by Chuck Cravens Lining up the wing and fuselage, almost ready to join. Update Some very significant events have happened this last month. Many assume our restoration shop is at the airport but that isn’t the case. It is 8 miles away in an industrial park. So, along with the usual restoration shop images, we...Continue Reading

AirCorps Aviation, a world leader in warbird restoration, parts manufacturing, and aircraft maintenance, welcomed five new faces to the team in the first quarter of 2017.Continue Reading

by Chuck Cravens This is a front view of fuselage with lower cowl former and also note that the side cowl former has been dimpled and the Dzus springs installed. Update Last month’s update was produced early to have a current status report at AirVenture in Oshkosh, so this month’s update covers a slightly longer...Continue Reading

Texas Flying Legend Museum’s by Chuck Cravens Lope’s Hope 3rd sits ready for a visit by Dr. Donald Lopez, Jr. & Laura Lopez Update… The restoration is nearing completion as you will see in this month’s update. Many more visually interesting operations happen near the end, so this time there are many photos.  We will...Continue Reading

by Chuck Cravens She’s looking more like a flyable Mustang every day. Update Some skins and systems are in process this month and are nearing completion. Firewall forward area before the skins are fitted shown here. Rear angle view in this shot, she once again matches her name. Rudder hinge and pushrod shown  before the...Continue Reading

Texas Flying Legends Museum by Chuck Cravens Texas Flying Legend’s Museum: Honoring Our Past–Inspiring the Future.     Update This month marked the end of the repairs conducted at the AirCorps Aviation restoration shop.  The repaired Zero tail section was sent to Tri-State Aviation in Wahpeton, North Dakota, for reconnecting to the rest of the...Continue Reading

Texas Flying Legends’ Museum by Chuck Cravens Update It is an exciting time in the restoration of Lope’s Hope 3rd. As we showed in the last update, the wings have arrived.  The wings and fuselage were joined this month to finalize all the fitting.  After mating the two major assemblies, many control runs, plumbing, and...Continue Reading

Texas Flying Legend’s Museum by Chuck Cravens Update The renovation of the A6M-2b Zero, Last Samurai, is accelerating as everything comes together.  We will revisit the replica fuselage guns, now completed and ready for final finish.  We will also see skins being made and the structure work pretty much completed. The last section of the...Continue Reading

by Chuck Cravens The Red Tail mounted in its fixture at the AirCorps Aviation restoration shop with another rare C model, Lope’s Hope 3rd in the background. We are very privileged to have two P-51Cs in the shop at once, truly an unusual sight! Update In last month’s Red Tail update we left off with...Continue Reading

Texas Flying Legends by Chuck Cravens An angled view takes in the tail cone, covered in protective plastic.  It eventually ends up attached to the forward fuselage at this end. Update The main focus for the P-47 project this month was preparation for beginning the fuselage assembly.  In order to do that, a precise fixture...Continue Reading