P-51 "Derailer" rebuild has begun!

[mh53eflyguy]

Let me start off by saying that I hope I'm not stepping on your toes Owen!

I am a volunteer over at Battleship Park/USS Alabama, and I occasionally help out in the Aircraft Pavilion Hanger and around the ship, along with some dozen other enlisted volunteers from NAS Pensacola. I have to give these guys the credit because they are the hard chargers that get the bulk of the dirty work completed along side the fantastic staff at the Park.
As some of you may know, the Park and a lot of the aircraft were damaged when Hurricane Katrina came in back in 2005. One of the many planes that was damaged was the beautiful P-51D "Derailer," and it's now on the block to be fixed.

Mike Thompson really deserves the credit on the work, but I'm giving him a hand. This is my first time on really working on a warbird and I jumped at it. I just wanted to share some pictures and put it out there that it is undergoing a restoration to a static display at the Park! Currently the Canopy, Left Aileron, and what was left of the fairings on the empennage were removed yesterday. The rest of the tail is being worked on as well.


Image Credit: Tim Brady (http://www.timbrady.com)

This was the old girl in her former glory pre-Hurricane


Removing a corroded zeus fastener and inspection panels. There is still seaweed inside the panel.


Removing whats left of the fairing that was destroyed in the Katrina/Hanger mayhem.

I'm unfortunately not going to be able to see the entire restoration through, but I'm going to stick with it as long as I can.

Blue Skies!

-Scott

Last edited by mh53eflyguy on Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Jesse C.]

Very cool! Thanks for the pics, Scott!

So, have you sat in the seat and made airplane noises yet?

[mustangdriver]

great work. That P-51 sure looks awesome in person. is there anywork going on on the Kingfisher.

[mh53eflyguy]

Very cool! Thanks for the pics, Scott!

So, have you sat in the seat and made airplane noises yet?

Sadly, yes.

Actually, when I helped Mike pull the canopy rails off, while it was a two man job, he needed to get off the wing. I was able too balance it on my shoulders and was making the engine noises. I got a laugh out of Mike anyway!

The Kingfisher is on tap to be fixed at some point. Mike Thompson is methodically seeing a project through before moving onto the next one, which is working out well for him. I challenge anyone to spot some of his repairs to the Hurricane Katrina ravaged birds. His attention to detail is worth the time invested to get these birds back inside the hanger on display. I took a bunch of pictures today of he and I working on the P-51, but somehow my memory stick erased the pictures of Mike and I working on the Right Wing today. We leveled and repaired the structure around where the Air Force cut through the spar. Its now straight, where it had a Corsair looking gull wing at that point. The other side looks like a large winglet still, but she's coming along. She's coming along though! Give her a few months and If I was a betting man, she'll be almost back together by summer 2010.

Thanks for the compliment!

Scott

Last edited by mh53eflyguy on Mon Jan 18, 2010 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Owen Miller]

LOTS more work to be done, but real fine start.