Just goes to show that those 'buried treasure' WWII aircraft stories can come true....
This month's
'Aeroplane' contains the news that no less than three rare 'razorback' P-47D Thunderbolts have been found in Papua New Guinea.
Apparently, two years back a team of wreck explorers found a P-40 wing sticking out of the ground near the site of a long-abandoned airstrip. Digging revealed a near-intact P-40 and underneath that, the Thunderbolts, all of which had been bulldozed into a pit and covered over.
Just to put the icing on the cake, a goodly-sized cache of P-47 parts was there, too....
All are now at Rialto Airport in California whwere P-47 experts WestPac are due to commence restoration to airworthy condition.
Exciting news indeed ; most of the world's airworthy Thunderbolts are 'bubble-canopy' types.