P-59, TV star?

[Kutscha]

Was watching a show called Cold Case last night. In one of the scenes a WASP and a officer were standing next to a P-59. Is this your P-59 Greg?

Other scenes had a B-25, P-38, P-51 and some other warbirds.

[Lightning]

Hi All,

A general comment on the way some P-59s were disposed of when they were no longer of use to the military is in order here. At least a few were given to schools to be used to train up-and-coming airplane-and-engine (A&E at the time) mechanics.

I know of one such plane--a P-59B--that was donated to Merganthaler Vocational-Technical High School, in Baltimore, Maryland, back in the mid 1950s. It remained at the school for quite a while. I don't know what its eventual fate was, but I hope it ended up like Greg's YP-59A (i.e. being restored and given a place of honor in a respected aviation museum).

Regards,

Lightning

[GregP]

Hi All,

Yes, it was our YP-59A. Ours was the 10th P-59 and 7th YP-59A built (there were 3 XP-59A's built). A total of 66 P-59's of all varieties were built.

We were still working very heavily on the canopy at the time, and I only had plexiglass in the port side panels. We sprayed the primrer silver for the show scenes.

Lots of work left on the canopy area, the ailerons (gap seals), the nose wheel well (some rivets), the engines (tubing to run fuel, oil, air, and air/oil mixtures), the instrument panel, and flight control rigging.

We expect first engine startup in ... maybe ... late January 2010.

When it starts and flies, I'll post in the WWII forum, and will cover it here, too.

Neat project, but I want one of my OWN!

Cheers! Happy Holidays to all.