Warbird Information Exchange

Does the NMUSAF have multiple bubble canopy P-47s?

Do we know for sure which airframe is going to Collings?

Interesting. The NMUSAF has a fairly recently restored PT-13. I wonder what's going to happen to that when this PT-17 shows up?

The last "Kaydet" delivered was an E-75, a special PT-13D fitted at Army request with electrical system, radio, and additional instrumentation. The c/n was 755963, Army serial number 42-17794. This did not carry the highest c/n assigned to a "Kaydet"; the last NSS-5's for the Navy, which had higher c/n's, were delivered before the final Army models were completed. Also, the highest c/n used by a "Kaydet", 758808, was higher than the total of "Kaydets" built. Some c/n's assigned under earlier contracts were cancelled along with the military serials when the contracts were cut back and subsequent c/n's were not adjusted backwards to fill the gap and reflect the true production total.

Following a special factory rollout ceremony in February, 1945, 42-17794 was used by Headquarters personnel of the Army's Midwest Procurement District, which was based in Wichita. After the war, when it became desirable to have a "Kaydet" at the plant for company use, a special effort was made to obtain this particular "Kaydet" rather than buy one at random from the several thousand that were then available on the surplus market. With civil registration number N41766 issued to Boeing June 6, 1946 and carrying lettering that proclaimed it to be the 10,346th "Kaydet", this "last of the many" was used at Wichita for utility and publicity purposes for nearly 13 years before it was donated to the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. To cap his long association with Stearman biplanes, J. E. Schaefer rode from Wichita to Dayton on the last company-conducted biplane flight to make the presentation. The museum accepted the plane on September 28, 1958, and it is now on permanent display in prewar trainer colors.

The WASPs were disbanded in December 1944.

The museum recently took the P-47D(sn 45-49167) off public display for its departure as part of an aircraft exchange. This “bubble canopy” aircraft was painted by museum Restoration Specialists to reflect the P-47D Five by Five flown by Col. Joseph Laughlin, commander of the 362nd Fighter Group, 9th Air Force in early 1945, however the aircraft never actually flew in this capacity. Built at the Republic plant in Evansville, Indiana in the late 1940s, this specific airframe was transferred to the Peruvian Air Force. It arrived at the museum in 1981 and has been on display in our WWII Gallery.

The P-47D was transferred to the Collings Foundation’s American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts. In the exchange the museum received a PT-17 that is only one of two existing PT-17s that were used as Tuskegee Airmen trainers during WWII.

“The addition of the PT-17 gives the museum the ability to tell the broader story of the impact and bravery that the Tuskegee Airmen had during World War II, and the precedent they set for future generations,” said David Tillotson III, the director of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.