttered in rural MN museums. The county Museum in Warren MN has a .45 Nordenfeldt "machinegun" seized from the Spanish Fortress on Corrigidore in the PI. Very nice shape considering it sat outside the Courthouse for some 80 years. The County Museum in Park Rapids has a few cherry belt feds including an 1895 Colt Potato Digger and a Hotchkiss strip fed, both from the war with Spain. In Detroit Lakes they have a WWI Parabellum Aircraft machinegun among other things. Rare stuff. There is a crap ton of these trophys scattered across MN & WI holed up in rural museums as well as memorials. Sometimes it's even buyable. Issue is many if not most County Historical Societies these days are dominated by elderly females who see little to no historical merit in fireams, particularly anything remotely modern military. As such sometimes they are open to selling things off. One local bought a lightly dewatted MP44 from the County Museum for WELL Under a grand around 2002. Nice huh' ? Same deal with a Cannon in the Courtyard or even an abandoned aircraft display. I just don't have the room... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted January 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 1 month Btt... would love to see a Sturm member end up with this piece of war history. Aaron -Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddy H Posted January 25, 2017 Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 A VERY COOL item listed here......... many years ago a local Houston Dealer listed a running P51 Mustang for sale here at Sturm ...... $250,000 I don't think it sold ........ also many years ago someone posted a MiG 21 for sale here as well ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted January 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 @Buddy H , thanks. I can't believe the P51 didn't sell. I'm pretty sure they command much more then that now. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddy H Posted January 25, 2017 Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 IIRC ....... The local dealer was brokering it ......... the P51 was located in Argentina . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parakeet Shop Posted January 25, 2017 Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 That makes some sense, A P51 hit a haystack in training, ripping off the radiator.The pilot zoom climbed and practiced the 3 most important steps of the emergency check list. 1. Get Out 2. Get Out 3. Get Out , They were able to save the data plate that was buried 13 feet underground,a new aircraft was built around the data plate. Generally p51 aircraft are 2M to 5M restored Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddy H Posted January 25, 2017 Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 I misquoted the P51 posted price ......... IIRC it was $750,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parakeet Shop Posted January 25, 2017 Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 Buddy deserves a 5 or 10% slice of that pie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted March 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 One month BTT... still available Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Got Uzi Posted March 21, 2017 Report Share Posted March 21, 2017 What I wouldn't give to have this but storage would be an issue for me......that and wanting to explain to the local Sheriff Department why I was out groundhog hunting from a Huey. How much does the proper engine cost for curiosity? Does it come with a complimentary M60?? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted March 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Finding the correct T 53 turbine engine would probably be pretty difficult. Even a timed out one would be a lot of money. It does come with a replica M60. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve C North Pole, AK Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 Before all us Viet Nam era vets kick off, there may be such a thing as re-establishing trade with Viet Nam. There would be the place to acquire a lot of equipment for all our War Birds and other projects. Steve Colboch North Pole, Alaska Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baker72 Posted August 1, 2017 Report Share Posted August 1, 2017 That's cool but my wife would stab me in the neck any m60 commando barrels mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted August 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2017 @baker72, No commando barrels right now. I had 3 heavy fluted barrels and they were gone in like a day. Not sure when I will have more commandos in but at some point we will. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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