OT-Anybody know what Tom Riley has been up to?

[rwflyboy]

I remember when he was in Kissimmee Florida doing some fine restorations.

[Leo]

Re: OT-Anybody know what Tom Riley has been up to?

I know he had a B-17 in the works. isn't he the one rebuilding the ex-Soplata XP-82, the one with only one fuselage extant? Soplata had 2, one was fairly complete and is also being restored.

[tuffer]

Re: OT-Anybody know what Tom Riley has been up to?

Haven't heard much since he packed up and left Florida after the hurricane damage. Didn't he move up Atlanta way

[AirDOGGe]

Re: OT-Anybody know what Tom Riley has been up to?

I couldn't "Google-up" any specific info, but Wikipedia has a mention of it:

* XP-82-NA 44-83887 (c/n 120-43743). Operated from October 1947 to July 1950. Used for ram jet tests, it was damaged during July 1950. The damaged aircraft was sold to Walter Soplata and placed on his farm. In March 2008 it was sold to Tom Reilly and moved to his restoration facility in Douglas, Georgia.[8]



A single fuselage and parts of the second XP-82 (44-83887) were located for many years on the farm of Walter Soplata in Newbury, Ohio. this aircraft was sold in March 2008 to aircraft restorer Tom Reilly.

On 7 April 2008, the almost-complete left fuselage with original markings still visible was delivered to Reilly's restoration facility in Douglas, GA along with various surviving components from Soplata's farm.

Reilly plans to use the left fuselage to reverse-engineer a matching right airframe, and hopes to eventually restore the aircraft to flying condition. This is by far the most ambitious F-82 restoration project in progress.

With the problems encountered by the CAF over a period of 20 years in locating just a set of props and landing gear to return their aircraft back to the air, one can see the enormity of Tom Reilly's task.

That's about it. I saw one mention in an aviation-related forum that said much of the fuselage work was (visually) near-complete, but the source is questionable, so take this last bit as hear-say for now.

[johnnyrace]

Re: OT-Anybody know what Tom Riley has been up to?

The most recent Warbirds International has an article about Tom and the work being done on the Twin Mustang...

[Tcampolo]

Re: OT-Anybody know what Tom Riley has been up to?

I remember when he was in Kissimmee Florida doing some fine restorations.

Tom is in Georgia, working on a Warbird