P-47D Dottie Mae Update 12/15/2008

[Shay]

Oh boy. This thread sure got out of control.

Perhaps,........

There is one person that can remedy this situation by supplying more pictures and information though.

(taps his foot) Oh Jack c'mon,........your too close to the end to jeopardize your MVP candidacy.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Jack Cook]

I that case I'll wait till the 31st.
Besides I've only got 30 or so more

[big fatty]

Big Fatty's logic:

Dottie Mae (rotted and corroded) = Rosanne Bar

Strawberry Bitch (restored stock) = Jennifer Love Hewitt

Strega (Sooped up w/ aftermarket goodys) = Pam Anderson



Would that be accurate???


Shay

Semper Fortis

P.S. When they're really unrecognisibly overdone and plagued w/ problems (i.e Precious Metal) then they = Lindsay Lohan

don't quite think of Dottie Mea as rosanne bar, have never seen her skinny and you can't fix ugly
I'm sure the restoration team has taken into consideration every historical detail on this and it will be put back the way it was on its last flight with every restorable part from it being used and the rest which cannot be restored, be displayed for us to see.

[Pat Carry]

Jack, only 30???

[Obergrafeter]

Jack another thousand and no new avitar? Whats up, getting lazy or something. Heck another 3 or 4 years I'll have another thousand.

[Jack Cook]

I never even noticed.
It's not the total that counts but # per day and I'm not close on that one!

[mustangdriver]

Hey congrats Jack.

[camshaw]

that was a good show...good to see nobody was hurt and that everybody pitched in to preserve another piece of our worlds history....thanks Jack for letting us know about the documentary... a great plane,but as the show said, we shouldn't call it a JUG....hahaha...

[peter]

It didnt air for us here in canada.. IMe livid!!

[mlenoch]

Is there a way to acquire the old, original metal that will not go into the restoration? It may have markings on both sides that would be useful for a major "recreation" project in the future. I hope the old metal is not thrown out.
VL

[Rob Mears]

I've made that point before. I believe there was a corroded but intact Bf-109 airframe in Colorado not long ago that was dismantled and effectively scrapped after being used as a pattern for a new-build airframe. I'm sure the owner & restoration crew don't view their hard work in that unfavorable light, but in the end that's effectively what transpired. If not for the need to secure total provenance within the new airframe, the original bits might have survived in their totality to be reassembled once again as a very complete aircraft!

Maybe Dottie Mae isn't that far gone, but my concern is that the vast majority of her airframe might well suffer the same fate - as a dismantled pile of sheet metal, relegated outdoors into some scrap heap behind the hangar while her new "representative self" is magically ressurrected with a perfect new set of skins longerons and stringers - all in the name of maintaining her provenance in airworthy condition. The irony is almost comic! If there's a better example of "throwing the baby out with the bath water", I can't imagine what it would be.

People don't realize that there is no escaping the new age of information. A decade or two ago, a pilot/owner could get away with that kind of subterfuge, but as we move forward, it's going to be exponentially more difficult to hide the fact that the "touchstone value" for many of these planes has been effectively thrown out for the sake of airworthiness and investment potential. I'm under no illusions that many of the so called "veteran warbirds" flying today have nothing more than a nifty story to establish their provenance. Some of the less engaged minds out there might still lay their hand on a plane and think to themselves, "Capt. Johnson must have touched this very spot as he climbed aboard for that fateful mission", but there are far fewer fools among us with each passing day.

If the vast majority of Dottie Mae is retained during the restoration, then more power to the owner. If it turns into just another data plate restoration with an original bit here, and an original bit there, then the plane should just as well have been enshrined in a proper museum where its inherent value could be preserved for history's sake. We've obviously reached a point where we can crank out reproduction airframes until the cows come home if need be. I see no sense in destroying actual history so some owner/pilot can arrive at an airshow in a counterfeit warbird and pretend he's showcasing a historical artifact.

[Jack Cook]

Don't count on anything being throw out, wasted, scrapped, tossed back in the lake, made into razor blades,
sold to prison gangs for shanks, made into to hubcaps or any of the like.
Don't worry be happy

[Jack Cook]

I see no sense in destroying actual history so some owner/pilot can arrive at an airshow in a counterfeit warbird and pretend he's showcasing a historical artifact.

I you knew Jack Croul you would have never uttered those words

[gary1954]

Dayum

[Pat M]

That was a good program, but I would have liked to hear more of the story from the pilot who put it in the lake.....ie who was "Dottie Mae" and what really happened on the mission. They didn't really give a good look at the nose art. Pardon my ignorance, but what other aircraft has Mr. Croul restored?