Collings Foundation aquires P-47 45-49167

[Warbirdnerd]

Apparently traded the NMUSAF a Stearman used by the Tuskegee Airmen for it.

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p47regis ... HS1J6ZgSxY

https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquir ... rTxt=362FG

[Noha307]

For reference:

• NMUSAF press release about Stearman acquisition: National Museum of the USAF welcomes PT-17 to its collection
• CF's page for the Stearman: Last Flying Tuskegee PT-17 Stearman
• Aerial Visuals dossier for the Stearman: Airframe Dossier - Stearman-Boeing PT-17 Kaydet, s/n 41-25454 USAAF, c/n 75-2955, c/r N634JM
• WIX thread listing surviving Tuskegee airman aircraft: Surviving Tuskegee Airman Aircraft
• NMUSAF page for P-47: Republic P-47D (Bubble Canopy Version)
• Aerial Visuals dossier for the P-47: Airframe Dossier - Republic F-47D Thunderbolt, s/n 116 FAPe, c/n 399-55706, c/r N47DB

[StangStung]

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?

[StangStung]

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

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

[Warbirdnerd]

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

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

They have 4 more bubble canopy P-47s in their possession. 1 at Hill AFB, 1 at Eglin AFB, 1 at Peterson AFB and 1 one loan to the Cradle of Aviation Museum.
Photo linked from Facebook. Spotted heading South (New Smyrna?) out of Cincinatti yesterday-

[mazdaP5]

Crazy, Five by Five is the one on display at NMUSAF.

EDIT" Was on display.

[Noha307]

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?

It's actually the last factory built Kaydet. As per Bowers and Mayborn:

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.

(Source: Mitch Mayborn and Peter M. Bowers, Stearman Guidebook, Fourth Revised, American Aircraft 1 (Dallas, Texas: Flying Enterprise Publications, 1976), 42.)

N41766 in flight, the picture below is cropped from a larger version with a T-37 alongside in the background:

(Source: National Museum of the United States Air Force)

The last of the many. After 15 years in Boeing/Wichita service the 8585th "Kaydet" delivered (including models 70, 73 and 76) E-75 c/n 755963 was presented to the Air Force Museum, where it was repainted in the prewar Army colors.

(Source: Mitch Mayborn and Peter M. Bowers, Stearman Guidebook, Fourth Revised, American Aircraft 1 (Dallas, Texas: Flying Enterprise Publications, 1976), 43.)

[mike furline]

A WASP P-47? https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDo ... rial=75833

May 1945 Transferred to 2563rd AAF Base Unit (Pilot School, Women), Avenger Field, Sweetwater, TX.

[JohnTerrell]

The WASPs were disbanded in December 1944.

[mike furline]

The WASPs were disbanded in December 1944.

Well that is inconvenient.

[Mark Sampson]

Indeed it was... my wife's mother trained as a WASP, only to find the program cancelled just as she finished her training.
We still have a letter written to her by Gen. Arnold, thanking her for her service.
In 1945 she married her sweetheart, a P-38 squadron commander who stayed in the AAF; postwar, he trained multi-engine pilots in the TB-25 in Oklahoma, and she got to fly those once or twice. So the story goes!

[mustangdriver]

The one in the museum they just restored is not the last one built. It’s 63rd from the end. Serial number
number 42-17800

[DB2]

Maybe I'm missing something, and I appreciate the connection of the Tuskegee Airmen to the serial number stamped on this Stearman's dataplate, but this smells like too good of a deal for the Collings Foundation if it was a straight trade.

This Stearman was turned into a duster, wrecked several times, and then in 1989 crashed fatally where it "exploded and burned" according to the NTSB report. It was then "rebuilt" and was for sale for a little over a $100k not even 10 years ago. And now it was traded for a completely intact P-47, which would be worth well north of $1M even in its current "needs recommissioning" state on the open market?

If the Stearman was untouched since 1945, sure, but seems like CF got the better side of this trade.

[Noha307]

The museum's post on Facebook announcing the exchange:

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.

(Source: Facebook)

[hurricane_yank]

This is a crazy odd trade...if a straight one for one and makes 0 sense except for political correctness reasons.