Shutdown - Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Due to the government shutdown, this website is not being updated

 

P-47 instrumental to Hill Air Force Base

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stefanie Torres
  • 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  "The P-47 was the key to Hill Air Force Base survival."

At least that was what Maj. Gen. (ret) Rex A. Hadley would often say before he passed away in October 2006.

General Hadley, a member of the board of directors of the Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Utah, which supports Hill Aerospace Museum, was instrumental in raising funds from numerous donors such as Ezekiel R. Dumke, Jr. to purchase and restore the P-47. Hadley acknowledged that this aircraft was a significant part of Hill's history. "He asked for funds because he truly believed in having the P-47 here," explained Mr. Tom Hill, one of the curators at the museum.

"The war brought a large downsizing to the base and after the arrival of the P-47 workload, General Hadley saw new life was given to aircraft overhaul and it breathed life back into the base," explained Mr. Hill.

"This aircraft is an extremely important addition here," said Mr. Hill. "It's filling a void in our collection and our storyline."

The base has not received the aircraft until now because only a handful of aircraft are left and it consumes a large amount of time to have it restored. "Just taking one of these aircraft and building it back to how it used to look has taken three years of volunteer work," he said.

Three people on base have put in more than 10,000 man hours alone to restore this aircraft. "Scott Cragun, Don Pince and Steve Hatch have dedicated a huge amount of their off-time," said Mr. Hill. "What they have done for the museum is simply tremendous."

Efforts from the 388th corrosion and sheet metal shop have come into play with this as well.

Within the last few months, the sheet metal shop has restored and remade many different panels. "We will be smoothing out the rough edges and sanding it out to give it a great finish within the next few weeks before we begin painting," said Tech. Sgt. Foy, 388th corrosion control shop chief.

Before the P-47 arrived at Hill, members of the shop went off base to perform maintenance repairs in their spare time.

"We are going to get it done and get it done correctly. To do so we have put in a little extra time and our guys have looked forward to it. The history and heritage of this aircraft is so significant," said Sergeant Foy.

It has been a collective effort between the corrosion and structural maintenance shop to piece together the final touches. "It's a joint effort to make everything come together as well as it has. We have a lot of individuals who have volunteered countless hours to work on the P-47. All credit should go to the guys in the shop." said Sergeant Foy.

The P-47 is at the corrosion shop for the next few weeks to restore it for museum quality. "The colors of the aircraft are going to be the same colors as Col. Glen T. Eagleston's, (known as a "fighter pilot's fighter pilot") P-47. He is from Farmington, Utah and we want it to look like his," he said.

Glen T. Eagleston is one of the 13 original members of the Utah Aviation Hall of Fame.

The P-47 was flown back and forth through Hill Air Force Base but never assigned to a unit. They flew in and out for overhaul and kept the work flowing on base.

"There were two major projects the 388th corrosion shop was working on that General Hadley would have liked to see before he passed away that he felt were extremely important," said Mr. Hill. "The first one was the restoration of the P-47, the second was to see the F-16 out on display at the West gate. He missed it by six months but spent half a life time looking forward to seeing Team Hill's efforts."

The P-47 will be at the 388th corrosion shop for another three weeks before it's towed to the World War II section of the Hill Aerospace Museum for public viewing.