A special request for help !!!! (1 Viewer)

[Larrythepilot]

Larry Bothe here, the Curator of the the Freeman Army Airfield Museum in Seymour, Indiana, USA. From time to time I post in this forum to get help with identifying WWII aircraft parts that we have in storage. I am posting today with a very different sort of request. Our museum has acquired, by trading, the remains of a BMW-801 aircraft engine. It is located in northern France. I can get the engine from France to the US (for free) if I can get it prepared for shipment. A picture of the engine is attached. We want only the center section (the round part that the cylinders mount on), and the crankshaft inside the center section. We don't want the pistons and connecting rods that are sticking up, or any cylinders. What we need to have done is cut off (with a torch?) the connecting rods and the cylinders. The remaining center section needs to be put into a crate, or strapped to a small pallet. I will need the dimensions and the weight to give to my carrier.

Since museums often help each other solve problems, I tried contacting a museum in France, very near where the engine is located. All museums have workshops. I hoped the museum would take the engine to their shop, cut off the extraneous stuff, strap it to a pallet, and give me the weight and dimension information. We are happy to pay any expenses necessary to get this done, but we are in hopes that the labor would be donated. After spending several weeks trying to contact this museum, by various means, we learned that it is essentially dormant and non-responsive. The museum we tried to contact is Museum of Industry and Aviation in the town of Albert. The engine is in the town of Warloy Baillon, about 10 kilometers west of Albert.

Why am I telling you all this? Well. ww2aircraft.net is international. Do we have any members in France who could help us get this engine center section ready for transport to the US? Do you, or any of our "regulars", know of a different museum in France that might be willing to help us? Should this request be posted in a different forum? If so, could you please move it there for me?

I of course have a lot more details, and the contact information for the person who has the engine now. But I think I'll stop typing. I'm already over 400 words. You probably won't read very much more.

Thank you for your help.

Larry

 

[Wurger]

Hello Larry,

I'm not sure if there is someone who could help but I moved the thread to the more relevant section. I hope it may help with finding your request by other members here.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Is it possible to ship as is, and then you guys use a torch to remove the parts you don't want?

 

[Larrythepilot]

Thank you, Wurger.

 

[Larrythepilot]

The reason we need to remove the extraneous parts is to make it smaller and lighter. It will be coming to the US in a corporate jet. Weight and space is an issue. Also, it needs to be strapped down, or crated, for safety reasons.

 

[Airframes]

Just an idea, but maybe there is a metal fabricator, or motor body work shop/garage, or similar, nearby the engine's location, who could possibly do the work, if given precise instructions where/how etc to remove unwanted parts.
About 30 years ago, I was involved with some tank restorations, and we needed to get a mg mount removed, in one piece and without damage, from a twisted piece of wreckage. A local fabricating shop came to our location with portable gear, and did the job perfectly, at relatively little cost too.

 

[Larrythepilot]

OK, but how do I identify such a shop, from across the Atlantic Ocean? And oh-BWT, I don't speak/read any French. I'm in hopes that a local person will come forward, and coordinate getting this accomplished for us. ..... Thanks for the suggestion.

Larry

 

[Airframes]

Ah, I understand. But presumably you have a contact, in France, where the engine is located, so perhaps someone at your Museum, or locally to you, could draft the request into French for you, to pass on to your contact, and then proceed from there ?

 

[BobB]

You've probably already exhausted the possibilities for shipping but I'll go ahead and ask "Have you checked with National Guard units that might have space available on flights?" ANG used to be easier to get that sort of stuff done than active duty units. Check with AMC Museum at Dover AFB to see if they have any contacts who could help.

 

[Bob W]

Larry Bothe here, the Curator of the the Freeman Army Airfield Museum in Seymour, Indiana, USA. From time to time I post in this forum to get help with identifying WWII aircraft parts that we have in storage. I am posting today with a very different sort of request. Our museum has acquired, by trading, the remains of a BMW-801 aircraft engine. It is located in northern France. I can get the engine from France to the US (for free) if I can get it prepared for shipment. A picture of the engine is attached. We want only the center section (the round part that the cylinders mount on), and the crankshaft inside the center section. We don't want the pistons and connecting rods that are sticking up, or any cylinders. What we need to have done is cut off (with a torch?) the connecting rods and the cylinders. The remaining center section needs to be put into a crate, or strapped to a small pallet. I will need the dimensions and the weight to give to my carrier.

Since museums often help each other solve problems, I tried contacting a museum in France, very near where the engine is located. All museums have workshops. I hoped the museum would take the engine to their shop, cut off the extraneous stuff, strap it to a pallet, and give me the weight and dimension information. We are happy to pay any expenses necessary to get this done, but we are in hopes that the labor would be donated. After spending several weeks trying to contact this museum, by various means, we learned that it is essentially dormant and non-responsive. The museum we tried to contact is Museum of Industry and Aviation in the town of Albert. The engine is in the town of Warloy Baillon, about 10 kilometers west of Albert.

Why am I telling you all this? Well. ww2aircraft.net is international. Do we have any members in France who could help us get this engine center section ready for transport to the US? Do you, or any of our "regulars", know of a different museum in France that might be willing to help us? Should this request be posted in a different forum? If so, could you please move it there for me?

I of course have a lot more details, and the contact information for the person who has the engine now. But I think I'll stop typing. I'm already over 400 words. You probably won't read very much more.

Thank you for your help.

Larry

Have you tried the folks at what was the Flying Heritage Museum, Payne Field in Everett, WA , or the Museum of Flight in Seattle? It would be a shame to damage otherwise useful components with a torch.

 

[smutny]

Have you tried the folks with The Pink Lady? If not able to help directly, they may have a referral.

 

[Larrythepilot]

Ah, I understand. But presumably you have a contact, in France, where the engine is located, so perhaps someone at your Museum, or locally to you, could draft the request into French for you, to pass on to your contact, and then proceed from there ?

Yes, we have a contact where the engine is located, but that person has not been very helpful. However we do now have 2 additional leads where we may get some assistance. We'll see how that goes.