Collings Foundation aquires TFCs P-40B

[Warbirdnerd]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An American fighter that’s one of the few remaining still-airworthy planes to survive the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is being donated to an organization that flies World War II aircraft at living-history events across the United States.

Robert Collings, executive director of the Stow, Mass.-based Collings Foundation, said that the purchase of the Curtiss P-40B Warhawk from an aviation museum in England was completed this week. The plane will be disassembled and shipped to the United States, where it eventually will fly over Buffalo and other cities, with plans to participate in the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 2016, he said.

‘‘The history that comes with it is pretty special,’’ Collings said Friday, the day before the 72nd anniversary of the surprise attack in Hawaii that launched the U.S. into the Second World War. ‘‘It was obvious that we needed to get this airplane back to America.’’

Collings said a sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous bought the plane for several million dollars from The Fighter Collection in Duxford, England. He said the person who bought the warplane will donate it to the Collings Foundation, bringing its collection of World War II aircraft to a dozen, including a B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator, both bombers.

The Warhawk heading back to the U.S. came off the assembly line at the Curtiss Aircraft Co. plant in Buffalo in early 1941. Later that year, it was undergoing repairs in a hangar at Wheeler Field on Oahu when waves of Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. While more than 300 other U.S. planes were destroyed or damaged during the attack, the P-40B escaped unscathed.

But seven weeks after the attack, the plane crashed into a mountain on Oahu, killing the pilot. His body was recovered, but the wreckage was left at the remote crash site. In the 1980s, a California warplane restoration group recovered the wreck and began working on it, rebuilding it with parts salvaged from two similar aircraft. The plane was flying again by 2004, soon after being acquired by The Fighter Collection.

Collings said only a handful of P-40Bs exist, including one owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Curtiss produced nearly 14,000 P-40s at its Buffalo plant from 1939-44. The plane was a workhorse for American and Allied air forces early in the war, and it was flown by the famed Flying Tigers, the American squadron that fought for China against Japan before America entered the war.

The only other Pearl Harbor survivor still flying is a Grumman J2F-4 Duck, a privately owned, float-equipped biplane based in Kenosha, Wis., according to vintage warplane experts. The few other surviving aircraft, such as the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Sikorsky JRS-1 amphibious search plane, are no longer airworthy.

‘‘It’s pretty important in terms of the rarity of that particular airplane,’’ Jeremy Kinney, a Smithsonian aviation curator, said of the foundation’s P-40B and its Pearl Harbor connection. ‘‘We don’t even have one.’’

Found it here:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... story.html

[C VEICH]

Simply fantastic news in my opinion! What of TFC's other Tomahawk? Has that one headed across the pond or is there a chance that we will be keeping that one stateside as well?

[Pat Carry]

The CF is amassing an amazing collecton! I sent a small donation to them last week so this news makes me feel good.

[hang the expense]

Good for them.

[RickH]

I'm pretty sure we morphed into something besides a bomber collection a long time ago !

F4, TA-4F, F-100, T-33, UH-1E

[Ed Likes]

Congratulations to the Collings Foundation for getting another extremely rare Warbird back here in the States. The Collings Foundation has and is a Major Player in preserving our Aviation History, and more importantly telling our American History from World War 2 thru Vietnam.
Iam proud to be a member of the Collings Foundation as well when I became a Plane Sponsor so that the Collings Foundation can continue to tell the story of why this country of ours is indeed with all of its faults still the greatest nation on earth.

[Elliott Marsh - GAR]

Having seen it flying in the UK since 2007, I'll be sad to see it go, but I certainly can't complain at all about where it's going. A very significant move, and the announcement couldn't be any more perfectly timed.

Some photos and news roundup below.

http://globalaviationresource.com/v2/2013/12/07/news-pearl-harbour-veteran-p-40b-warhawk-for-the-collings-foundation/

[TAdan]

My favorite type acquired by one of the best groups around, and East Coast based too! Fantastic news!

I can't believe that in just a few years we've gone from no early P-40's flying to four of them! (Lewis, FHC, TFC's NMF, and now CF)

[seabee1526]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/07/rare-warplane-that-survived-pearl-harbor-attack-returning-to-us/

[Rajay]

Sorry if this is a little bit of a thread hijack, but I have a question in reference to the article posted above and the line "and it was flown by the famed Flying Tigers, the American squadron that fought for China against Japan before America entered the war."

Technically speaking, the AVG aka "Flying Tigers" was not an "American squadron" so much as it was 3 squadrons of American volunteers in the Nationalist Chinese Air Force, such as it was, from December 1941 until July 1942, right? (Hence the Chinese blue & white 12-pointed stars on the wings and not American 5-pointed star markings.) The 3 squadrons were nicknamed the "Adams & Eves", the "Panda Bears", and the "He!!'s Angels."

After that, many of the surviving members of the AVG were absorbed into the newly formed 23rd FG of the US Army Air Force in the CBI theatre, which itself became part of the 14th Air Force. While that group continued to use the same Flying Tiger tigershark mouth motiffs on its airplanes, they were no longer officially the "Flying Tigers" - or is that splitting a hair too finely?

PS to get back more on track with the original subject of this thread (i.e. recent acquisitions of the Collings Foundation) does anyone know if they have yet to ferry their "new" Goose N985R down from AK to MA (or maybe to FL for maintenance?)

Last edited by Rajay on Sun Dec 08, 2013 7:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[TOM WALSH]

When did the P-40B join the USAAC - unit and date?

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

[over/out]

I'm pretty sure we morphed into something besides a bomber collection a long time ago !

F4, TA-4F, F-100, T-33, UH-1E

Doh! Yes of course. When writing what I did was thinking of the recently acquired tank collection but I failed to mention this. Can't you guys read my mind yet?

Cool. and of course the "other" non-bombers we all know; Corsair, Me 262, P-51C, A-36, Hellcat, a Dr1 Triplane, I'm sure I missed several other great planes they have! Congrats!!

[Chappie]

Great news to see such a significant aircraft returning home. Being another East Coaster I look forward to seeing it in 2014.

Chappie

[Warbird Kid]

A huge win for us Warbird-ers up here in the area! Really cool news. I hope we see her paired up with the A-36, and tour airshows around here!

[Mike]

It really needs a set of sharks teeth on it though!