From the bottom of the lake in Austria to the skies of Nampa."Dottie Mae," the only combat veteran P-47 Thunderbolt flies again. "Dottie Mae" was shot down near the end of World War II, Vintage Airframes of Caldwell jumped in to restore it, Pin-up girl and all.
"Eight years later and 52 thousand man hours we now have 27 hours of flight time on the airplane," explained Mike Breashears of Vintage Airframes.
Hundreds came out to the Warhawk Air Museum for this year's Warbird Roundup. Some even coming from outside of the Gem State to see the amazing piece of history up close and watch it fly.
"To see it flying again it's just amazing, try and put yourself and envision what those people saw when they were operating it," said one visitor.
"There is nothing like the sound of hearing them go over head it's just really incredible," said another visitor.
For the team that brought the plane back to life, seeing the public fall in love with it has raised their spirits high into the sky.
"Woman came by and said hey my dad flew one of these or my grandfather flew one or my brother was one of these pilots. It was really neat listening to these people," said Bob Nightingale, project manager for "Dottie Mae."
"Dottie Mae" will be traveling to an air show in California.Vintage Airframes is now working on restoring an F6F Hellcat and say there is still a lot of work to be done.
