CAF P-63F King Cobra
Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:52 am
Just thought I'd start this thread so our Maintenance Officer will be able to keep everyone updated and post photos of the progress being made to return her to flight.
The P-63 will be coming to San Marcos from Nelson Ezell's, hopefully in a few days. The maintenance team that did such fantastic work on the B-25 "Yellow Rose" will be working on her in the CAF's WWII hangar. Stop by and see her in person, if you can, or watch this thread. Hopefully Ray Clausen, the wing maintenance officer, will be posting photos from time to time of things they have found and how they were fixed.
Just a guess, but the first photos will probably be of her being loaded and moved to the San Marcos Municipal Airport.
The P-63 will be coming to San Marcos from Nelson Ezell's, hopefully in a few days. The maintenance team that did such fantastic work on the B-25 "Yellow Rose" will be working on her in the CAF's WWII hangar. Stop by and see her in person, if you can, or watch this thread. Hopefully Ray Clausen, the wing maintenance officer, will be posting photos from time to time of things they have found and how they were fixed.
Just a guess, but the first photos will probably be of her being loaded and moved to the San Marcos Municipal Airport.
Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:31 am
Cool! I LOVE these kinds of threads!
Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:03 pm
As I write this the CenTex Wing Maintenance Team (or a couple of them at least) have flown the U-3 to Ezell's to look at the P-63 and make plans to bring her back to San Marcos.
Ray Clausen could be posting photos on this thread, as well as one started in the WIX Hangar, as early as tonight!
The plan is to keep everyone as up to date on the P-63F repairs as we did on the Yellow Rose. Probably even better updates, now that Ray is a WIX poster, and he has the ability that I don't have, to post photos!
Ray Clausen could be posting photos on this thread, as well as one started in the WIX Hangar, as early as tonight!
The plan is to keep everyone as up to date on the P-63F repairs as we did on the Yellow Rose. Probably even better updates, now that Ray is a WIX poster, and he has the ability that I don't have, to post photos!
Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:21 am
I haven't slept in 2 days, waiting for the photos 
Any news? I love this kinda thread as well. Is there a short story to how the P-63 arrived at this point? Was a restoration planned, or did routine maintenance uncover issues that needed to be addressed?
Chunks
Any news? I love this kinda thread as well. Is there a short story to how the P-63 arrived at this point? Was a restoration planned, or did routine maintenance uncover issues that needed to be addressed?
Chunks
Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:44 pm
This should be a great thread! I've loved this airplane since I first saw it more than 30 years ago. I've always thought it was the prettiest Cobra ever built...
Fri Aug 28, 2009 2:51 pm
Ray hasn't had a chance to post photos on here yet, but he did post a bunch on Photobucket, then mass E-mailed the link to wing and squadron members. I thought I had forwarded it here to work, as more often than not I can't post from my slow dial-up service at home. I'll try to get the link posted this weekend, unless Ray gets the chance.
The P-63F looks in much better shape than we thought it would. What got her to this point is she was taken to a shop in OK that was going to give the sponsors a good deal on an annual. Once he opened her up, he said there was a ton of corrosion problems and it was going to cost a lot of money. Work was put on hold while the sponsors started raising money. The decision was made to transfer the King Cobra to Ezell's, who has taken good care of her in the meantime. There's a little more to the story, but I'll let someone else fill in the details.
The P-63F looks in much better shape than we thought it would. What got her to this point is she was taken to a shop in OK that was going to give the sponsors a good deal on an annual. Once he opened her up, he said there was a ton of corrosion problems and it was going to cost a lot of money. Work was put on hold while the sponsors started raising money. The decision was made to transfer the King Cobra to Ezell's, who has taken good care of her in the meantime. There's a little more to the story, but I'll let someone else fill in the details.
Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:19 pm
Thanks for the info. I think that shop used to be in Texas 
Can't wait to see the pics from the move.
Chunks
Can't wait to see the pics from the move.
Chunks
Sat Aug 29, 2009 11:07 pm
Yes thats a nice airplane. I've never seen the single pipe exhaust on one before. Is that a mod or a standard option?
Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:42 pm
avenger2504 wrote:Yes thats a nice airplane. I've never seen the single pipe exhaust on one before. Is that a mod or a standard option?
I believe its modified from a P-38 manifold.
Rich
Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:20 pm
51fixer wrote:avenger2504 wrote:Yes thats a nice airplane. I've never seen the single pipe exhaust on one before. Is that a mod or a standard option?
I believe its modified from a P-38 manifold.
Rich
And its not whats on it now, it will have the twelve individual stacks.
Wed Sep 02, 2009 9:16 am
Ray Clausen has been busy with the Yellow Rose, getting her ready for her first flight, which will hopefully be this Saturday (5 SEP 09). He did get a photo album posted to Photobucket of the inspection trip to Nelson Ezell's where they checked out the P-63F to get an idea of the work she will need, and what it will take to get her to San Marcos.
Here's the link:
http://s747.photobucket.com/albums/xx12 ... 0Scouting/
Here's the link:
http://s747.photobucket.com/albums/xx12 ... 0Scouting/
Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:53 pm
Looking forward to yet another tech thread and on such a rare bird to boot! Coolness.. 
Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:06 am
The P-63F made the trip to the "Cobra Den" (CenTex Wing hangar) just fine! I saw her with my own eyes at last night's meeting. Well, at least the main part of the fuselage is there. The remaining pieces will join the rest toward the end of the month. The maintenance crew is chomping at the bit to get started on her!
Sorry I didn't get to take pictures, but some should be showing up shortly.
