How many of us have mowed around cars and trucks parked in our yards? How about a plane? Probably not too many I’m betting. This is a 1948 Lockheed F-94A Jet Interceptor prototype and it can be found here on eBay in West Islip, New York. The seller has a buy-it-now price of $20,000 listed. Thanks to Nevadahalfrack for sending in this tip!
And I thought it was hard to restore an old minibike, just imagine restoring a prototype jet aircraft. The seller has this listed as a 1948 prototype and from the research that I’ve done, I think they’re right. Two Lockheed TF-80/T-33 jets were modified as being all-weather prototypes in the cold war era when such a jet was needed to keep up with what other countries, including Russia, had in their arsenal. You can see holes in the fuselage on the above photo just behind the “radome” (where the radar was located) which is where four 0.5-inch M3 Browning machine guns would have been located.
I can’t imagine anyone taking this on as far as a staunch restoration project goes, but it’s certainly worthy. The F-94A was the first American all-weather interceptor jet and the first to use an afterburner. Speaking of that, there is no engine, which would have been an Allison J33 with around 6,000 pounds of thrust with the afterburner. It had a top speed of around 600 mph and a range of just under 1,000 miles. There would have been two crew members and in this one, they wouldn’t be looking at any instruments since there are no instrument panels or gauges in this project plane.
Did I mention that there are also no wings and no tail fins? Yeah, that, too. Of course, T-33 wings are compatible since the F-94A was designed off of that aircraft. Reportedly only 9 of these jets remain today from a total of 110 F-94As produced and 853 F-94s that were produced for the US Air Force and Air National Guard. The series ended after the F-94C Starfire in 1959. The other prototype is displayed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. This is a rare and worthy project for a museum to take on which is what it will most likely take in order to save this important piece of US aircraft history.
I would buy this but the wife has set a limit of 4 cars in the back yard
I can see the conversation now. “But it’s not a car, darling. Really….not a car”. lol
That’s what I’m thinking as well. But it’s not a car honey!
I think the question is how many of us can’t mow because of to many cars in our yard ;)
Roundup!
Class Action lawsuit for cancer.
Bob
I’d drop a 350 in it .
Wait , I thought we were going hemi in this…to get maybe seven gallons per second 🤔😏👀
The current new fighting jets prob get better fuel consumption so do you have a titanium platinum something something card for fuel?
“The F-15 is a modern, large fighter with two engines. In the Worst-Case Scenario, (in the dense air at sea level with maximum afterburner selected and at high speed), the total fuel flow can be 385 gallons per minute, or 6.4 gallons per second.”
I am thinking retro fit to tiny tiny home and ebay the engine to tractor 🚜 pulling unit 😎🤔
383 stroker. More altitude
Make a great backyard grill, bar, and office.
And garage heater.
Weeny roaster!
Makes me sorry I finally sold my house and started apartment living.
Neighbours used to complain about some of my “mobile” lawn art. Their heads would have exploded at this little darling being dropped off!
Flew when landed.
That’s an oxymoron.
Like can’t stand sitting or jumbo shrimp
Like tight slacks, jumbo shrimp, honest politician, fast, ch….oh, wait :))
If I owned a farm I’d park this next to the caboose and enjoy watching my grandkids playing with it.
Imagine lighting your gas grill with the afterburner on this puppy-serious bragging rights! (one time only)
This persons’ neighbors are going to party when this leaves. Note the 15-20 foot high hedges to block the view…too funny.
Strange toy…. 20K plus shipping..
I always wanted a jet welded to a stand in my front yard. This jet would do the trick IMHO. I could make the wings out of plywood and then cover it with aluminum.
$20k is far too much for dreamers like moi. For yard art I think it’s worth $4000.00 tops.
Brig Gen Yeager would be impressed if I had this as yard art.
Bob
Or make a cool mailbox
Somebody call Dayton
Weird seeing a jet with that B17-looking tail on it…6000 pounds of thrust, but of course back then they didn’t account for losses from things like the alternator, power steering pump and AC compressor. By the ’70s it would be more like 160 pounds of thrust.
With a restoration project like that you really need a wing man.
A little strange that the tail number was repainted incorrectly…the 4 shouldn’t be there. On a USAF aircraft built in 1948, the first digit should be an 8. You can see this in one of the eBay pics.
The Collings Foundation would be tickled
pink to get this one. It reminds me of an
overgrown F-80 Shooting Star. When I saw the Rolex watch find, I just had to ask what was next didn’t I! If you found
a 1965 Zenith Allegro console stereo,
you’d have my undivided attention. I’d
like to have one for my mancave.
Might be able to help with the Zenith. What’s up with the Rolex? I must missed that one?
BTW, the local tech school had a fairly intact F85 some 10 years back. They used to have A&P program, but old military jets don’t likely offer the right learning platform.
Mike B is right: it’s plane to see you could work your tail off on this project. I wouldn’t attempt it unless I was thrust into it. Nap time!
A lofty goal, Rex.
If it wasn’t 44 ft long, might make a nice car like racers built from fuel tanks.
Yeah, we have a lot of fun with these posts, but, truth is, and someone may correct me, Germany, in 1945 was this close ( thumb and 1st finger 1/4 inch apart) to developing a jet powered fighter, and could have had a big impact on the war outcome. I don’t think the Allies had anything like it until after the war with planes like this. Besides, I’m sure this engine powered a dragster many years ago.
Hi Howard. The ME262 was actually in production at the end of the war but it was still suffering from numerous teething problems. The engines had to be majored every 35 hours because the Germans lacked the metallurgy to make turbine wheels last much longer. The Brits had the Gloucester Meteor that was actually used to chase down the V-1 rockets as they came over the channel. The Meteor could catch up to it while a Spitfire had to dive down to gain enough airspeed. A Mustang could keep up with it but was still busy elsewhere. It seems to me, after an extensive visit with a couple of staff of the Pima Air Museum, that Grumman had the F9F flying at the end of the war but production was still favoring the F6F.
