Waco Waco: prices, price cuts and days on market

Buyer's notes

About the Waco Waco

What it is

Waco is two things under one name. The original company, in Troy, Ohio, built biplanes from the 1920s until 1947: open-cockpit sport and training airplanes, then a line of cabin biplanes with four or five seats that were the business aircraft of their decade. They are wood-spar, steel-tube, fabric-covered airplanes with radial engines, owned by people who fly them on nice days and restore them the rest of the year. The open-cockpit UPF-7, built in quantity as a civilian trainer just before the war, is the one you see most.

The modern Waco is the YMF-5, a new-production version of the mid 1930s YMF built under the original type certificate by a Michigan company since the late 1980s. It is a three-seat, open-cockpit biplane with a Jacobs radial of 275 or 300 horsepower, a wider cockpit than the original, modern brakes and avionics, and a factory that still supports it. It flies like the airplane it copies: slow, stable, heavy in roll and light in pitch.

Variants that matter for price

The original models are named with a three-letter code, engine first, then wing, then fuselage, so sellers write UPF-7, YMF-3, UBF-2, RNF, QDC, YKS-6, EGC-8 or SRE. The UPF-7 with its Continental radial is the most numerous and the easiest to support; the Taperwing and earlier F-series ask more for rarity. Among cabin Wacos, the custom cabin airplanes with larger engines and better finish are the ones collectors chase. On the modern YMF-5 the sub-model matters: the later YMF-5C and YMF-5D are the improved versions, with more fuel and the larger engine on the latest ones. Engine time and the factory's later updates move one YMF-5 above another. On any Waco, a documented restoration by a known shop is worth as much as the model letters.

What buyers check

On an original, the wood is the first question: spars, ribs and any repairs, with a recent inspection by someone who works on antiques. Then fabric, its age and process, and the steel-tube fuselage for rust at the tailpost, the lower longerons and under the floor. The radial is the second big cost, so ask about the overhaul shop and where parts have come from; these engines are supportable but not from a catalog. Look at the gear and wingtips for the ground loops every biplane has had. On a YMF-5 the same checks apply to fabric and engine, and buyers should see the factory service letters complied with. Shoulder harnesses, disc brakes, a starter and a transponder add value. A mismatched data plate or a reconstruction built around a paperwork airframe is the thing a careful prebuy is really looking for.

Who it suits

A Waco suits a pilot who wants an open-cockpit biplane for local flying and airshows, and who either has restoration patience for an original or the budget for a YMF-5 that needs none. It is not a cross-country machine and not a good first taildragger. Buyers cross-shop the originals against a Stearman, a Travel Air or a Great Lakes, and the YMF-5 against a restored Stearman.