A Star of the Pacific Theater is Reborn
Established in 1986, the Dakota Territory Air Museum has evolved into an historical depository honoring the men and machines by which aviation’s rich history was authored.
Located near North Dakota’s Minot International Airport (MOT), the museum’s displays include upwards of sixty vintage aircraft spanning an evolutionary gamut bookended by a full-scale replica of the Wright Flyer and a genuine McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle relegated to dignified static display.
On 15 May 2023, the Dakota Territory Air Museum’s Republic P-47D Thunderbolt—following a painstaking eight-year restoration—took flight for the first time in 79-years.
Resurrected to its wartime glory by a dedicated team at Bemidji, Minnesota’s AirCorps Aviation, the iconic World War II fighter took to the Gopher State’s skies, showcasing the passion, commitment, sharp minds, skilled hands, and intrepid souls of those who took part in the machine’s restoration.
In 1944, after scoring 16 aerial victories in the Second World War’s bloody Pacific Theater, the P-47D suffered an accident at New Guinea’s Dobodura Airfield. Written off as irreparable, the aircraft was summarily abandoned and left to deteriorate in the equatorial heat and humidity. The plane was eventually recovered by Australian salvager, aircraft-restorer, and warbird enthusiast Robert Greinert.
In 2014, the P-47D was handed over to AirCorps Aviation, the staff of which got immediately and resolutely about the business of restoring the venerable aircraft.
Comes now 2023 and the once-forgotten warplane has returned to the skies she once dominated as a specimen of America’s foremost WWII ground-attack aircraft. By virtue of the May test-flight the newly-restored P-47D earned the distinction of being the world’s sole airworthy Razorback variant of Republic’s storied and formidable Thunderbolt.
Following a series of test-flights, the celebrated aircraft will be flown to the Dakota Territory Air Museum, where it will make its home.
Currently the P-47D Razorback is scheduled to appear at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023, where it will be featured in a Warbirds-In-Review session—during which the plane’s new livery is to be unveiled. Reportedly, the plane is to be painted after the fashion of Bonnie—the P-47D flown by legendary American WWII flying ace William Douglas Dunham during his stint with the U.S. Army Air Corps’ (USAAC) 348th Fighter Group in New Guinea. Dunham named his P-47 for his wife.
In addition to preserving an historically significant combat aircraft, the protracted and precise restoration of the P-47D Razorback jointly undertaken by the Dakota Territory Air Museum and AirCorps Aviation honors the brave aviators and indefatigable warfighters upon whose valor these United States were borne to greatness, and by whose sacrifices they remain, ostensibly, free.
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