They did Howard, the plane you’re thinking of is the ME 262. The 262 was
100 MPH faster than the P-51 Mustangs
we had in service back then. The Germans were on the right track when it
came to jets. Had the bomber boys not
shut them down, the air war in Europe
could’ve taken a frightening turn for our
guys who were fighting it.
And the rocket-powered “Komet”, used very briefly against the Allied bombers, had a recorded speed of more than 600 MPH! Its strength was its weakness, however, in that it like the ME 262 flew so fast it was difficult to hit the vastly slower moving bombers, had only enough fuel for an 8 minute average flight and no landing gear..
FWIW, the US deployed 4 F-80 Shooting Stars to the European Theater prior to the close of the war in Europe with no combat action recorded that I could find in the research done on this for a college paper back in the day.
So it was the F-80 that was in service when the war ended. I definitely stand corrected; I always thought it was the F9F but upon further reading, I found that the F9F wasn’t in service until ’47. Time for me to do something more productive I guess.
Where’s Walter Soplata when you need him? No disrespect intended, wish I could have known him and viewed his collection. Focused passion that’s seldom seen today. How many of the birds he saved are flying today?
Mr. Brase, maybe you’re thinking of a North American F-86 Sabre? Only a couple of F-85 Goblins made, IIRC.
https://planetags.com/blogs/planetags-blog/the-soplata-collection-preserving-planes
It was an F-85. Said to be very rare.
I remember when these 50’s jets were on kids playgrounds and you could sit in the cockpit, climb on them and use your imagination. It was a hell of a lot of fun and a fired up a desire to be a pilot and fly one of these marvelous aircraft. I know, I was one of them.
If it doesn’t sale, the owner could donate to a local town if, and this is a big if, the PC and snowflake crowd aren’t appalled at such a dangerous and war mongering image. What are the odds?
I agree completely about letting kids learn about planes and flying. When I was a kid I thought I was seeing a P-38 flying. 40 years later, I saw the photographic proof of it hangered locally and turned out, I’d talked to the guy. He’d flown in the RCAF and flown both Spitfires and P-51’s.
BUT THIS: Shame on you for trying to sneak politics into this.I guess I’m a libtard, but 100% war bird fan. Politics don’t belong here.
I’ll vote for Mark on this one. PC has overrun our society so that everyone is offended at something and sensitive about everything! It’s ridiculous the number of warnings that common sense made unnecessary years ago, evidence of a society overrun with lawyers. Yes, I have a son practicing in Dallas. Know what you call 10,000 dead lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start!
Being retired USAF & a history buff this YF-94 prototype is one heck of a find! It deserves to be restored & placed in a museum. We have lost way too much of history’s aviation history to the smelter!
That this would be a conversation piece would be a gross understatement. I think the grandkids would enjoy something like this more than the playhouse…
I say, throw this on a trailer strong enough to haul it and bring it to air shows.
But not for that price, much like fire trucks, and buses it’s too big for a practical hobbyist.
Seller should have this aircraft appraised by an IRS Enrolled Appraiser and consider donating the plane to a museum. Depending upon the sellers tax bracket the tax deduction might be worth MUCH MUCH MORE than the $20K they are asking for this plane. I did this years ago with a DC3 starter turbine engine.
A guy in Texas has a field full of Air Force surplus DC3 starter turbine engines still in their sealed containers. Bought one for $500.00 as I thought it was kool! Did not think much about for a couple of years when a collector suggested I have it professionally appraised.
WOW!!!!
Ended up donating the turbine to a museum and got a HUGE tax deduction worth far more than I could have sold it for or benefitted from.
Went back to the guy in Texas to try and buy all the DC3 Turbines he had. All were gone!!
I was told that he sold all of them SCRAP. The were shredded along with the hundreds of vintage junk cars he had on the property!
Ya never know!!!
Perhaps a shot at a new land speed record???
I too was one of those kids climbing on a T33 in a playground. It was eventually forgotten by most kids. Not me. It was one of the key experiences that motivated a kid to get off a tractor and fly jets instead. Never been sorry. There have been a couple cockpits mounted on an upstairs, outside wall of a house on a hill. A good way to enjoy the view, or a snifter of fine spirits, maybe a cigar, watching a clear nite beneath a bubble canopy. Good for grandpas and grandkids alike.
In the late 70’s, I spotted a B-25 fuselage in a guy’s backyard in L. A,’s San Fernando Valley! Bizarre sighting. I guess it’s ok if you have the room.
Currently aluminum cans have a scrap value of .28¢ / lb. Sooooooo, this is worth about $1,120. The military industrial complex has enough war-propagating displays. No need for another one. Besides, you might poke your eye out.
This is definitely a restomod. I would slot in a big block GP7000 engine from an A380 Airbus and oversize magnesium wheels from a 777 Dreamliner. Then fit some streamlined wings from a Cessna Citation.
This is definitely a restomod. It needs a big block GP7000 turbofan engine from an A380 Airbus along with wide magnesium wheels from a 777 Dreamliner and shortened wings from a Cessna Citation.
Make it into a jet-powered GeeBee…
Just don’t turn it in to a BeeGee! Some things don’t need to be brought back!!😱
Now I’ve got to think about them, and I have to get up early for an appointment…
If on Saturday Night you get a Fever it’s not my fault..😝
Damn! I cannot un-think that. I need a bottle of whiskey so I can wash the taste out of my mouth…
$50 bucks if you can light a cigar with it..