Warbird Information Exchange

I am very excited to see the addition of the TP-40 to the tour, I'll have to start digging for change in the couch cushions and saving up for a ride.

Does anyone have an ID on the airframe? This does not appear to be the P-40K they acquired from Evergreen, anyone have an update on that one?

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This is a complete rebuild of the Evergreen aircraft.

I assume that the fuselage is the one built in Australia (to factory TP-40N spec) that had been an advertised project for a number of years.

That is why it’s not good to make assumptions!

The plane that came from Evergreen was a very interesting aircraft historically and was a true composite airframe. The origin of the fuselage was discovered, as was the origin on one of the wing halves. The story will come out in published form at some point, but the fuselage was converted to TP-40N configuration which was not a big deal because the fuselage was an N model to begin with. Virtually everything we “knew” of the aircraft was incorrect. California Aerofab folks are the true historians regarding P-40 parts and chunks in the states, and discovered so much about the plane I can’t wait for the revealing of the story. This is one case where the paperwork will be corrected and the plane becomes a correct representative of the type due to the modern research of a conscientious and first class restoration shop.

Wow, that is quite a transformation! I look forward to hearing the full story.

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Not saying it didn't happen that way, but that's a lot of work to go from a short-tail to a long-tail, plus the full dual cockpit setup, dual controls, factory stock TP type canopies, etc., all in the course of only a year. It was mid summer of 2017 when it was trucked out of Evergreen (at the time it was reported that the fuselage would be shipped to Australia for conversion to TP configuration), and now there are photos of the TP-40N fuselage and wings already mated in California. That seems like a lot of work to go through when there was already a TP-40N fuselage being done in Australia at the time, identical to what can be seen in the pics.

You are right, but it is amazing truly what is possible now in the restoration game. The wing was actually the biggest part of the job in my opinion, and was done breathtakingly fast. There was no switch, as the original N fuselage had been made to look like something it was not. The rectification of that, and the rework of the fuselage sourced from Evergreen with its distinct history was important to the Foundation. The original conversion of TP-40’s probably took a matter of weeks during the war. Today we do it in a matter of months. They would probably wonder what all the fuss was about and why it takes so long.

Great info Joe! Looking forward to another informative article! Your article on Toulouse Nuts was great!

Thank you, Joe, for the information you've shared. I look forward to learning more about it.