P-47 "No Guts No Glory" in California

🙂 It occurred to me that many viewers may not have yet seen photos/videos of the long-time UK resident P-47 Thunderbolt “No Guts No Glory” following her arrival at Chino, California earlier this year (2007). The UK lost this beautiful aircraft but gained an even rarer beast, a P-47G razor-back in trade.

The following video links show “No Guts” immediately following her arrival at Chino and also at the January, 2007 50th Anniversary celebration at the Chino-based Planes of Fame Museum. “No Guts” had JUST been sold by Provenance Fighter Sales to a new owner at the time of the video taxi sequence. Both parties generously contributed some very expensive flight time for the benefit of the Planes of Fame crowd. Thank you!

The aircraft was reassembled by Steve Hinton’s Fighter Rebuilders in Chino. Steve was also at the controls during the flight demonstration.

The engine experienced an “oil lock” during startup. This is a condition where engine oil collects in the lower cylinders and being non-compressible, the oil must be cleared from the cylinders prior to startup to prevent damage to the engine. This is pretty common in big radial engines. A ground crew must manually “pull through” the prop for a number of “blades” to clear the oil from the cylinders. The very erratic idle heard in the video was caused by fouled spark plugs in the lower cylinders. Steve Hinton was obviously able to clear the plugs during the pre-takeoff engine run-up. Hey, this is no biggy; just a normal fact of life with the big, glorius radials:).

Enjoy the videos and photos:) .

All the best,
– octane130 –

VIDEOS:

http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r224/octane130/Message%20Board%20Photos/?action=view&current=NoGuts2-1.flv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXKyjJeASCw

PHOTOS: