P-61 Restoration Pics

[Dan K]

A few recent progress pics from MAAM:

http://www.maam.org/p61/p61_rest_latest.htm

[Pat Carry]

Looking good.

[Steve Nelson]

Coming along nicely..can't wait to see her back in the sky!

About how much of the material will be original once she's finished?

SN

[marine air]

An argument can be made that htis is the most difficult warbird restoration. the B-29"Doc" is immense but the B-29/B-50/C-97 were used well into the 1970's by the Air Force and ANG. Lots of know how and spare parts out there. The Mosquito projects are impressive but they also flew post war and lots of bits and pieces to be found.
The XP-82 might be the most challenging. Then again they had some spare fuselages and crushed remains as well as immense field of people that rebuild North American aircraft and know how to read the blueprints.
The Northrop fleet was parked shortly after the war. They didn't build that many, and were never used by the Air National Guard, foreign air forces, or in civilian use. Can't remember ever meeting someone that flew or worked on them. Weren't all that many wrecks to recover. No one accidentally kept spare parts thinking they went to something common. (B-25/ DC-3) Everything is unique on it. The cowlings, props, landing gear. Was there anything Northrop used that was in common with other aircraft being built at the time? SO for now it has my vote as most difficult to rebuild.

[Nathan]

P-61s were used as Interceptors by Air Defense Command till 1949.

[Mick G]

It would be fitting if the first flight would happen by 2018 as that would mark the 50th anniversary since the last airworthy example if the P51/F15 flew. Lets keep our fingers crossed....this has been a long time coming

[Pogo]

SUPER COOL - wow! Thanks for posting, Dan!

[OD/NG]

An argument can be made that htis is the most difficult warbird restoration..........The Northrop fleet was parked shortly after the war. They didn't build that many, and were never used by the Air National Guard, foreign air forces, or in civilian use. Can't remember ever meeting someone that flew or worked on them. Weren't all that many wrecks to recover. No one accidentally kept spare parts thinking they went to something common........ SO for now it has my vote as most difficult to rebuild.

A few comments:

1) The Black Widow WAS used as a civilian firebomber. In fact the last P-61 flying was a firebomber which crashed in 1968. A friend of mine saw this airplane fly in the 60's before it crashed. More info here:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p61regis ... 59300.html

2) I still think a more difficult aircraft to restore was the Mosquito that Glyn Powell/Av Specs built. I don't know if you realize the complexity of that project. In order to make an airworthy Mosquito fuselage, one MUST have fuselage moulds. The last Mosquito fuselage moulds were destroyed sometime after 1950. Glyn had to "reverse engineer" the moulds from drafting data and other documentation that took many years of scouring the world just to get the precise info to build the moulds with. IIRC, Glyn started his Mossie project in the 1980's and was only able to make a Mosquito fuselage just recently, within the last 7-10 years or so. The lack of fuselage moulds is the exact reason why nobody has attempted to rebuild a Mossie since the end of W.W.II. Added to this, wood expands/contracts based on temperature/relative humidity. It is much more difficult to work with, given the tight tolerances on the Mossie, than metal.

The building of the moulds was perhaps 90% of the difficulty of that project. Once that was done, the rest was relatively easy, comparatively speaking. Now, Glyn has working moulds and is passing on his building techniques for the people behind him. Theoretically, given enough money, a Mossie production line could be built. The problem is there are only a handful of people in the world who have the desire to spend the approximately $ 6,000,000 it takes to rebuild a new Mossie.

3) My understanding is there was a considerable amount of spare parts leftover from the last owner of the last flying P-61 that crashed in 1968. All of these have been transferred/sold to MAAM for the rebuild of their Black Widow.

[OD/NG]

It would be fitting if the first flight would happen by 2018 as that would mark the 50th anniversary since the last airworthy example if the P51/F15 flew. Lets keep our fingers crossed....this has been a long time coming

That's definitely not going to happen. Honestly, I think 8 to 10 years from now is a realistic goal of it achieving first flight.

[C VEICH]

It would be fitting if the first flight would happen by 2018 as that would mark the 50th anniversary since the last airworthy example if the P51/F15 flew. Lets keep our fingers crossed....this has been a long time coming

That's definitely not going to happen. Honestly, I think 8 to 10 years from now is a realistic goal of it achieving first flight.

Thirty-five year long restoration. Now that is a marathon for sure!

[Chris Brame]

P-61s were used as Interceptors by Air Defense Command till 1949.

Yep - my dad got to see some of the last ones in service at Bofu AB (Japan) at that time:

[bdk]

3) My understanding is there was a considerable amount of spare parts leftover from the last owner of the last flying P-61 that crashed in 1968. All of these have been transferred/sold to MAAM for the rebuild of their Black Widow.

My understanding is that Yanks in Chino retains some P-61 control surfaces and other parts retained from an aircraft scrapped in Blythe in the 1960s. There is also a P-61 Turret under restoration to operating condition in California.

[OD/NG]

3) My understanding is there was a considerable amount of spare parts leftover from the last owner of the last flying P-61 that crashed in 1968. All of these have been transferred/sold to MAAM for the rebuild of their Black Widow.

My understanding is that Yanks in Chino retains some P-61 control surfaces and other parts retained from an aircraft scrapped in Blythe in the 1960s. There is also a P-61 Turret under restoration to operating condition in California.

Thanks bdk, that's good to know. I wasn't aware of either of those.

Do you have any more info on the P-61 turret - pictures, owner, website, etc.? Or is it something the owner wants to keep "off the radar"?

[Thomas_Mac]

I took a picture of a crate in the Yanks boneyard last October spray painted "P-61" but of course it alludes me now when I could use it. Our guide confirmed "P-61" meant the model designation and it wasn't a coincidence.

[bdk]

3) My understanding is there was a considerable amount of spare parts leftover from the last owner of the last flying P-61 that crashed in 1968. All of these have been transferred/sold to MAAM for the rebuild of their Black Widow.

My understanding is that Yanks in Chino retains some P-61 control surfaces and other parts retained from an aircraft scrapped in Blythe in the 1960s. There is also a P-61 Turret under restoration to operating condition in California.

Thanks bdk, that's good to know. I wasn't aware of either of those.

Do you have any more info on the P-61 turret - pictures, owner, website, etc.? Or is it something the owner wants to keep "off the radar"?

The turret restoration was being done here, in the back: http://www.tankland.com/exhibits.html

I don't think it is on display and I don't see it listed on their site. I think they have a Facebook page, you may want to ask there if you are interested or perhaps they will answer an email.

I understand the Yanks stuff consists of control surfaces and other smaller parts, but I have never seen them.