"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
...
Dudley Henriques wrote:

"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
Do restored warbirds have some sort of security system added to
keep unscrupulous members of the public such as me, from taking
one up for an unauthorized flight? Some sort of starting "key"?

What about current military aircraft?

In theory it could be done, but the pilot doing it would have to be REAL
good! :-)) Just the pre-requesites are daunting to say the least.
First, the pilot doing this would have to be good enough to actually fly
the
airplane, which not only requires specific skills but is aircraft
specific
also. That means the thief would have to know where everything is in the
cockpit....probably in the dark .
A self inspired night checkout in the average warbird would kill all but
the
most "inspired" I can assure you!! :-)))

I was hoping you or Vlado would comment.

Well I'll take your word for it. But I recall an American pilot shot
down in Europe during WWII stealing a FW 190 (IIRC). He got the thing
started and into the air (in the dark), but flew it back to England with
the gear down since he couldn't figure out how to raise it.

Is basic flying of a WWII aircraft *really* that much more difficult than
a Cessna 152? We're not talking about doing loops, barrel rolls and split
S's. Just run the plane back to my secret hideout where I'll only look
and
admire it as *my own*, as if a piece of art!

Well, there is the issue of ATC tracking you and finking on where you went.
To avoid that we're talking low level work which raises the difficulty
factor
a bit.
That or I guess you could work in some poor coverage area like the Rockies.
Just don't try it over the midwest and expect to get away with it.