Acquired in 2007, this C-47 Gooney Bird Pilots Door was originally NOS Military Inventory. During the restoration of this Pilots Door a dicision was made to paint the door in the colors of the C-47 transports that participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944.
Fly By: C-47 Gooney Bird
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Acquired in the Spring of 2003, this 4″x4″ fabric square was cut from the side of a CG-4a Haig WACO Glider (C-for cargo, G-for glider) used in the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France. 13,909 CG-4A WACO gliders were constructed during WWII between the years 1942-1945. Flightline Fabrications’ fabric square was sent back to the states as a momento to Bill’s wife. (Flightline Fabrications has preserved this artifact as it was purchased, with no restoration.)
The following is written in pencil on the back:
Somewhere in France - July 10, 1944
Dear Rose,
This is a piece of fabric from a glider that landed here in France on D-Day and I thought that you would like to have it for a souvenir. I feel pretty good but very lonesome. Are you feeling alright? I have not received any mail for ten days. I’m pretty sick of this war and hope that it will be over soon so I can go home to my darling, so long.
Acquired in the summer of 2007, these three artifact pieces are roughly one inch sized authentic aircraft skin pieces from the Lockheed P-38F-1 Lightning, SN #41-7630, now known as “Glacier Girl“.These artifacts were purchased directly from the P-38 Association in an effort to raise money to aid in the restoration of Glacier Girl and are very rare.Flightline Fabrications created this one of a kind display to educate visitors about the history of this P-38 Lightning and remind us all of the perils faced by those who flew these machines of war.
The P-38 destined to be known as “Glacier Girl” was one of a flight of six Lightnings and two B-17 Flying Fortresses now known as the “Lost Squadron” which were forced to make emergency landings en route to England from America on July 15, 1942. All eight planes were left on the Greenland icecap where weather eventually buried them beneath 270 feet of ice and snow.
This single aircraft was recovered from the ice in 1992 and has undergone an intensive restoration process in Middlesboro, Kentucky beginning in 1993. After hundreds of thousands of man hours and millions of dollars, Glacier Girl stands now as the most perfect resoration of a World War II era warbird ever done and the most perfect P-38 Lightning in existence.
Acquired in 2004, this B-25 Mitchell Cowling Panel was purchased from Aero Trader in California. During the restoration research for this panel, the decision was made to restore the panel in the colors of the B-25 Mitchell bombers that the Doolittle Raiders flew on 18 April 1942.
The Doolittle Raid, 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home island of Honshu during World War II. It demonstrated that the Japanese home islands were vulnerable to Allied air attack, and provided an expedient means for U.S. retaliation for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The Doolittle Raid was the only time that United States Army Air Corp bombers were launched from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission.
The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James “Jimmy” Doolittle, already a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war. The raid, however, had its roots in the mind of Navy Captain Francis Low, who early in the war surmised that, under the right conditions, twin-engine Army bombers could be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier.
All 16 aircraft that participated in the bombing were lost on the mission, and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured. The crews of 13 aircraft, however, were recovered and returned to the United States, and a 14th crew interned by the Soviet Union eventually made its way home in 1943.
Acquired in 2006, this Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fuselage artifact was recovered from a junk pile in Alaska during the 1960s. During the restoration of this panel the original factory paint was uncovered to be green, brown, and tan.
This camouflage paint pattern adorned planes of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” (Fei Hu), a group of American pilots who flew combat in China before the United States entered WWII. After careful research and consideration the panel was restored in the likeness of P-40 Warhawk #88, Flight Leader Ken Jernstedt’s assigned plane for the 3rd Squadron “Hell’s Angels”.
Flight Leader Jernstedt was credited with destroying more than 10 Japanese Aircraft in aerial combat while the Flying Tigers were active in China during late 1941 and early 1942. Destroying five enemy aircraft qualified pilots as an “ace” during WWII. This Fuselage panel was painted with five Japanese flags to honor his accomplishment and is one of a kind.To the right is a reference photo of an actual P-40n Warhawk outlining the position this fuselage panel is from.
While the AVG flew P-40B aircraft, artifacts from that particular model are nearly impossible to find as only one such aircraft survives today.
Flying Fortresses
