Texas Flying Legends Museum

by Chuck Cravens

The P-47 fuselage fixture is a major project in itself!

Update

Parts fabrication and creation of a suitable dead-straight fuselage fixture are the current focal points this month as they have been for a while now. A P-47 has about three times as many parts as a Mustang!

Fuselage Parts Fabrication

Original parts used to make up the main fuselage longeron assembly and the cross tie between the wings.

In the image above, to the left are the top forward longeron reinforcements which end up positioned where the longeron meets the firewall. The middle, shorter pieces, called the firewall extensions, attach to the forward side of the firewall. The firewall is between them and the longeron reinforcement forging. Finally, the parts on the right are all made from the same basic forging, but are 6 distinctly different parts that are used to reinforce and connect the longeron with the cross ties.

This shot gives us another angle on the pieces described in the last photo.

Here is a closer view of the original forward upper fuselage longeron reinforcements.

Very early stage in the fabrication, the REN plastic three dimensional model has been machined and the aluminum replacements for the original forgings have been fabricated.

Here are new parts beside the originals in a slightly more advanced stage of fabrication.

As the new parts are produced, the originals are used as patterns and they help to visualize the relationship between parts that must be accurately duplicated.

Another angle; this would be looking at the cross ties from the rear.

Here we see the placement of the six different parts that were made from the same forging. Left, right, forward, middle, and aft locations dictate the way the parts differ. All are part of the fuselage longeron assembly.

All the fittings shown previously end up attached to a fuselage longeron. Here the longerons themselves are being CNC routed from REN plastic as a step in their fabrication.

Longeron stock is being routed to fabricate the longeron itself.

Some finished longeron parts await assembly.

Fixture Creation

Assemblies that will be used to form the fuselage fixture sit on a workbench. These are positioned lengthwise at the parting line between the upper and lower fuselage and form the rear inward curve of the fuselage just ahead of the tail cone.

Aug/Sept P-47 Update 2017

Texas Flying Legends Museum

Update

Fuselage Parts Fabrication

Fixture Creation

AirCorps Aviation

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