Sorry I didn't get to take pictures, but some should be showing up shortly.
Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:16 pm
I apologize for being so slow in posting here. I've been swamped trying to get the Yellow Rose flying again (We got her flying last Wednesday!) and I'm just beginning to get caught up a bit. We have a P-39/P-63 thread on the WIX Hangar list.
We haven't done much to the P-63 since we got her settled in, but now that the Rose is flying, we are anxious to get started on her. We will be sending a crew up to Breckenridge to Ezell's after the Midland airshow to retrieve the rest of the parts. I've looked the fuselage over closely and there are a couple of small nasties we'll have to fix, but overall its in very good shape. Much of our work will be cosmetic. I understand that the wings are sound but that I need to look closely at the vertical tail. We'll see.
In a nutshell and as I understand it, here's how the plane came to be in its current shape. It lived for several years at the Centex Hangar in San Marcos and the annual came due about 3 years ago. It went north to Oklahoma for the inspection. There was a fierce disagreement of costs and it sat and sat. Finally, CAF HQ in Midland sent a crew up to get it. It was dismantled and trucked to Nelson Ezell's facility in Breckenridge. Ezell's does truly world-class work but his cost exceeded what the aircraft sponsors could stand. Other groups began circling like buzzards wanting to get the plane away from the current sponsor group. This is where I enter the picture. I became the maintenance officer for both the Yellow Rose Squadron and the Centex Wing, and started building a strong crew of volunteer mechanics. We did extensive work on the Rose that Midland had deemed beyond our capability and the Rose was about ready to fly. Additionally, we worked quite a bit on the P-39 and it has become a very reliable aircraft, making every requested appearance in the past two years. So, guess I got a bit cocky and called up the P-63 group. I invited them to come see the Rose, the P-39, and the other Wing aircraft to see what a motivated crew and a razor-thin budget could do. The group agreed that we are fully capable of it and should do the work. Midland had been closely watching our work on several aircraft and they also agreed, so we headed up to get the plane.
I welcome any and all input from anyone with P-63 experience or knowledge of parts sources. The plane is very complete but you never know when you'll need something. Finding P-39 parts is a nightmare and I'm getting desperate for some brake parts. I hope the P-63 will be a little bit better.
We have (unofficially) renamed our hangar the Cobra Den as we are currently the only hangar in the world with both a flying P-39 and P-63. Only the plane's sponsors are looking forward more than us to the return to flight of the P-63F.
Here are a few photos of the return of the fuselage to the Cobra Den.
Loaded on the truck for the trip...
Arriving at the Cobra Den. The Rose in the background being checked out.
The custom sling bar worked well.
Reattaching the rolling legs. Mike Collier, head sponsor, (in light blue shirt) watches anxiously.
I'll try to update both the WIX Hangar and the Maintenance Hangar as work progresses.
We haven't done much to the P-63 since we got her settled in, but now that the Rose is flying, we are anxious to get started on her. We will be sending a crew up to Breckenridge to Ezell's after the Midland airshow to retrieve the rest of the parts. I've looked the fuselage over closely and there are a couple of small nasties we'll have to fix, but overall its in very good shape. Much of our work will be cosmetic. I understand that the wings are sound but that I need to look closely at the vertical tail. We'll see.
In a nutshell and as I understand it, here's how the plane came to be in its current shape. It lived for several years at the Centex Hangar in San Marcos and the annual came due about 3 years ago. It went north to Oklahoma for the inspection. There was a fierce disagreement of costs and it sat and sat. Finally, CAF HQ in Midland sent a crew up to get it. It was dismantled and trucked to Nelson Ezell's facility in Breckenridge. Ezell's does truly world-class work but his cost exceeded what the aircraft sponsors could stand. Other groups began circling like buzzards wanting to get the plane away from the current sponsor group. This is where I enter the picture. I became the maintenance officer for both the Yellow Rose Squadron and the Centex Wing, and started building a strong crew of volunteer mechanics. We did extensive work on the Rose that Midland had deemed beyond our capability and the Rose was about ready to fly. Additionally, we worked quite a bit on the P-39 and it has become a very reliable aircraft, making every requested appearance in the past two years. So, guess I got a bit cocky and called up the P-63 group. I invited them to come see the Rose, the P-39, and the other Wing aircraft to see what a motivated crew and a razor-thin budget could do. The group agreed that we are fully capable of it and should do the work. Midland had been closely watching our work on several aircraft and they also agreed, so we headed up to get the plane.
I welcome any and all input from anyone with P-63 experience or knowledge of parts sources. The plane is very complete but you never know when you'll need something. Finding P-39 parts is a nightmare and I'm getting desperate for some brake parts. I hope the P-63 will be a little bit better.
We have (unofficially) renamed our hangar the Cobra Den as we are currently the only hangar in the world with both a flying P-39 and P-63. Only the plane's sponsors are looking forward more than us to the return to flight of the P-63F.
Here are a few photos of the return of the fuselage to the Cobra Den.
Loaded on the truck for the trip...
Arriving at the Cobra Den. The Rose in the background being checked out.
The custom sling bar worked well.
Reattaching the rolling legs. Mike Collier, head sponsor, (in light blue shirt) watches anxiously.
I'll try to update both the WIX Hangar and the Maintenance Hangar as work progresses.
Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:39 pm
Ray, many thanks for taking the time to post updates.
Don't hesitate to post your parts needs for P-39 and P-63. Quite a few scroungers of no mean ability lurk here.
Don't hesitate to post your parts needs for P-39 and P-63. Quite a few scroungers of no mean ability lurk here.