Buried P-63E S. of the Border!!

zorro7 · **Joined:** Tue Dec 08, 2009 8:07 pm **Posts:** 483

P-63E Folks:

Good day!

We are trying to get interested parties to help digging this fuselage/door out before Dec 31, 2012.

Location, famous Toncontin Airport, Honduras. Located on the mil side of the house. A Poss FAH 401 fuselage & door can be barely seen in this B/W. A poss overhead beam is also visible. S/N 43-XXXXX for now!! Photo FAH 619. :wink:

More to come on this one!!

Versatile · **Joined:** Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:35 pm **Posts:** 636

Check your PM

marine air · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:42 pm

That is what we call in Tennessee a "sinkhole." There's probably other materials used for landfill in that sinkhole. Didn't Honduras have P-63's and P-38's before they settled into the Corsairs? They may have filled that sink hole using all the remaning inventory and stuff left over when they finished using the P-63's.

Chappie · **Joined:** Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:40 am **Posts:** 987

What happens after December 31, 2012? I hope someone can get down there to recover this and whatever else might be there and that the Honduran government is friendlier than those folks in PNG.

Chappie

mazdaP5 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:58 pm

Chappie wrote:

What happens after December 31, 2012? I hope someone can get down there to recover this and whatever else might be there and that the Honduran government is friendlier than those folks in PNG.

Chappie

The world is ending on the 21st, so I hope they get it out before then.

zorro7 · **Joined:** Tue Dec 08, 2009 8:07 pm **Posts:** 483

P-63E Folks:

We know for sure that there is a P-63 door inside the red circle. The trick now is to motivate the new museum admin folks to do some digging!! But first, they have to move the F4U-FAH609 indoors!! :wink:

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:19 pm

I see three Hueys and a bulldozer. I'll take your word for there being a P-63 door in there.

Chappie · **Joined:** Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:40 am **Posts:** 987

mazdaP5 wrote:

The world is ending on the 21st, so I hope they get it out before then.

Rrrrrriiight. I thought it was May 12, 2012? No wait...the world was supposed to end on December 31, 2000.....or was that September 9, 1999?

Chappie

Versatile · **Joined:** Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:35 pm **Posts:** 636

Back in the early 90's a man from Eastern Tenn; used to advertise parts in TRADE A PLANE. The man's name was Mike and was a great guy to talk to. Mike had a list of parts he had for sale and it was quite varied. I do remember he had some floats for a HU-16. I think the town name started with a C. Mike told me a story about being in a ferry flight of some P-63's going south to somewhere i don't remember. Mike said he had engine failure on take off from Tegus and sat the P-63 down on top of the hill just off the end of whatever runway he used. Mike said the AC was not all the broken up and he was uninjured and he just walked down the hill/mountain and got a ride back to the airport and got on a airplane and went home immediately. He told me that he wasn't that interested into talking to any officials at all.
I never knew if the story was true or not. So here we are with Zorros7. A pm from him tells me.

The aircraft that you are talking about was FAH 403. It is now on display by the O'club at Tgu

Does anyone remember Mike and his last name or the story he told?

Wildchild · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2012 2:57 pm

I see what looks like a car...??

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3332

There have been quite a few P-63 projects (including one ex-FAH example I believe) in circulation in the US for quite a few years now. Seemingly not as popular a type as the P-51 or P-40, probably because they never saw combat in US service.

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2012 4:33 pm

Dan Jones wrote:

I see three Hueys and a bulldozer. I'll take your word for there being a P-63 door in there.

Wildchild · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2012 4:48 pm

Actually that's a go-kart on top of a bull dozer. See the wheels?

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2012 8:30 pm

Dan Jones wrote:

I see three Hueys and a bulldozer. I'll take your word for there being a P-63 door in there.

And "Bigfoot"' of course. :butthead:

fahnach · **Joined:** Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:52 am **Posts:** 39

Versatile wrote:

Back in the early 90's a man from Eastern Tenn; used to advertise parts in TRADE A PLANE. The man's name was Mike and was a great guy to talk to. Mike had a list of parts he had for sale and it was quite varied. I do remember he had some floats for a HU-16. I think the town name started with a C. Mike told me a story about being in a ferry flight of some P-63's going south to somewhere i don't remember. Mike said he had engine failure on take off from Tegus and sat the P-63 down on top of the hill just off the end of whatever runway he used. Mike said the AC was not all the broken up and he was uninjured and he just walked down the hill/mountain and got a ride back to the airport and got on a airplane and went home immediately. He told me that he wasn't that interested into talking to any officials at all.
I never knew if the story was true or not. So here we are with Zorros7. A pm from him tells me.
The aircraft that you are talking about was FAH 403. It is now on display by the O'club at Tgu
Does anyone remember Mike and his last name or the story he told?

Mike’s (?) idealistic, quixotic account is far from true. According to the testimony of two former Honduran Air Force (FAH) pilots I interviewed some years ago and had witnessed the arrival of two P-63s ferried from Miami by two USA pilots on October 15, 1948, one of them made an extremely hard touch-down on the runway, which resulted in a colapsed nose landing gear and the main landing gear struts ruptured one or both wings.
The aircraft was declared unrepairable and removed from the flight line permanently. It is now in the custody of the air museum.
There have been unfounded claims that a sixth and even a seventh P-63E may have been acquired, however, no sort of documentation or testimonial evidence has surfaced to the fact.
Just for he record, the official documents and testimonial evidence I have obtained and been able to verify with reliable sources, suggest the damaged King Cobra is not FAH-403.
Should there be any ‘evidence’ about a “burried P-63 at Toncontín”, why not contact TIGHAR? I just can’t wait to see their future expedition plan: "The Burried P-63 Project".

Dear Tighar, …

AAF

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Buried P-63E S. of the Border!!

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