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Here is the latest update on the efforts to restore the Dakota Territory Air Museum's P-47D Thunderbolt 42-27609 at AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota. (photo by John LaTourelle)
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Warbird Digest has just received the October, 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!
The process of riveting the leading edge onto the wing has begun. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
Update
The work on the P-47 this month centered upon the wings, as it has done for a while now. The leading edges are being riveted on permanently. Also progressing nicely are the cockpit installations. In another area of the restoration shop, main landing gear components are undergoing inspection and restoration to airworthiness.
Cockpit
Aaron has been working hard to install various electrical components and instruments in the cockpit.
The instrument panel is nearly complete. The natural metal switch is the magneto switch. The open hole is for the fuel quantity gauge. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
This is the water injection switch on the top of the throttle. The switch was changed from an earlier push button switch that had to be held down during the entire time water injection was being used, which made trimming the airplane for the increased power obtainable with water injection very difficult. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The change to a switch that remained on when it was positioned is described in this combat evaluation report from the 35th Fighter Group. This change became a technical order applicable to all P-47D-23s and was incorporated at the factory for later versions. (image via AirCorps Aviation)
The main switch box with all the wires led into it is ready for the switch panel. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
This is the main switch panel, ready to be wired and installed in the main switch box. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The instrument panel is nearly completed. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The magneto switch is the large silver lever visible here. The bracket attached to the bottom center of the instrument panel will hold the parking brake handle assembly. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The fuel selector valve for the drop tanks is positioned to draw from the centerline belly tank in this photo, with left and right wing drop tanks as the other two options. This switch is located on the cockpit floor to the left of the pilot’s seat. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
Firewall Forward
The prop control box, ground power plug receptacle, and the generator relay junction box, were the firewall forward components installed this month.
This relay box is for the Curtiss Electric prop. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The ground power unit plugs into this receptacle. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
This is the generator relay junction box. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
Wings
Various reinforcement panels were assembled and riveted onto the wings this month, but the main item of progress involved riveting on the leading edges. They are the first portions of outer wing skin to be completed.
Corey assembles the reinforcing panel for the spent cartridge ejection ports. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
This reinforcing panel is located on the bottom of the right wings. The three bare metal access panels can be removed to adjust the downlink cylinder, and gain access to the landing gear retraction assemblies. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The panel on the left wing is similar except it has an opening for the landing light assembly. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The gun bay is complete up to the point of actual gun installation. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The outer leading edge has been riveted together. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
This angle shows the internal structure of the outer leading edge. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The inner section of the leading edge has also been permanently riveted together. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The dull areas are from an acid wash that is used wherever parts are spot welded. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
This is the cabin fresh air inlet, which will be installed in the leading edge of the right wing. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
In this view of the rear side of the leading edge, the large hole to the left is where the fresh air inlet will be riveted in. The U-shaped bracket on the nearest rib section is the gun camera mounting bracket. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The final skin trimming of this inner leading edge section has been done and the assembly is ready for permanent installation on the wing. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The outer end of the leading edge section is clecoed in place, ready for riveting. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The entire leading edge is clecoed in place. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The riveting has been completed on the outer leading edge. This is the first section of wing skin to be permanently installed. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The inner leading edge is clecoed in place, ready for rivets. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The process of riveting the leading edge onto the wing has begun. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
Landing Gear
Lance has inspected several original landing gear strut assemblies and selected the best examples for restoration.
The P-47 main landing gear strut is almost as long as this eight foot table. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The fitting on this end of the main landing gear is the transfer valve. When the P-47 main gear is retracted, it compresses to fit in the wheel wells. A cam inside the gear strut actuates this transfer valve, which allows the hydraulic fluid to be released into the upper chamber of the strut. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
This part of the upper landing gear has the pivot shafts that the gear rotates on as it retracts. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The large lever (far left) above the pivot shaft is for the landing gear downlock. The downlock cylinder pushes a large pin into the hole on the upper end of the lever in this image. The pin locks the landing gear in the down position. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
The inner and outer cylinders are being disassembled in this image. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
Much restoration on the fork and axle assembly remains to be done. (photo via AirCorps Aviation)
Republic Aviation Factory, Evansville, Indiana
This month, the Evansville P-47 Foundation has been successful in their quest to return an Evansville-built P-47 back to the city of its birth in Indiana. P-47D-40RA 44-90368 Tarheel Hal was built in the Republic’s Evansville, Indiana factory and accepted by the USAAF on May 7, 1945. The foundation obtained this Thunderbolt from the Lone Star Flight Museum after many years of searching. Fundraising efforts to make the move permanent continue.
The Republic Aviation Evansville factory as it appeared in 1943. (Photo courtesy of the Harold Morgan collection)
This is the very first P-47 assembled at Evansville, the photo is dated September 8, 1942. (Photo courtesy of the Harold Morgan collection)
The first Evansville P-47 was christened “Hoosier Spirit”. (Photo courtesy of the Harold
Morgan collection)
Workers and guests celebrate the first flight of the “Hoosier Spirit”on September 19, 1942. (Photo courtesy of the Harold Morgan collection)
After the flight of Hoosier Spirit, the Evansville production line started on October 25, 1942. (Photo courtesy of the Harold Morgan collection)
The women who worked as P-47 gun assemblers were nicknamed the “Gun Molls”. (Photo courtesy of the Harold Morgan collection)
The “Gun Molls” were immortalized on the cowl of this P-47. (Photo courtesy of the Harold Morgan collection)
This photo of the factory floor was taken on April 15, 1944, about one month after 42-27609 rolled out the factory door. (Photo courtesy of the Harold Morgan collection)
The early P-47s required 22,927 man hours of labor and cost $68,750. By September of 1944, the man hours had been reduced to 6,290 and the cost to $45,699 per Thunderbolt. The Evansville factory produced 6,242 P-47 Thunderbolts during WWII. Indiana designated the Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt as the official state aircraft in 2015.
And that’s all for this month. We wish to thank AirCorps Aviation, Chuck Cravens for making this report possible! We look forwards to bringing more restoration reports on progress with this rare machine in the coming months. Be safe, and be well
Richard Mallory Allnutt's aviation passion ignited at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow. Raised in 1970s Britain, he was immersed in WWII aviation lore. Moving to Washington DC, he frequented the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, meeting aviation legends.
After grad school, Richard worked for Lockheed-Martin but stayed devoted to aviation, volunteering at museums and honing his photography skills. In 2013, he became the founding editor of Warbirds News, now Vintage Aviation News. With around 800 articles written, he focuses on supporting grassroots aviation groups.
Richard values the connections made in the aviation community and is proud to help grow Vintage Aviation News.