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Experimental A/W certificates do not expire, so when the FAA inspector
came out to inspect the P-63, it took just 20 minutes to complete the
inspection. Heath laughed, “It only took 20 minutes, but I spent eight
months talking to him and keeping him updated on what we were doing!”
The excitement of getting the A/W certificate was quickly tempered
by the passing of Bob Bouthillier, the longtime project manager on the
P-63A. Heath spoke of that morning of emotional extremes, “The A/W
inspection was on a Monday in January, and I expected Bob to be there
when I arrived at the hangar. So, we went ahead with the inspection, and
when it was done I called him and got no answer. I found out later that he
taken ill earlier that morning, and went to the hospital.” Bob Bouthillier
passed away five days later, at the age of 84. Heath said that Bob worked on
the project right up to the very end.
For the all-important, first post-restoration flight, the Dixie Wing
turned to Jim “JD” Dale, the highest time P-63 pilot in the U.S., with
more than 6,000 hours in warbirds. Jim started flying very young, under
the watch of his father, a former B-29 pilot. He gained experience with
historic aircraft while working for Steve Hinton, and is now director of
maintenance at Lewis Air Legends.
By late January 2017, “JD” had conducted a number of high-speed
taxi tests and pronounced the Kingcobra ready to fly. However, weather
delayed the first flight several times, but for a warbird that hadn’t flown
in 41 years, and had been under restoration for nearly two decades, what
is another week or two? Finally, the day arrived, and everything was in
place. On the morning of February 18, 2017, just after 13:00hrs local time,
“JD” took off from the Atlanta Regional Airport, home of the Dixie Wing.
Shortly after the flight, “JD” reported, “This was a very successful test flight.
The Dixie Wing guys did a phenomenal job. It took a lot of perseverance to
stay on this project for 16 years. The flight was great, with no major issues
to report, and only minor adjustments. The airplane was just slightly left
wing heavy and the controls are a bit heavy overall but nothing that can’t
be easily fixed.” Once these and a few other small issues were rectified, “JD”
made two more flights the next day, each lasting about 25 minutes, and the
aircraft performed very well.
A few weeks after the initial test flights, the P-63A was flown to nearby
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) Airport, to Delta Tech Ops, where the
olive drab over neutral gray paint scheme was applied. The NACA markings
were not applied due to an internal debate on how to finish the aircraft.
Because the Dixie Wing had a 1945 photo of this exact Kingcobra in NACA
markings, Moreno Aguiari, Marketing Officer for the Dixie Wing, was fully
in favor of finishing the P-63A in the markings it wore in the photo. Aguiari
says that one individual who was instrumental in the process of getting
the TEST markings accurate, and thus greatly aided his cause to get the
markings eventually applied, was Glenn Bugos, of the NASA Ames History
Office, at the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field in California.
Glenn provided the historical photos, as well reports of the tests performed
with the aircraft, which he then used to plead his case to the CAF to move
forward with the idea. He enlisted the help of AirCorps Aviation, which
produced vinyl decals that would turn the Bell Kingcobra, temporarily at
least, into a NACA Kingcobra. Just days before Dixie Wing pilot Mark Todd
was set to fly the Kingcobra north to Oshkosh, Aguiari applied the decals
and the incredible result was very well received by warbird enthusiasts on
social media, and on the ground at Oshkosh.
On Saturday July 29 th , to cap off the week at AirVenture, NACA P-63A
42-68941 was parked nose to nose with NASA T-38A USAF Serial No.
66-8355 at Warbirds in Review, where a distinguished panel educated a
large crowd. Joe Henry Engle (Major General, USAF, Ret), X-15 test pilot,
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