DORA IS COMPLETED!

Air Classics, Aug 2004 by O'Leary, Michael

GossHawk finishes Doug Champlin's Fw 190D-13

"It was really a learning experience," said Dave Goss - president of GossHawk Unlimited at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona. He was referring to the absolutely magnificent Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-13 that he and his talented workers completed during April. Owned by noted collector Doug Champlin since 1971, this aircraft had been shipped to then-West Germany for restoration in the 1970s.

The captured aircraft (which wore the codes FE-118 and T2-118) had been evaluated in the United States before being given to the Georgia Institute of Technology where it was parked outside the school's flying club. After several years, the Fw 190 and a Bf 109G were sold to a local FAA inspector who stored them at various vacant lots in a poor section of Atlanta. The aircraft steadily went downhill until being discovered by aviation historian Jerry Crandall in the mid-1960s. He began a long battle to preserve these rare survivors.

During the 1970s, aircraft restoration was not up to our present exacting standards. While in Germany, much of the original brackets and mounts were stripped out and thrown away. Also, the majority of the work was not up to airworthiness standards. However, the aircraft did look quite nice when it was returned to Champlin's growing Fighter Museum. Registered N190D, the aircraft even had its mighty Jumo run up on the rare occasion.

"After Doug sold his museum to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, he made the complete commitment to restore the Dora back to absolutely first-class flying condition," said Goss. Of note, hardly any original blueprints or reference material survive on the D-13 - it was a last ditch fighter and much of the material was destroyed during the war. Doug and his team had to do a lot of reverse engineering, especially making the brackets and mounts on the inside of the fuselage and wing.

In a great gesture of cooperation, the USAF Museum exchanged the wing on the Fw 190D-9 they had on display at Wright-Patterson for the wing on Champlin's aircraft. When the military got rid of the aircraft, they simply sent off a "Focke-Wulf package" and the two wings were swapped. Thus, for the first time in decades, both aircraft now have their original wings.

"Doug wanted everything back to original," said Dave "and this included the guns, radios, and the early auto pilot that was installed in the plane. We searched all over the world for components and received some significant help from a variety of people."

Because of the war situation, the Fw 190D-13 employs wooden parts and to recreate these, wood was imported from Germany. Immediately after the photo was taken, the Dora was disassembled and shipped by truck to the Museum of Flight where it was on hand for the opening of the new Personal Courage Wing on 6 June. However, the aircraft is on loan to that institution but it is also up for sale and comes with an additional Jumo engine and parts of another. Interested parties should contact Bruce Redding at 702-371-1957.

The departure of Yellow 10 from GossHawk does not mean that the company is out of the Fw business - far from it. Doctor Mark Timken's Fw 190F-8 White 1 recently arrived at Falcon Field. "Mark wants this aircraft to be restored to flying condition with every bit of original gear in place," said Dave. "This will be a multi-year project but will result in a very, very original WWII fighter." White 1 has its own website selling a variety of Fw items, all of which goes to support the restoration. Check out www.white1foundation.org.