Fantasy of Flight owner Kermit Weeks has posted a new FoF Mechanic’s Corner video dealing with the restoration of his extremely rare Seversky P-35A. The new update will be released in two parts and features Fantasy of Flight’s metal specialist Rick Reeves “taking us through the process of restoring the P-35 wing.”
To help show all the steps in detail, we’ll follow one particular wing skin through the whole process. Rick starts by pulling the old wing skin off the frame, and then goes through all the steps it takes to bring a new skin to life.
As previously reported, the machine was acquired years back in a trade with the USAF Museum and is reportedly one of only three remaining examples of the single seat fighter, which was introduced in the mid-1930s and saw limited action at the beginning of WW2. It came from the Swedish Air Force and was stored in underground bunkers during the war, which resulted in significant pitting and surface corrosion. Additional damage was sustained when Hurricane Andrew struck Kermit’s Florida-based collection in 1992. When complete, this will be the only airworthy example of the type in the world.
Click below to check out part 1 of the new series.
Part 2 can be seen here.
(via Kermit Weeks Photo: Valder137 via Wikimedia Commons)
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