WD74W2

1 The Dixie Wing built a rotisserie to facilitate easy
access to the fuselage during the restoration. The
workshop was abuzz with activity on most days as
the core team of volunteers reconstructed the airplane.
Photo: Charles Burcher Collection
2 A NASA heritage flight, pairing a flight test P-63, and
the current mount of NASA astronauts, the T-38 Talon.
Photo: Doug Glover
Airlines A&P Jim Arnold, who fabricated
a number of parts, and components for
the Kingcobra. He spoke with Warbird
Digest in August 2017: “I did welding for
Northwest, and still do it on the side, so
my very first job on that airplane in 1999,
was resurrecting the wing attach fittings. I
was given the wing attach fittings, which
had been taken off when it was trucked to
Georgia, and who ever did that had done
a very poor job. Two of the eight pieces
were pretty well messed up, but I was able
to do a little cosmetic welding, and had all
of them plated, which brought them back
to brand-new condition.
Because the wings, were severely
corroded, Jim’s fabrication experience
came to the fore: “I don’t know which
wing it was, but the stringers under the
fuel cell had rotted out, so I built 14
stringers that sit directly under the fuel
cell. They were formed over wooden forms and heat treated at our shop
at Northwest.” Jim was able to work on the P-63 parts during his lunch
breaks at Northwest. Once the stringers were completed, Jim moved on
to the oil tank. As mentioned earlier, many components in the P-63 were
magnesium because it was cheap, and easy to work with, at least in the
short term. Bell engineers never envisioned these aircraft would spend
years in storage, for the purpose of flying 70 years later. That being said,
Jim used the original magnesium tank as a pattern, and built a new tank
out of aluminum.
By early 2001, the horizontal and vertical stabilizers had been
completed, except for covering the rudder, and elevators. They were set
aside in a corner of the hangar, while the crew focused on the forward,
and rear fuselage subassemblies. Work on the latter also included the
restoration of systems such as radio bay, dynamotor mounts, control
system, oil system, and wiring as well as replacement of all nut plates,
and several Dzus fasteners. When they turned to the forward fuselage, the
crew discovered several parts were missing, including the underside of the
oil cooler and radiator bays, and a majority of the cockpit components,
so these parts either had to be purchased, or built from scratch. It is
interesting to note that in 2002 the Dixie Wing estimated the Kingcobra
would be airborne by 2007, a target they missed by a mere decade!
The corrosion the Harlingen crew identified in the 1980s, was certainly
not helped by the Missouri flood, so the Dixie Wing crew had their work
cut out for them when they began work on the wings. They began by
disassembling, and diagnosing the location and extent of the damage. A
majority of the wings required re-skinning, and a number of ribs needed
to be rebuilt. The wingtips were fully restored, but the magnesium flaps
and ailerons were rebuilt by Jim Arnold, who had moved to Minneapolis
from December 2002, to August 2005, to finish his career with Northwest,
“I fabricated the ailerons, with some help from a couple other guys. One
was a good friend in the machine shop at Northwest. He had retired, but
had a full-fledged machine shop in his backyard. Part of the aileron is a
curved piece that would be impossible to roll, unless you had a very highpowered
roll. So, he took the piece we needed and cut it out of a solid
block of aluminum, and it was exact. He did a beautiful job.”
90 • warbird digest • sept/oct 2017