WW II Surplus Aircraft & the decline of the use of private railcars & large yachts

The end of World War II gave the world an abundance of trained pilots and landing
strips in even the remotest places of the world. This caused a decline in yacht and private
railcar ownership by wealthy individuals and corporations after WW II ended .Many of
the ocean going yachts that had been turned over to the armed forces for use as patrol and
training ships were never requested back by their owners. Several large yachts had been
destroyed or were damaged beyond repair in storms, collisions or combat. Aircraft
required less crew than yachts and more places were accessible and with greater speed by
airplane than rail or water. The yachts often required extensive rebuilding to undo the
modifications made to them by the armed forces and the former owners found that it
would be less time and expense to switch to using a private plane.

The Virginia Aviation Museum’s Vultee V1A was one of the aircraft sold by the Federal
Government to a private sector owner after the end of WW2. It was originally a civilian
owned aircraft but had been damaged in a collision with a military truck while on a
runway on December 10, 1941. The Army Air Corps purchased the plane from the
civilian owner and repaired it for government use. Although from the 1930’s the Vultee
was still a valuable aircraft after WW II ended . It uses the same model of engine that the
B-17 bomber used ,the Wright 1000hp R-1820-G5, That engine was made for a variety
of aircraft from the 1930’s until the early 1950’s. This engine and the widely used
landing gear type the plane used assured its long term survival.

Some large civil and military aircraft of the 1930’s like the U.S. Army Air Corps B-10
and B-12 bombers, and the Soviet Union’s TB-3 bombers converted for civil aviation
use in late 1930’s were scrapped during or right after WW II because the types had many
parts peculiar to them and it was not practical to manufacture them to avoid disrupting
production time for parts for new aircraft, or devote logistics resources for storing and
tracking parts for aircraft that were low in numbers still serviceable. The final years of
the war and afterwards made newer aircraft available to replace them.

The 127 foot yacht Miss Ann, built in 1926, now home ported in Colonial Beach, VA
was one of the large yachts used by the U.S. Navy in WW II. The private sector owner
that bought it from the Maritime Administration in 1946 found the expense of rebuilding
it back into a yacht was too great and it remained unused until the Tides Inn in Irvington ,
VA purchased it in 1952.It required 18 months of renovation work to become the hotel's
yacht. The hotel sold the yacht in 2008 and it is now a charter cruise boat on the Potomac
River.

Private rail cars were used as the fastest means of travel for corporate executives and
wealthy families before large airliners and the interstate highway system replaced them
after WW II . Large private planes like the Vultee V-1A started to replace private rail
cars in the mid 1930’s. Corporate and family owned railcars were described as palaces
on wheels. They usually had a living room/meeting room, master bedroom, master
bathroom, guest quarters, and kitchen. After World War II the number of private rail cars
like Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad Car 1 declined. Some were
scrapped, converted to regular passenger cars, or converted to various uses by the
railroads and industries that bought them . The railroads kept their Business Cars in use
though. Car 1 remained in service until the RF & P was sold to CSX corporation in 1989.
It was then transferred to the Science Museum of Virginia by the Virginia Retirement
System. The car remains on display behind the museum building. Norfolk Southern
Railroad maintains, in active use, a pre World II Business Car similar to Car 1. It is
sometimes seen in Richmond during the January-March General Assembly session.

The private car Japauldon ,now owned by an individual in Georgia , was built in 1926
for the Woolworth family of the Woolworth Department store chain. It was sold to the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in June of 1941. The B & O used the car as a traveling
office and hotel for one of the railroad’s vice presidents. It was later sold to the Monon
Railroad and did not become a private car again until 1982.