Dyson/500N
For what it is worth - a story........
I was on exchange with the USN at China Lake, 1978-81.
I was in the Officers Club bar one evening, and detected an english accent. As I was the only Brit that I knew of in the area at the time, I chatted to the stranger, who declared that he was from the Imperial War Museum and had come to China Lake to look for a B-29A - to represent an aircraft that the RAF had flown during WW2. There were several skeletons sitting in the desert on the undershoot of one of the runways.
He chose one to take back to the UK - the significance of the 29A was, as I understand, that the wings were bolted onto the fuselage, so could be removed for transportation by road to the west coast and then to the UK by sea.
After a few Californian beers, I declared him to be a wimp, as the previous two aircraft had been flown out from China Lake - one for the the Confederate Air Force, and the other for, I think, Yesterday's Air Force.
Several months later, he returned, and told me that he had chosen the airframe that he wanted, and after a bit of consideration, had decided that it would be cheaper to fly it back to the UK on a one flight basis, rather than ship it back by road and sea.
I claimed the right to a seat on the aircraft for the return flight, which he seemed to accept without any difficulty.
He asked me if I would like to see the airframe he had chosen.
Naturally, I said yes, so we drove into the desert to look at it.
From a distance or several hundred yards, I reversed my request for a seat on the return flight.
The metal structure looked fine, but the rest of it was pretty sad!! It was full of tumbleweed, the glazed units were all knackered, and it looked like a home for the local sidewinder snakes!!
They connected batteries to the engines, provided fuel and oil - and the engines worked OK.
So they dragged the aircraft from the desert, spent several months working on it, replaced the plexiglas bits and all the rubber bits which had deteriorated in the desert sun, and then flew it to Phoenix to get instrumentation and FAA/CAA approval for one-flight to get it back to the UK.
When it departed from China Lake - after some 40 years in the desert - it did a climbing 270 turn over the field before heading for Phoenix - and looked and sounded terrific.
For those so inclined, it brought tears to the eyes!!