This P-47D-23 RA served in the Southwest Pacific. It was abandoned at Dobodura Airfield on Papua New Guinea in 1944. Later it was recorded as sitting in the yard of a house in Popondetta, the capital of Oro province in northern Papua New Guinea…
As the cobalt blue P-51C Thunderbird streaked across the 1949 Cleveland Air Race finish line with Joe DeBona in the pilot’s seat, the staggering average speed of 470 miles per hour set a Bendix record for piston airplanes. The Bendix race winner, owned by celebrity & WWII bomber pilot Jimmy Stewart, weighed just 6223 lbs and raced on a special mix of 150 octane gasoline produced by General Petroleum Company. Thunderbird was finished with 48 coats of primers and the iconic gloss cobalt blue paint.
Shillelagh flew an incredible 95 WWII missions with the 353rd Fighter Squadron 354th Fighter Group in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Nicknamed after an Irish club, Shillelagh / Shillelaugh (two different nose art spellings) embarked on an dizzying array of missions that included dive bombing, escort missions to Berlin, beach patrols over Normandy, scrambles, fighter sweeps, assaults, and patrols. Follow this incredible P-51B restoration and return to flight through Wings of the North Air Museum with the support of the Ken & Betty Dahlberg Foundation.
Lope’s Hope 3rd was a P-51C flown by Lt. Donald Lopez. Donald and Lope’s Hope 3rd served in the China-Burma-India theater with the 14th Air Force, 23rd Fighter Group, 75th Squadron. The 23rd Fighter Group was the descendent of the famous American Volunteer Group or Flying Tigers after the US entered the war…
Sierra Sue II is a World War II combat veteran P-51D-20NA. She was in very nearly original configuration at the beginning of the restoration. No “jump seat” behind the regular pilot seat has ever been installed. We believe the airframe was one of the most intact, original P-51s known…
An AT-10 is an advanced multi engine trainer produced by Beechcraft beginning deliveries in February of 1942. Because they were mostly wood, only one complete AT-10 exists worldwide at this time…
The iconic symbol of Japanese aviation during WWII, a Navy Type Zero Carrier based fighter designed by Mitsubishi. Allies referred to the nimble and maneuverable fighter as “Zeke” while facing off against it in the China India Burma (CBI) Theater and throughout the Pacific…
This particular Stearman N2S-1 Bureau Number 3347, Serial Number 75-1124 is one of five known to still exist that were flown by President George Herbert Walker Bush as a cadet in the Navy. He flew her in training in the cold Minnesota winter at Wold- Chamberlain Airfield…
The famous Red Tail P-51C, one of the most important educational tools of the Commemorative Air Force, sustained damage during a wheels-up landing in Dallas on February 3rd, 2016. It is very satisfying for those of us at AirCorps Aviation to be able to say she is back in the air…
The Harvard series of trainers were British Commonwealth Air Forces versions of the North American Aviation AT-6 Texan trainer used during and after World War II. North American delivered its first Harvards in October 1938 to the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
Twilight Tear is a war veteran P-51D-20, AAF serial number 44-63384. She was delivered to the 78th Fighter Group, 83rd Squadron at Duxford, England. This Mustang is restored in her original color scheme used by Pilot Lt. Hubert Davis, squadron code HL-W. Twilight Tear is named for a race horse…