marine air wrote:
This is a really special airplane. I think it's only the third razorback to be restored to flying and the other two were forty years ago. It's a combat veteran and restored in markings appropriate to where it served. The Thunderbolt has an excellent safety record in civilian hands and maybe this one will fly frequently. It will be a crowd pleaser and is especially authentic. Last, even though it's a one seater, it's capable of being converted to a second seat like the other two. This slightly increases our chance of riding in a Thunderbolt someday.
Right now, only Planes of Fame's P-47 has a second seat. The cockpit of that P-47G was restored to very stock condition by Tom Camp, five years ago, and now has a faux armor plate with removable bulkhead cover so that it looks fully stock when being flown without a passenger, and can be quickly transitioned to allow for a passenger flight.
Charles Somer's P-47G "Snafu", which did have a second seat when restored as "Little Demon" by Ray Stutsman, had the seat removed/returned to stock when restored by The Fighter Collection. That restoration was completed in 2012.
The Dakota Territory Air Museum's P-47D is fully stock in every detail throughout, and even includes an extra fuel tank in the fuselage that was added to it and other razorback P-47s in the Pacific (it would be absolute sacrilege to change anything about it).
It may look overly shiny to some, but there is no polish, it's just the way new aluminum looks with mil finish (same per original factory-new in 1944). The more the metal panels have to be formed into shape, the more blemishes/duller the metal becomes, which is noted around areas such as fillets, fairings, cowl, etc. I don't think they'll let the metal oxidize too much on an aircraft worth $7-$8 million (rough guess), much less use aviation fuel to clean it (as was commonly done during the war).
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