Dakota Territory Air Museum’s P-47 Update – October, 2018

The Dakota Territory Air Museum’s P-47D Thunderbolt 42-27609 is progressing well in its restoration at AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota. Here is the latest report from Chuck Cravens on the aircraft's present status. (photo by John LaTourelle)
Aircorps Art Dec 2019


WarbirdsNews has just received the October, 2018 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!


001 p47d avg 20180925 p3
This very large passageway is the carburetor and intercooler air intake duct. The strangely shaped structure is the main cool air intake to the intercooler. The upper end in this image leads forward to the air intake at the bottom of the cowl. The smaller opening on the right leads back to the air cleaner just ahead of the turbine. The large opening face down on the table is where the duct attaches to the intercooler. (photo by John LaTourelle)

Update 

A restoration like this one requires repeated fitting, trial assembly, disassembly for painting, and eventually permanent reassembly. This month was all about details as the guys take care of final touches before disassembling the upper fuselage for deburring and paint. Once this is finished, the next step will be permanent reassembly. 

Ducts, Turbos and Intercooler 

We’ve shown many images of the ducting and intercooler because they are part of a very complex system that will be made functional in this P-47 restoration. The turbo-supercharger system was responsible for the stellar high altitude performance of the Thunderbolt. 

002 p47d avg 20180925 p42
The intercooler exit doors have been fitted. They have enough paint on them to identify them as coming from a P-47 still in service after January 14, 1947. On that date, the red stripe was ordered to be added to the bar section of the insignia. It was most likely an Air National Guard P-47 unit. (photo by John LaTourelle)

003 p47d avg 20180925 p19
The exit doors on both sides of the fuselage have the red paint. (photo by John LaTourelle)

004 p47d avg 20180925 p46
The image of Randy, Chad and the entire forward fuselage from tail cone joint to the firewall gives an idea of the complexity of this restoration. (photo by John LaTourelle)

005 p47d avg 20180913 p31
The right side of the fuselage clearly shows how Republic designed the assembly to be done in upper and lower halves. The completed, permanently riveted lower half contrasts sharply with the unskinned structural members of the upper portion. (photo by John LaTourelle)

006 p47d avg 20180913 p4
Here we have the rear face of the intercooler and the ducting diagram. (photo by John LaTourelle)

007 p47d avg 20180925 p41
The forward side of the intercooler faces the corrugated zinc chromated main fuel tank covers. (photo by John LaTourelle)

008 p47d avg 20180925 p18
The ducting to the exit doors as it appears from the rear of the fuselage. (photo by John LaTourelle)

009 p47d avg 20180925 p20
This angle shows the same ducting connecting the intercooler and the exit doors from above. (photo by John LaTourelle)

010 p47d avg 20180925 p44
The turbo-supercharger housing section is remarkably large, like most P-47 parts are! (photo by John LaTourelle)

011 p47d avg 20180913 p26
Rob is putting finishing touches on the upper intercooler ducting. (photo by John LaTourelle)

012 p47d avg 20180913 p28
We appear to have our ducts in a row! (photo by John LaTourelle)

013 p47d avg 20180913 p9
This detail shot shows the support brace for the radio shelf. (photo by John LaTourelle)

014 p47d avg 20180913 p7
The intercooler exit door control shaft bracket is clecoed together, the shaft is visible at the bottom. (photo by John LaTourelle)

015 p47d avg 20180913 p8
The same bracket viewed from the exterior side of the fuselage. (photo by John LaTourelle)

016 p47d avg 20180913 p20
Up close to the bracket we can see the historically accurate 40’s Alclad logo applied to the aluminum. Alclad was an Alcoa Aluminum product. The AN-A-13 ALCLAD logo is applied after the modern logo has been stripped from the new aluminum stock. (photo by John LaTourelle)

017 p47d avg 20180913 p10
Reynolds Aluminum’s WWII logo naturally differed from the Alcoa Alclad logo and both vendors supplied material for the P-47. Their version of aluminum alloy sheet with an unalloyed 100% aluminum outer layer to fight corrosion was called Pureclad. (photo by John LaTourelle)

018 p47d avg 20180913 p18
The red circled F 138 digits are inspector stamps. (photo by John LaTourelle)

019 p47d avg 20180913 p17
This is an upper fuselage baffle at the upper crosstie station. (photo by John LaTourelle)

020 p47d avg 20180913 p16
The part number is clearly stamped on this casting. It is the support assembly for the pilot’s hydraulic controls. (photo by John LaTourelle)

021 p47d avg 20180913 p14
The inspection stamps attest to the bolts having been properly torqued on this section of the lower firewall. Each inspection stamp that would have been used in the Evansville plant is faithfully duplicated in the restoration. (photo by John LaTourelle)

022 p47d avg 20180913 p12
Viewed from the exterior, this boxlike structure is a panel assembly, cockpit wall-right hand lower rear. (photo by John LaTourelle)

023 p47d avg 20180913 p11
89F11132 is the bottom fuselage frame at station #285. The green ring is the turbo-supercharger mounting ring. (photo by John LaTourelle)

024 p47d avg 20180925 p24
Randy works at fitting a section of a fuselage longeron. (photo by John LaTourelle)

025 p47d avg 20180925 p26
Skin sections are fitted and clecoed to the forward section of the “razorback”. (photo by John LaTourelle)

026 p47d avg 20180925 p39
The opposite side shows in this photo. The triangular structure with the forging at the top is the rollover protection assembly. (photo by John LaTourelle)

027 p47d avg 20180925 p29
Chad works on a piece of skin located on the upper fuselage in front of the cockpit. (photo by John LaTourelle)

028 p47d avg 20180925 p30
Chad fits the skin to the forward top fuselage frame. (photo by John LaTourelle)

029 p47d avg 20180925 p38
One of the fuel filler openings is visible in the lower center of this image. (photo by John LaTourelle)


Bonus Images


And that’s all for this month. We wish to thank AirCorps Aviation, Chuck Cravens (words) 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”

73

Issue #73

5950b96b53fca257ead878469b70e12a?s=150&d=mp&r=g

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.

Array
About Richard Mallory Allnutt (Chief Editor) 1060 Articles
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.

Be the first to comment

Graphic Design, Branding and Aviation Art

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*