Warbird Information Exchange

Hello Everybody!

I'm Ray Clausen, the Maintenance Officer for both the Centex Wing of the CAF and the Yellow Rose Squadron of the CAF. I've been lurking out here for some time now and finally decided to try to post on my own. Please bear with me as I learn my way around WIX posts. I'll be trying to include a photo with this post.

Now for the good stuff. I was researching the WIX archives for P-39 and P-63 info and it seems I need to get out an update on our P-39. After several years of work, Miss Connie made her return flight in March of 2008. We spent a couple more months tweaking her and she's been flying strong since! Between June and December of 2008, we put over 40 hours on her and she made every scheduled date. We took some extra time this past winter during the annual inspection and seem to have stopped the annoying fuels leaks that the P-39 is famous for.

This year, we have also made all of our dates so far. (Sorry, I don't have this year's flight hour data with me at home today.) From what I've heard, we are going to have a very busy schedule for the next few months, too. I'll get posts out in advance of appearances so as many of you as possible can come out and see her!

Our primary P-39 pilot, Ron Iberg, has been training a second pilot, Grant Lannon. Grant is ready and has one last check flight to knock out. I did have a bad ignition booster coil problem that held him up a bit, but that is fixed and I hope Grant will be fully qualified in a week or two.

We at the Centex hangar in San Marcos refer to the place as the Cobra Den since it is the home of the very rare P-39 Airacobra. Well, it is an even more appropriate title now as it will also soon be the home of the world's on P-63F King Cobra. This was confirmed just this week. The P-63 was here for several years before leaving on a long, sad journey. She returns partially dismantled and ready for a lot of work and TLC. My Most Amazing Maintenance Crew is chomping at the bit to get started on her.

I've been blessed with an outstanding bunch of volunteers at the Cobra Den. We're just wrapping up a year of work on the Yellow Rose while maintaining 10 other aircraft. They learn fast, follow instructions, are enthusiastic and hard working. I couldn't be more proud of my team.

I would love to hear from any and all WIX'ers with P-39 or P-63 experience. I have SO very much to learn and all of you folks out in the warbird community are the best resource I could hope for. I'd also like to hear from anyone with parts or knowledge of available parts for either bird. We live on a tight budget here, but when you have planes this rare, you're always looking...

I look forward to communicating with, and learning from, everyone out on WIX! Now, for the photo posting attempt...

<a href="http://s747.photobucket.com/albums/xx120/RayClausen/?action=view&current=2008102432.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx120/RayClausen/2008102432.jpg" border="0" alt="p-39 002"></a>


Thanks!

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Ray Clausen
Maintenance Officer
Centex Wing of the CAF

D'oh! Lemme try this...






Cool, I think I got it now.

I shot this from Mike Renck's (bluehawk15) U-11 on the way to the Wings over Houston show last year.

Thanks!

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Ray Clausen
Maintenance Officer
Centex Wing of the CAF

Hey Ray,
I really like the P-39 very cool. I have a hunch someone saw the paint scheme in P-39 Airacobra Aces by John Stanaway.
I supplied the info and photo of Bill Fiedler's (only US P-39 ace) #68 with the skull & cross bones for the profile in the book.
It would be cool to return sorta fix the paint and make it accurate to honor Fiedler.
Never-the-less it's a 10 on the cool meter

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Don't touch my junk!!

Hey Jack, what should be different?

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Welcome aboard Ray. I think you'll find quite the P-39/63 following here. Look forward to your updates.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

So what is the status of the P-63F, then? I haven't really been paying attention, but the last I heard it was flying with a different squadron.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

Howdy Ray,

Most exciting news and progress. Miss Connie looks great, please post some pictures of the P-63 when you can.

M.

Welcome aboard and we all look forward to hearing from you on this topic.

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http://floridawarbirds.wordpress.com/

Updated twice a week!!

Still at Ezell Aviation after it was removed from a repair facility in Oklahoma. I don't know if they've told Nelson to go forward with repairs or not though, as it's been and "on again off again" type of project due to finances.

Gary

The aircraft is in a few large pieces at Ezell's and will be moved to the Cobra Den in the very near future. The prop and wings have been removed and the horizontal tail surfaces have, too. The radiators have been sent out for work. We'll have some work to do in the belly. A team is going up to check the plane out for transport. Nelson and the plane sponsors have worked it all out and agreed to the move.

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Ray Clausen
Maintenance Officer
Centex Wing of the CAF

Welcome to the site Ray. Thanks for the Cobra updates!

The P-39 looks great. I still have my old 1/48 Monogram model kit I built of that plane. I even added the CAF script under the tail of the model.

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

welcome to WIX! We look forward to any updates on the aircraft. I know I look forward to the day I get to see the P-39 fly again, it is really a beautiful and rare aircraft.

Tim

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www.tailhookstudio.com

The actual a/c had no red on it or a name. The skull and cross bones had a black triangle base. The fuselage insignia was farther base and their was a white ID stripe forward of it. The s/n of 42-18798 was in yellow at one of but you can see where it was overpainted on the tail. 5 kill flags were displayed on the right side.

P-39N-5 s/n 42-18798 #68 flown by 1Lt Bill Fiedler Guadalcanal June 1943.

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Don't touch my junk!!

I would have to agree with Jack on this one.

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

Jack,

Thanks for the input on the paint. I'm sure we will be trying to update what we can to get the markings more correct. The big problem will be the national insignias. We know they are out of place, and weren't happy when it rolled out of the paint shop like that, but short of repainting the plane again, we couldn't do much about it. BUT we did get a good deal on the paint job!

The red spinner was a nod to her past Russian markings, and the red tail flash was to balance the red spinner. We knew those weren't accurate, but gave in to a little pressure. Maybe someday this will change as well.

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Mike