A6M5 Model 52 Zero

So, Nuuumannn liked the Mitsubishi J8M rocket engine shot, so I got some more plus some shots of the rocket engine from an Me 163. Here is the front part of the J8M engine:



Here it is from the other side:



And here it is from the rear quarter:



Next post.

Here is an engine from a Messerschmitt Me 163:



Here is a front quarter shot:



Here is a front quarter view of our replica Heinkel He 100D:



It is a 100% full scale mockup made of wood.

Here is our Yak-3 with the cowling glong back together. The engine is an Allison and the propeller is from a DC-3. Flies absolutely great according to Steven Hinton Jr.



Next post.

Not aviation, but maybe of interest. Here is a front view of our Sherman tank. It runs great. We installed new cylinders about 2 years ago and it is running like a top now that we replaced a broken gear.



The Sherman had several engines. Our has a Continental radial. Here it is from low in the rear of the tank.



If a Sherman was too big a tank for you (!), there were options. For light warfare, we had Stewart tanks. Here is a shot of our Stewart. Runs great!



Here is a shot of our 100% full scale Bachem Natter. It is a woodn mockup. I didn't realize I cut off the nose ...



Next post.

It was mentioned above that the cockpit of our Bell Yp-59A looked cramped. Here is a shot with WheelsUpCavu (Brian) in the cockpit to add some scale.



Above somewhere I mentioned the Zero wing was a bit unusual. The skin are straight along mid-chord. Here is a shot looking down the starboard wing from tip to fuselage along the bototm skin. It looks very straight.



But you have to incorporate washout SOMEHOW, and here is a shot looking down the leading edge. Looks like it droops, but it is just the washout.



The trailing edge is straight but I cannot show that just now because the ailerons ... in fact ALL the control surfaces have been removed for recovering with fabric. Here are the ailerons about 85% along the way to being recovered.



Here are an elevator and Rudder about to be covered. The elevator has fabric tape on the bits that need it and the next step is to cut the fabric and attach it.



All for now, - Greg

What a cool place you work at, great shots!

The aileron ribs look remade by timber instead of duralumin. Is this correct?
Thanks for sharing your fantastic photos, Greg

Hi Shinpachi!

The aileron is an aluminum structure that looks very similar to the elevator except longer and doesn't have adjustable trim tabs (they are fixed), with lead counterweights, covered in fabric.

All the control surfaces of a Mistubishi Zero are fabric-covered Aluminum units.

The reason the ribs look darker is because we added rib tape, and painted the rib tape with another 2 - 3 coats of poly seal. Jim Stuhler is completing the rib stiching on one of the ribs. When he finised, we sealed the trailing edge with tape, added more tape over the rib stiching, sealed it, and painted the entire thing with more sealer. Next comes primer, then paint. When completed the fabric will be stiff and stick to the surface like it was an integral part of it.

Since the Planes of Fame is an active flying museum, it IS a very cool place to volunteer. The peopl are down to earth and KNOW their stuff. We volunteers can't get sloppy work past them (and don't want to do so in any case).

As a side note, this year's arishow (first weekend in May) will be sponsored by Mooney Aircraft and we will have at least 3 B-17's there plus a lot of other WWII warbirds flying. I don't know yet which one will be the featured aerobatic plane. In the recent past we have had Bearcat, Mustang, Tigercat, P-38, Hawker Sea Fury, F-86, and others, but Steve Hiinton usually does a great job is SOME warbird.

We will also have an F-22 Raptor doing a demo and based at Chino for the show, the first time in years it has made any airshow on the West Coast. Looking forward to it, even though it a a lot of work to put on a good airshow.

If you get the chance, this is one of the top two or three airshows in the world, and definitely one to see in the USA. Last year, Chino was voted number two, right behind Duxford, in the best airshow poll among pilots who fly airshows. Our president, Steve Hinton, usually flies at Duxford, many times in one of Stephen Gray's warbirds. He is also the race starter at Reno every year and flies at Oshkosh most years, too.

If you get a chance, come see it. Planes start arriving Thursday. Friday is practice and is actually one of the best times to go ... the crowd is WAY smaller. All the vendors are there and it is a full airshow Saturday and Sunday.

Greg, I'm very jealous.

Hi VikingBerserker,

Please don't be; come see the airshow instead. If I know you are coming, we can meet up and look around. Chino is one ultra-intersting airport around airshow day. Two museums and tons of warbirds all in one place.

If you come, let me know via PM and was can arrange to meet up and spend some time.

