Restoration Commissioned By The National WWII Museum in New Orleans To Be Showcased At Gillespie Air Center

A group of local students and two master fabricators led by a retired executive have replicated to the last detail a World War II-era aircraft commissioned by The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. The P-40 Curtiss Warhawk, with 7 White 23rd Fighter Group, Burma, squadron markings, better known as "The Flying Tigers," will be displayed in the Museum's new Campaigns of Courage Pavilion inside the Road to Tokyo: Pacific Theater Galleries, opening in 2015.

On January 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., friends and family of Flyboys Aeroworks, LLC will gather at the company hangar at Gillespie Air Center in El Cajon to see the finished product unveiled and to bid farewell to the subject of 71 weeks and more than 18,000 labor hours of effort. The plane is scheduled to arrive in New Orleans in early February for installation.

Chief Engineer Rolando Gutierrez praises his crew, drawn from the aviation program of San Diego Miramar College and volunteers, saying, "Not only are they a true team, collaborating with one another throughout the project, they also are young in a part of the industry dominated by retired volunteers." The Flyboys crew is both young and diverse. The median age is 26 and the team includes a recently graduated female Airframe and Powerplant mechanic, a rarity, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, a Wounded Warrior among them, and a diverse group of skilled artisans and metalsmiths.

More than 13,000 Warhawks were manufactured, but this aircraft is one of 32 known to remain. The Flyboys Aeroworks team has painstakingly replicated the P-40 using original blueprints from the Smithsonian, diligent research, and ingenuity when nothing else was available.

"The P-40 Curtiss Warhawk is a highly anticipated addition to our Museum," said Gordon H. "Nick" Mueller, President and CEO of The National WWII Museum. "Soaring overhead in the Road to Tokyo gallery, this stunning aircraft will immediately grab the attention of visitors and will evoke the countless tales of heroism in which it played a key role."

(P-40 Warhawk pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.flyboysaeroworks.com, www.nationalww2museum.org