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P-47D 'Nellie B'


VH-Rock

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P-47 D Thunderbolt 'Nellie B' by VH-Rock - Special thanks to Keith for his excellent template.

 

Skin made for the Virtual Ultimate Fighters team.

 

Information from flyinglegends.com

 

This P-47D Thunderbolt was built in 1945 at Republic’s Evansville factory in Indiana. Serial No. 45-49192 the aircraft was built originally as a P-47D-40-RA. Detail of its service with the USAAF is not known, although it did serve with the Air Training Command during the last few months of the War, and was eventually stored at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma with the Air Material Command.

 

It was restored to full operational status at Hensley Field in Texas in 1952, after the Rio Pact had been signed by the USA, and was assigned to the Military Assistance Program in September of that year.

 

In 1953 it formed part of a group of P47’s which found their way to the Peruvian Air Force, who paid the princely sum of one dollar for each of the 25 aircraft it took fr om the USA. In the hands of the grateful Peruvians it gave good service until 1967, initially as a front line fighter and then as a fighter trainer, and having had an all over silver paint scheme applied. Six Thunderbolts, number 119 among them, were stored in the open at the Piura Air Base until 1969 when, after long and difficult negotiations, aviation historian and enthusiast Ed Jurist was able to recover them, with over 45 tons of spares, to the USA.

 

Each of the aircraft was given a new FAA registration, the TFC machine being allocated N47DD. The CAF had N47DA (Peruvian 114) in the air on the 26th August 1971, after four months of reassembly.

 

The 2nd of December the same year saw N47DB airborne again and by February 1974 all six were airworthy and being operated by the CAF from Harlingen, under their adoption; scheme. N47DD wore the colours of a 12th Air Force machine, from the 86th Fighter Group, 527th Fighter Squadron, which was based in Italy during the war.

 

In April of 1975, Ed Jurist sold all his aircraft holdings to restaurateur David Tallichet. The deal included a Mosquito, a Mustang, a Spitfire and the six Jugs. Each of the aircraft were flown to Barstow-Dagget Airport, by Tallichet himself, wh ere they were stored in the open for some time. The collection was effectively split up with the formation of Tallichets Yesterdays Air Force with wings of the organization being set up around the country.

 

N47DD was delivered to the Kansas Wing of the YAF, at Forbes Field in Topeka, in February of 1977. The silver paint applied by the CAF had worn and the Peruvian markings were showing through and the aircraft was looking rather disheveled. The airframe was stripped to bare metal by a team of volunteers, and the scheme and markings of Col David Schilling from the 56th FG, 62nd FS, were applied with the aircraft forming the star exhibit in the new YAF museum at Forbes field, which opened on July 2nd 1977. Two and a half years later, in January 1980, N47DD was sold by Tallichet to a B-52 pilot from Texas. Robin Collard had just restored and subsequently sold a P-51 Stump Jumper and was looking for a new challenge.

 

After some preparation, N47DD left Kansas on the 8th February 1980 bound for Del Rio, Texas, although it made a stop-over in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that night. The following morning, the engine refused to develop sufficient power to take off normally, and then failed completely leaving the ferry pilot no option but to force land in a field about half a mile from the end of the runway. Maintaining the Jugs safety record to the full, the pilot suffered only minor injuries. The Thunderbolt was badly damaged. Robin Collard intended to restore the aircraft to flying condition, although in June of 1980 all the parts, the two fuselages and the complete project were sold to Jon Ward. Everything was then shipped out to Truckee-Tahoe airport in Nevada, wh ere the massive rebuild job was started. Four years later, the project was sold on again, this time to Ward’s friend, Jim Kirby who, in turn, parted with it, to the benefit of The Fighter Collection, in late 1984. The aircraft was about 70% complete at this stage.

 

The aircraft was sent to Steve Hinton’s Fighter Rebuilders in Chino, California. Fighter Rebuilders had just completed a P-47G-15 for the Planes of Fame Museum at the time. With an overhauled P& W 2800 engine installed, and the metal work, systems fit and testing completed, in August 1985 the aircraft flew again for the first time since the crash of February 1980. It appeared at the 1985 Gathering of Warbirds at Medera, CA, USA in the hands of Steve Hinton himself. It was disassembled for shipping to the UK in October the same year and arrived at The Fighter Collection, Duxford on the 22nd of January 1986. Sold to Claire Aviation Inc and shipped to the USA in 01.03.2007. Returned to the UK in 2018 and operated by Fighter Aviation Engineering LTD.

 

Available here: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...files/3313163/

 

Rob.

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