Dakota Territory Air Museum’s P-47 Update

Dakota Territory Air Museum’s P-47 Update – February, 2020

Warbird Digest has just received the February, 2020 report from Chuck Cravens concerning the restoration of the Dakota Territory Air Museum’s P-47D Thunderbolt 42-27609 at AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota. We thought our readers would be very interested to see how the project has progressed since our last article on this important project. So without further ado, here it goes!

01 IMG 8262 — Aaron works at system installation in the P-47 cockpit. (photo by Chuck Cravens)

Update

Wing work and fuselage systems installation again took center stage in the restoration effort this month. Much of the fitting of wing parts has been completed and in the coming weeks, the wing will be broken down for internal painting, final riveting, and assembly.

Fuselage Systems

Work on installing various systems in the fuselage continues. A few of the areas worked on in the fuselage were hydraulic lines, tail wheel lock system, and the fuel selector.

02 D1B9790 — In a look through one of the fuselage access panels, we can see the hydraulic lines that have been installed. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

03 IMG 8013 — More hydraulic lines, the two routed to the left are for the main landing gear retract system, those routed to the right are the tail wheel retract lines. The lowest assembly is the flap relief valve. (photo by Chuck Cravens)

04 IMG 8015 — The tail wheel lock control lever is mounted on the cockpit floor, just to the right side of the pilot’s seat. (photo by Chuck Cravens)

05 IMG 8016 — Installed on the floor just ahead and to the left of the pilot seat is the fuel selector valve. (photo by Chuck Cravens)

06 IMG 8017 — Here is a detailed shot of the fuel selector. (photo by Chuck Cravens)

07 IMG 8018 — The three trim controls shown in close up, the tall one is the rudder trim, the knob to the right is the aileron trim, and the wheel at the bottom controls elevator trim. (photo by Chuck Cravens)

08 IMG 8019 — These are the chains and cables running rearward from the trim console. (photo by Chuck Cravens)

09 D1B9789 — The trim console’s relative position in the cockpit is nicely clarified by this image. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

10 D1B9791 — This view shows some of the plumbing lines exiting the fuselage. The two larger ones are hydraulic main landing gear retract lines, the smaller ones are pitot static lines. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

Wings

As wing assembly continues, parts are still under fabrication. Fitting various reinforcement plates related to the gun installation was part of this month’s restoration progress. Skin fitting for the leading edge has also begun.

10 D1B9779 — Jacob sands a form for the inner wing trailing edge skin to remove any tooling marks. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

11 D1B9783 — The CDC router is being used to create REN plastic forms for pressing the trailing edge and flap ribs. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

12 D1B9784 — .The shapes being machined are easy to see in this view (photo via Chuck Cravens)

Wing Gun Installation Parts

12 D1B9724 — The reinforcing plate for the case ejection openings has been fabricated and fitted in place. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

13 D1B9717 — Here is how the case ejection openings look from the top side of the wing structure. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

14 D1B9722 — Another component of the armament equipment is the ammunition boxes. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

14 D1B9723 — A closer look from below the wing shows the rows of ammunition box chutes that feed the four .50 caliber guns in each wing. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

15 D1B9719 — The ammunition boxes are more complete in this shot from the top side of the wing. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

16 D1B9731 — The part covered in blue protective plastic is a reinforcement plate. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

17 D1B9732 — Here is a closer look at the reinforcement plate. Its purpose is to strengthen the area around the inspection plate openings and the larger circular opening that will hold the landing light assembly (left wing only). (photo via Chuck Cravens)

17 D1B97091 — The landing gear mount box and the reinforcing plate are visible from the top side of the wing. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

18 D1B9733 — Randy is mugging a little between the two wing fixtures. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

19 D1B9720 — Robb works on wing parts at a bench. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

20 D1B9710 — We can see what was on the bench in this shot. The curved aluminum parts are leading edge skin sections that go in the gun bay area. (photo via Chuck Cravens)

Southwest Pacific P-47 Combat Tactic

This month I thought it might be interesting to include some pages from an aerial combat tactics manual published by the Fifth Air Force in August of 1945. Margo Prudente, Major Bill Dunham’s daughter, generously allowed us to scan this official Army Air Force manual.

The portion of the manual written by Colonel Edwin Doss, Commander of the 35th Fighter Group is reproduced here.

The 35th Fighter Group was the only Fifth Air Force group flying P-47D-23s in combat before very late August/early September according to what is legible in the 5th Air Force squadron history records.

That timeline makes it the most probable group for 42-27609’s assignment because this D-23 arrived in Australia on May 8, 1944 and was taken out of service on September 18, 1944. It is one of the earlier Thunderbolts in the first production run of 800 P-47D-23RAs. The first D-23 is serial number 42-27389, making 42-27609 the 221st P-47D-23RA of that production run.

12 to 1

This booklet has been republished (ISBN-10: 1576380645) and also appears to have been used as a source for both Tony Holmes’ Twelve to One’ V Fighter Command Aces of the Pacificand in the book Fighter Combat Tactics in the Southwest Pacific Area by Ray Merriam.

And that’s all for this month. We wish to thank AirCorps Aviation, Chuck Cravens (words and images) as well as John LaTourelle (images) for making this report possible! We look forwards to bringing more restoration reports on progress with this rare machine in the coming months.

Is the P-47 Thunderbolt your favorite airplane? Make sure to purchase issue #73 of Warbird Digest featuring the beautiful “Dottie Mae”