CAF SoCal Wing to Rebuild P-47N

[Dan K]

WOOT! Great news for Jug fans!

https://www.cafsocal.com/another-thorou ... he-stable/

[JohnTerrell]

Great news, Dan, thank you for sharing this!

[Clifford Bossie]

That is great news. Never can have too many Jugs!

[marine air]

The good news is that a chapter picked it up. The Dixie Wing was first to show interest. If a chapter hadn’t picked it up, it was to be sold to an outside purchaser that was eager to get it.
Now it will get a cash infusion and will eventually fly again. Is this the only P-47 in the CAF inventory?

[Pat Carry]

[CAPFlyer]

Glad to see it staying with the CAF. When Cavanaugh's gave it up I know everyone there was sad to see it go, but it was the right thing to do. With continued issues with their own restorations getting finished, the failure of the bond package to help get the new museum built, and other factors, I know it was a hard decision, but it was going to become a Weeks' project (done in 25 years) if they didn't.

I was told once how "close" the project was, but can't remember now as it's been several years, but the guys in SoCal should be able to make relatively quick progress as my understanding was that most of the work was with re-assembly and the fitting of things back the the airframe. Most of the heavy metal work was complete prior to it going to Dallas. I don't know if the cowling had been finished and I'm not aware of the status of the engine or prop, as those were all totalled in the fire, but the plane looked in great shape from the pictures I was shown of it as they packed it up in Sherman for movement.

[b29flteng]

I've seen the project, the fuselage appears to be close to finished, structure work, the wings are still a mess.

[marine air]

It looks great but no doubt will need a lot of funds to be completed. Some of the P-47s have had to have their spars replaced. If you look at the crash photos, the fire caused the wings to fail and collapse. So there’s a tremendous amount of new build work required. Same firewall forward. Where do you find motor mounts, motor carriage, accessories, cowlings, etc. for a P-47N?
It will fly again but will be a slow expensive process.

[kalamazookid]

Glad to see this project getting new life. We can never have enough airworthy Thunderbolts! Not too many -Ns around period either, so it will be especially nice to have another complete example.

[Invader26]

Please remind me where all the other CAF T'Bolts went...

[JohnTerrell]

This particular Thunderbolt, P-47N 44-89136/N47TB, is the only flying example that I believe the CAF has ever actually owned themselves. However, I recall that the CAF also owned the un-restored P-47N 44-89213 (the old "Museum of Speed" example) for a while, and that they kept the wings from it for use with restoring 44-89136/N47TB and sold the fuselage - the un-restored fuselage of 44-89213, now with a private owner, is in storage at the Dakota Territory Air Museum.

The P-47's that were purchased and imported by Ed Jurist and were re-assembled & flown briefly with the CAF (1973/74), before each being sold on to David Tallichet and further owners:

45-49167 - Today on static display at the USAF Museum.
45-49181 - Today on static display at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo.
45-49192 - Today operational as "No Guts, No Glory", recently sold to a new owner based at Duxford, UK.
45-49205 - Today on static display at the Palm Springs Air Museum.
45-49385 - Today operational with Westpac Restorations in 78th FG colors.
44-90471 - Today operational with the Erickson Aircraft Collection as "Hairless Joe".

...the subject aircraft of this thread, 44-89136, was obtained by Lloyd Nolen/CAF as early as 1963.

Here is one of the classic photos of all six of the Ed Jurist P-47's flying in formation with CAF pilots, which I've scanned from one of my copies of the old CAF "blue books". From top to bottom is: 45-49385 (N47DF), 45-49192 (N47DD), 45-49167 (N47DB), 44-90471 (N47DA), 45-49181 (N47DC), and 45-49205 (N47DE). This early in the warbird movement/early 70's, I've always been impressed with how accurate the color schemes were that were applied to these aircraft.

Last edited by JohnTerrell on Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:32 am, edited 4 times in total.

[marine air]

I guess I’ll always remember theCAF brochure that had seven T-Bolts flying in formation! From the 1970’s. Back then a “repulsive Thunderbox” was trouble you could find across the border in Mexico at the annual October fly in at Harlot’ngen, Texas.

[Randy Wilson]

About the other CAF-related P-47s, the following is from "The History of the Ghost Squadron" and my memory.

"In 1962, the CAF's search for a Thunderbolt ended at Managus, Nicaragua, where a P-47N was purchased from the Air Force of that country. On February 7, 1963, it was flown non-stop from Guatemala to Brownsville, Texas by Colonel Dick Disney. The flight was made without the convenience of radios or flight instruments. Following a couple of weeks of maintenance, this P-47 flew in the first CAF Air Show in March of the same year." The aircraft suffered damage in 1971 after an engine failure, suffering damage to the left wing. The aircraft was restored and flown later. The current damage came in an accident in more recent times.

In 1969, CAF member Ed Jurist purchased six P-47D models from Peru, and these were restored and flown by the CAF. These however were not owned by the CAF, to the best of my knowledge, and they were operated as a sponsor group called the Thunderbolt Squadron. After restorations lasting 4-5 years, the sixth P-47D returned to flight on February 20, 1974. Sometime after 1975, these aircraft were sold.

Randy

[Combatmech]

Thanks Randy!!
I worked on the airplane at CFM. The airplane still had the blue camo and needed some TLC. I'll have to see if I have any pictures from that time frame.
Remember John Luther flying it like no tomorrow.

It's great SoCal will get it.

[p51]

Good news! There can never be enough Thunderbolts in the air!

Does anyone know how many times all these Jugs were flown together? I've seen that photo in the past and I'd always wondered how many times this sight was seen or if it was a one-time-only flight...