P-63 Kingcobra Remains

[Dan Jones]

Look you guys should check the maint books on the 39s and 63s. Stop and think why so many striped hulks are around, big freaken engine small airframe and drive shafts. It says if you can not line up the drive shafts that means the airframe is twisted because of torque from engine and thats the end of the airplane. And there is no way to fix a twisted airframe.

I'd like to see someone like Steve Hinton (who's rebuilt at least one of each) or Tom Reilly or someone field that question. With a straight fuselage to build a jig from or the drawings I can't accept that nowadays something like a twisted fuselage is impossible to fix. I can see it being ridiculously expensive (most things in aviation are) but not impossible.

[dirtysidedown430]

Sorry I was a little curt in my last post. And it is true enough money wood fix the problem. D. Tallichet had a 39 at Air Heritage that had worked on by some trade school and it looked good but they got a video from ww2 on the 39 which showed how to check the drive shafts and David sent another one. In the video it shows the airplane shipped in a wood box. How to open box and put airplane together. Even said that box could be used for a bunch of stuff like a line shack.

[Dan Jones]

Some of those old videos do show some pretty neat stuff.

The lack of specialty spares for the Bells will no doubt keep most of the hulks on the ground but I expect a few more will see the air again. How many -39's came out of New Guinea in '74 with Tallichet's salvage operation? They'd sat in the jungle for thirty years, but they were salvaged over forty years ago!

[Warbird Kid]

Some of those old videos do show some pretty neat stuff.

The lack of specialty spares for the Bells will no doubt keep most of the hulks on the ground but I expect a few more will see the air again. How many -39's came out of New Guinea in '74 with Tallichet's salvage operation? They'd sat in the jungle for thirty years, but they were salvaged over forty years ago!

MARC recovered 13 full airframes plus 5 extra wings and a few tail section.

What we need more than anything is the infrastructure necessary for these rarer types so that they may be restored to fly. That means a series of sub-manufactuer shops to reproduce practically any part. We've seen this build-up on infrastructure before, mainly with the P-40, P-47, Hurricane. But even with these three, the majority of each of these fighters flying have probably been restored at the same shop or received crucial parts from said shop. Hawker Restorations for the Hurricane. Avspecs for P-40s. WestPac for P-47s. While there are other shops out there that have restored one or the other as well, it seems without a dedicated shop to restore 4 or 5 P-39s at the same time, and make a mini production line, the changes for seeing the rarer types flourish is unfortunately slim at the moment.

[Dan Jones]

Some of those old videos do show some pretty neat stuff.

The lack of specialty spares for the Bells will no doubt keep most of the hulks on the ground but I expect a few more will see the air again. How many -39's came out of New Guinea in '74 with Tallichet's salvage operation? They'd sat in the jungle for thirty years, but they were salvaged over forty years ago!

MARC recovered 13 full airframes plus 5 extra wings and a few tail section.

Thanks Rob (welcome back, btw). 13 P-39's or does that include the P-40's too?

[Yak3]

P-39 material may also be of interest. Rob, do you have any contact details for MARC?

Many thanks

[Yak3]

Hi all, still very much interested in obtaining P-63 Kingcobra remains. We've had great luck obtaining some of the important and difficult to locate system parts, but are still looking for a basic airframe or sections thereof. Anyone stumbled across anything?

Thanks