Flying Tigers/FedEx P-40E to Ford Island Museum

[bdk]

Maybe old news but I had this e-mail forwarded to me:

To one and all;
It only took three days to put her all back together and everything works! We pulled P-40E AVG #67 out of Hangar 79 at about 4:00 PM local time yesterday to a growing crowd of starry eyed on lookers. It looks beautiful out on the grass next to "The Ford Island Tower".
All this would never had happened if it were not for the generosity of Mr. Fred Smith of FedEx. The crew of John and Cory from Fighter Rebuilders LLC; Tom Camp a former owner of this P-40E; John W. Hazlet, the last guy to fly it, and David Sutton from FedEx. What a delightful group of guys, but then again, if you love airplanes it is sort of in your blood.
As for things this P-40 is famous for....it was the P-40 John Belushi used on the movie "!941" and in the movie, "Tora - Tora - Tora". Everything works, the engine only has 50+ hours since new in 1944, the landing gear works as do all of the electronics. It will remain in flyable condition from now until I'm long gone.
To say that I am having the time of my life would not be an exaggeration. The staff that I work with are some of the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and every one of them are characters in their own right. I fit right in!
Mahalo........Jim Goodall
Associate Curator
Pacific Aviation Museum
Historic Hangar 37
Ford Island, Pearl Harbor
319 Lexington Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96818

[warbird1]

Thanks for the info, bdk. News to me, however is the associate curator, Jim Goodall. Is that the same Jim Goodall - internationally renown expert of all things stealth, black projects and Area 51?

[John Kerr]

Yes it is.

[JohnTerrell]

A lot of great photos of the arrival and re-assembly of this P-40E in the Pacific Aviation Museum's photostream on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pacificavi ... 514695979/

[Jerry O'Neill]

It's a good home for it.
I think it would be nice someday to paint it as a P-40 with no shark mouth.
I wish it would be allowed to fly again.
jerry

[Warbird Kid]

It's a good home for it.
I think it would be nice someday to paint it as a P-40 with no shark mouth.
I wish it would be allowed to fly again.
jerry

A jump seat should be installed and a ride program should be put in place to generate revenue.

[CH2Tdriver]

So yet again this museum gets another perfectly flyable warbird?

At least I would hope that they took this P-40 and the F4F and kept them airworthy. They could generate more revenue by having a "fly-day" (ala FoF or FHC). Maybe even hop over to Hickam AFB when they have their open house? They wouldn't have to do much flying, just enough to keep the planes going.

Don't get me wrong, warbirds in HI, and especially this one with its Tora movie history its a great place for it. But I hate to see airworthy birds grounded when there are probably projects out there that would never fly.

[Warbird Kid]

Well on the other hand this bird hasn't flown in quite some time either as it's sitting in the San Diego Air & Space Museum so maybe this is a sign of good things to come. If they were to operate her, Id recommend getting a T6 to operate along side.

[mrhenniger]

Well on the other hand this bird hasn't flown in quite some time either as it's sitting in the San Diego Air & Space Museum...

Just to confirm... this P-40 came from the San Diego museum? I was there last year and noted it had a c/r on it.

Mike

[Warbird Kid]

Well on the other hand this bird hasn't flown in quite some time either as it's sitting in the San Diego Air & Space Museum...

Just to confirm... this P-40 came from the San Diego museum? I was there last year and noted it had a c/r on it.

Mike

Found this thread on WIX. If you scroll down you'll see some shots of it: http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... 1&start=60

As far as I know only 2 real P-40s were used for Tora Tora Tora. The one in San Diego and this one: http://www.war-eagles-air-museum.com/exhibit.php?id=20

[Jerry O'Neill]

Chris;
I think there might have been a 3rd or fourth P-40 made available to 20th Century Fox.
I recall at least one other P-40 actually being in HI during the filming, but parts were used off of it (willing or unwillingly)to keep the other two flying. I think the owner was upset with 20th Century Fox because they took parts off and never replaced them, making his P-40 non-airworthy upon it's return. There was also one other P-40 that was used to make the molds for the replicas, but I'm not sure which one. I believe the replicas were made at PH but I'm not 100% sure about it.
If he reads this, maybe David Aiken can help out with this?
Jerry