Chino Tigercat project moved outside

摘要

Steve Hinton and his team at Fighter Rebuilders in Chino, California, are making good progress on their restoration of Jim Slattery's Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat N7629C. The aircraft was ferried from Thermal, California, on January 31, 2011, and was taken apart and stripped down to its basic components. Now reassembly has commenced, the size of the aircraft has seen it rolled out into the open so the fit of the outer wing panels can be checked. Final assembly is likely to be carried out in the adjacent (and bigger) Planes of Fame Air Museum restoration hangar. With plans to establish the Greatest Generation Naval Museum at Gillespie Field, near San Diego, Jim has already obtained 46 aircraft for display and flight. N7629C will be the second Grumman Tigercat in his collection, joining F7F-3N N379AK, which was completed by WestPac Restorations of Colorado Springs. The latter was finished in time to be displayed at the EAA's AirVenture Fly-in last summer.