I spent the afternoon wandering the hangars of the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum admiring the beautiful vintage birds and turning some heads. The staff members I spoke to really enjoyed the combination of my fursuit and replica-esque 1940's USAAC uniform. Good times and good planes.

I had never been in the Restoration Hangar until today. Inside was the broken down fuselage of a Curtiss P-40.

The placard reads:
This P-40E, 40-598, was assigned to the 11th Air Force, 343rd Fighter Group, 11th Fighter Squadron. When the Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor on June 3, 1942, a squadron of P-40s was launched to intercept the Japanese bombers, including this one piloted by Lt. Winfield E. McIntyre. During combat, McIntyre's P-40 was damaged by an attacking A6M2 Zero, and he was forced to land on Umnak Island. McIntyre survived the crash and was rescued, but the plane was damaged beyond repair and salvaged for usable parts.

It is very cool to see the work being performed in the shop for this poor bird. When I was a cub all they had on display was the wing, a sad sight, complete with bullet holes.