Following Jay Wislers’s decision to retire from the warbird parts supply business back in 2017, Fagen Fighters Restoration purchased the entirety of his massive stock list, adding to their already impressive inventory. The company now has over a million original WWII aircraft parts on hand, which are now available to aircraft restorers worldwide. Given their understanding of what the warbird industry needs, they have also realized that there is a shortage of appropriate ground-handling equipment suitable for use on WWII-era aircraft. As such, they have begun fabricating a variety of durable, reliable, and high-quality tow bars, oil pans, and maintenance platforms that can be tailored to any specific warbird.
Fagen Fighters Restoration has described their reasoning for building some of this equipment as follows…
At the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum*, we have ground equipment made to fit certain planes. Take, for example, the F6F Hellcat; it is a unique aircraft and, as such, its towing requirements are also unique. When the fighter first arrived at our home in Granite Falls, Minnesota last spring, we made an improved U.S. Navy tow bar for moving the aircraft around on the ground. The modified design for this tow bar is adaptable enough to also fit many other naval aircraft types (see the images below).
The oil pans we built for our B-25J Mitchell are another example of our carefully considered design process. Because the medium bomber’s engines are so high off the ground, we chose to elevate these oil pans to sit on a platform in a far more convenient and effective location. This allowed the drainage system we incorporated into the unit to be easily employed, and made disposing of used engine oil far simpler (see the pictures below).
Because we have experienced such success with these tools, we felt that others in the warbird community might also benefit from having their own examples. As a result, we have created a product line that is now available to make purchases from. Anyone wishing to place an order for any of the ground equipment shown above may contact Fagen Fighters Restoration via the website or by calling directly at +1 (320) 564-5310.
*We are proud to have Fagen Fighters WWII Museum as a sponsor!
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