For each issue of our sister publication, Warbird Digest magazine, James Church collates a marvelous Resurrection Report featuring some of the most recent highlights of news in the warbird world. The upcoming issue is set to be a real blockbuster, as always, with some marvelous feature-length stories we know will create an impact. As a sneak-peak at Issue #78, we thought we would share some of the stories from the latest Resurrection Report…

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SBD Arrives at Yankee Air Museum:

The Yankee Air Museum, Ypsilanti, Michigan, has taken delivery of Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless, BuNo.06626, which was recovered from the depths of Lake Michigan on June 20, 1994. Previously held in storage by the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida, the damaged, yet largely complete aircraft had been used as a source of parts to support several other SBD restorations undertaken there. The NMNA will retain ownership of the artifact, which the YAF now have on a long-term loan agreement. Lost while used for carrier qualification training while operating out of Willow Groove Naval Air Station, it is one of the many airframes recovered by Taras Lyssenko’s A&T Recovery. The YAM plans to incorporate it into a display that shows the airframe as it would have appeared on the lake bottom prior to recovery, with an anticipated unveiling set for this October.

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Butch Schroeder Acquires a Curtiss P-40K Warhawk:

Through Courtesy Aircraft Sales, Butch Schroeder of Danville, Illinois, has acquired Curtiss P-40K USAAF Serial No. 42-9733, N4436J. Formerly owned by Tom Duffy of Millville, New Jersey, the P-40 is the last type Schroeder wanted to check off of his list in order to have flown all of the types his father flew while in USAAF service. Bob Sturges recovered it from Amchitka Island in the Aleutians in 1969, where the damaged airframe was abandoned during World War Two. It was restored to airworthiness by the Alpine Fighter Collection, Wanaka, New Zealand, for owner Sir Tim Wallace in 1992. Following damage sustained in a crash, it was again restored in New Zealand, this time by Pioneer Aero, for owner Dick Thurman. A succession of owners followed, and it was repainted into its current AVG scheme in 2012. Schroeder has stated that the paint scheme will be changed in due course.  

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Spitfire Mk.Vb Arrives in the USA:

Comanche Fighters’ Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vb EP122, G-CISV, will now be based in the U.S. Using components manufactured by Airframe Assemblies, the aircraft’s restoration was completed at the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, with its first flight taking place on May 4, 2016. EP122 served on Malta before damage incurred during a landing accident at Gozo saw it put out of service. The Spitfire was then pushed off a cliff into the ocean, where it remained until portions of it were recovered in the 1970s. This Spitfire has a strong wartime U.S. connection, as it became the regular mount of volunteer Sgt. Pilot Claude Weaver III of Oklahoma City, flying combat with 185th Sqn., remarkably becoming an ace in the aircraft at the age of 19!

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