Helldiver and Dauntless Restoration Update

[Bomber_12th]

Vulture's Row Aviation has posted updates for the month of March on their restoration of Jim Slattery's Helldiver and Dauntless. These restorations are being done to full authenticity and will fly regularly when completed, joining Jim Slattery's impressive collection of airworthy WWII aircraft (either currently flying or under restoration). Under restoration at Ezell Aviation is Mr. Slattery's Brewster F3A Corsair, and the Corsair, Helldiver, and Dauntless will all be finished in matching tri-color schemes when completed.

Curtiss Helldiver
http://vulturesrowaviation.com/helldiver3_2013.html

Douglas Dauntless
http://vulturesrowaviation.com/dauntless3_2013.html

[stansdds]

Wow!

[Landman]

Parts! Parts! Parts!

.

.

Parts and more parts.

OMG!

Restoring one of these is a much bigger undertaking than you would think.

[av8erjm]

Looking at the time it takes to restore one of these, then think back how America rose to the task and how many of both planes were rolling off the assembly lines in a short period of time. I'm afraid with all of our factories going overseas today if we'd be able to accompolish this again

[stansdds]

Parts! Parts! Parts!

.

.

Parts and more parts.

OMG!

Restoring one of these is a much bigger undertaking than you would think.

Yep, but these days instead of scavenging parts off of several airframes to make one flyable aircraft, new parts are often fabricated from scratch. The epoxy primer applied to many new restorations is also far superior to simply applying a priming paint.

[stiz]

this is why i dont get what people have against replicas ... the so called "restorations" are basically scratch built as well!!!

[SPman]

Impressive restorations, but, are there any original parts in the Helldiver structure?

[N2056]

The collection Jim Slattery has amassed is quite impressive. He has a number of his planes at the local airport, and there is supposedly going to be a museum built there. I have been lucky to see his most recent addition float over my house twice now...

[Willy]

John, what's the story on the Dauntless and how did they manage to keep the Navy from claiming it?

[Bomber_12th]

Willy, it was one of the few aircraft that the Navy gave to the company A&T Recovery in the early-mid 90's as payment following the larger number of Lake Michigan recoveries that they had done for the Navy during/up to that time (they have remained to this day the only company that the Navy uses to recover these aircraft). These were in turn sold and a couple of the others that were part of the lot were the two Wildcats that were returned to airworthy and actively flown (though one now is on static display at Pearl Harbor/Ford Island).

http://atrecovery.com/Pages/Airplanes.htm


Regarding both restorations, the goal is to use as many original parts as possible, and only remanufacture when needed. The Helldiver project was worse off than the Dauntless, and much of it seems to only be good enough for patterns (but that is still a very important and benneficial aspect to the project, and it being such an incredibly rare type, you just can't go out and find a better airframe that is available to start in on). One of the unique aspects of the Helldiver project is that it still had one of the extremely rare lower landing gear doors with it (considered as rare as hens teeth, and not even found on the NASM Helldiver). They were able to use the one surviving example to reconstruct the doors (both sides) and recently provided a set to the CAF Helldiver as well (which never had these fitted since original service). As of a month or two ago, the CAF Helldiver now has these lower landing gear doors fitted, so if you see it out and about this year, be sure to note how it is that much more complete than previously.

Another Helldiver that is undergoing restoration to airworthy is owned by Ron Fagen/Fagen Fighters, located in Granite Falls, MN. I believe Vulture's Row also has another Helldiver project that they will be working on once the current project is completed.

[Bomber_12th]

Robert, I love the photo of the Catalina! Quite an epic journey it and its crew made last year, flying from Africa, across the Atlantic to South America, and then up to California (with some very long legs). Besides the aircraft mentioned thus-far, I'm really looking forward to seeing his B-23 and P-38F flying when their restorations are completed!

[Daveroo]

i guess this is as good of a place to ask as any...or say this?....Col Anderson told me one day that the P-51C (or B?) that was "restored" not long ago..well i asked him where they had found a "C" airframe as i had been under the thought that they were mostly gone....his reply to me was...

"well they had the data plate and they created the plane around it".....John?..do you know anything about it?....like i said..its an olive drab ( i guess) P-51C "old Crow"..i believe its the one roush had built and they made a big toodoo about it when it was handed over to him.

[Willy]

Thanks John, sounds like this predates the Navy's decision that all wrecked Navy aircraft still belong to the Navy.

Glad to see the Dauntlesses. I like them about like you and Mustangs.

[mike_cyul]

The amount of work and skill that goes into restorations never ceases to amaze me. Just beautiful.

[Bomber_12th]

i guess this is as good of a place to ask as any...or say this?....Col Anderson told me one day that the P-51C (or B?) that was "restored" not long ago..well i asked him where they had found a "C" airframe as i had been under the thought that they were mostly gone....his reply to me was...

"well they had the data plate and they created the plane around it".....John?..do you know anything about it?....like i said..its an olive drab ( i guess) P-51C "old Crow"..i believe its the one roush had built and they made a big toodoo about it when it was handed over to him.

Dave,

What Bud mentioned is correct. The project originated from a P-51B-1-NA that had crashed into a lake in Florida in 1944, while on a training flight. In 2001, the aircraft was discovered, partially sticking out of the water. Only components were found (not a complete airframe), but because the components could be identified as a specific aircraft, it could be purchased as a wreck with an identity. What resulted was a completely new P-51B being built, with the identity attached to it from that aicraft that crashed in 1944. The same can be said of the P-51B "Impatient Virgin", which although it claims to be the original aircraft, the project got started after a dig in England recovered parts from the original (including the data plates), and this could be purchased as a wreck with an identity and thus 'restored' by building a new aircraft and assigning it the identity of the original WWII aircraft as well. In both aircraft, they do contain parts, here and there, that are original NAA manufactured, but in large part they are brand new (having had the chance to climb up and view the cockpit of "Impatient Virgin", they actually have the original data plate from the dig fitted in the cockpit where it would be). There is also two more new P-51B/C projects currently in the process of 'restoration' (one should be flying this summer, painted as "Berlin Express"), and these too are both very much new-build aircraft as well, using original identities from parts/wrecks.

Here's the complete story of the P-51B that Jack Roush owns and Lt. Dean Gilmore who was killed in the crash: http://www.swissmustangs.ch/72468.html

Kermit Weeks currently as his complete/original P-51A under restoration right now, and it will be painted in the markings of Lt. Dean Gilmore's 111th TRS Mustang, as a tribute. When the memorial was held for Dean Gilmore several years back, after the airframe was recovered, it was actually Kermit Weeks who made the Mustang fly-over during the memorial.