Fighter Collection

The Fighter Collection 'Razorback' P-47G is one of only two Curtiss-built examples left in the world. She was the 129th P-47G built at the Curtiss facility in Buffalo, New York in early 1944. The fighter was accepted by the USAAF in September 1943 and transferred to the Third Air Force at Tallahassee, Florida. It was here that she was re-designated... as a TP-47G to reflect the training role she undertook with a number of Advanced Fighter Transition Units. Our P-47G was struck from the USAAF inventory in late June 1945 and was eventually passed to the Aero Industries Technical Institute at Oakland Airport, California. It was here that she taught hydraulic and electrical systems to aeronautical students until 1952 when she was bought by Jack Hardwick, a former Cleveland National Air Race pilot, who rented her out in 1953 to Allied Artists for ground scenes in the film Fighter Attack. Following her silver screen appearance she was parked up in El Monte, California, with a number of other World War Two aircraft until 1975 when she passed to a new owner who commenced a restoration of this rare machine. The work was not completed and the unfinished project passed to Ray Stutsman in late 1979 where a full restoration begun the following year which culminated in a first flight during April 1982, which was rewarded with the Grand Champion Warbird trophy at Oshkosh in July of that year. It flew with Stutsman at many events across North America until 1987 when she passed to the Lone Star Flight Museum, based at Galveston, Texas. She flew rarely during her time at Lone Star, when she passed to another collector in the early 1990s and was shipped to the UK. The fighter remained in her shipping container until she joined The Fighter Collection fleet in 2006.Read More