NEWS EDITOR: TONY HARMSWORTH
E-MAIL TO: tony.harmsworth@keypublishing.com
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WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK
THE only surviving Republic P-47D Thunderbolt with combat history in the European theatre of operations (ETO) flew for the first time in 72 years on 22 June at Caldwell Industrial Airport, Idaho, with John Maloney at the controls. The fighter, 42-29150, was recovered from a depth of 600ft at the bottom of the Traunsee lake in Austria by Sandy Air Corp of Innsbruck in June 2005, and has been restored by Mike Breshears and his team at Vintage Airframes LLC over the past seven years with the aid of blueprints obtained from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Built during the summer of 1944 at Evansville, Indiana, ‘29150 was assigned to the 511th Fighter Squadron, 405th Fighter Group. Part of the 9th Air Force in France, the unit provided air support ahead of the US Third Army as it advanced eastward across France and into the Low Countries and Germany. Regular pilot Lt Larry Kuhl named the aircraft after his then wife, Dottie Mae, with the nose art — based on the Alonso Vargas ‘Santa’s…