Take care. - Greg

Thank you Greg for your kind answer

GregP said:

Hey Meatloaf,

You asked for some shots of landing gear. Here are a few.


3) Raiden tailwheel"
View attachment 249523
View attachment 249524


5) And finally, here is the bomb we made (I didn't work on the bomb, but watched in interest) in the bomb bay of the Judy:
View attachment 249526

All for now.

Click to expand...

That is interesting that they went with the (presumably) Navy-spec solid-rubber tailwheel on the J2M, even though it was never (to my knowledge) intended to be operated from a carrier.
As for the picture of the D4Y with the bomb, that surprises me; I thought that the D4Y had a fully enclosed bomb-bay. Perhaps that was only for the smaller 250kg bombs? (I assume from the size that this one is supposed to represent a "standard" 500kg bomb?). I guess carrying its bomb semi-recessed still causes less drag than having it hang directly below the fuselage; perhaps the bomb-bay doors were intended to reduce drag while it was flying without a weapon (it was commonly used for reconnaissance as well). That would be somewhat in line with the G4M1, which apparently wasn't given bomb doors that could open in flight. Thus, it was removed altogether before combat missions, and only used on patrols because it caused less drag than an open bomb bay (I still haven't read for sure whether the G4M2 ever got real bomb doors, but it did have a bulged bomb bay, so it would make sense).
Speaking of reconnaissance, I just found this picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yokosuka_D4Y1_at_takeoff.jpg . What do people think of that bulge on the belly? It's supposedly taking off for a reconnaissance mission, and that doesn't look like a bomb to me. It almost looks like a semi-permanent bomb-bay fuel tank faired into the fuselage or something.

The bulge on the belly is a weapon can't say which one from the wonderfully clear picture, but it is definitely something attached to the bomb shackle. The shackle swings down so as to clear the propeller arc before it releases the bomb.

We have one at the museum from our Judy and it is on display.

I'll get a pic next week.

You all know we have a Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bomber and recon aircraft. Here are a few shots you may never see unless you are local. Behind the instrument panel is an ammunition tray that holds the ammo for the two cowl-mount machine guns. The ammo sits in the tray and is belt-fed to the MG's, and the expended shells hit a small chute and drop out the bottom of the aircraft. I took shots from both sides.

The pilot's legs go through the center, with each leg close to the shell ejector chute. The ammo is in the middle tray feeds upward from the center.





Here is the bomb trapeze that swings the bomb clear of the propeller arc.



Sorry ... I forgot to rotate that shot. All for now.

Here is a side shot of the Merlin 224 that will go into our Hispano Ha.1112. As you can see, it is a single stage, two-speed unit.



Here is a closeup of the supercharger wheelcase.



Here is a V-1650-7 in a P-51 D Mustang. This particular engine is a well-built dash seven that is running transport heads. The transport heads were made robust for the expected transport boom after WWII. One such plane was the Canadair Northstar, which is basically a Douglas DC-4 with Merlins in it.



Here is a closeup of the rear of the engine. You can see the intercooler and the fact that there are two wheelcases, one behind the other, with the second one being of small diameter. The light in the hangar was such that I was unable to see the viewfinder, and I got just the wrong angle … the second wheelcase is almost hidden by a black hose. Damn! I suppose I can't win them all. I was trying to show the difference between a single and two stage supercharger case. Maybe next time …



All for now.

Somebody in here somewhere was making some comments about the slats on the Bf 109. Can't remember quite where, but ... here are some shots of our Hispano Ha.1112 Buchon with slats closed and slats open. They slide in either direction VERY easily and are completely unpowered.

Slats closed ...



And slats open ...



Steve Hinton had us move the hydraulic pump from the engine compartment to the rear fuselage. Here is where it is now, inside the hatch behind and below the cockpit. While I used to work on this project and still do on occasion if they need a hand, the "us" above doesn't mean "me." The guys doing most of it are George Orff and Bert Bruckmann.



And for those of you who like aircraft structures, here is a shot inside that hatch looking backward. Probably a useless shot, but somebody may find it interesting.



All for now ...

Some of you may know we have the world's last airframe for several planes. Among them is our Ryan FR-1 Fireball. Here is a front quarter view showing the jet air intakes in the wing root. With "one turning and one burning" it could climb at better than 5,000 feet per minute.



Here is a shot of the rear quarter showing the jet pipe exhaust.



Here is a shot of the starboard GE I-16 jet engine in our Bell YP-59A Airacomet.



In this configuration, it makes 1,600 pounds of thrust (hence, GE I-16), and in a later configuration made 2,000 pounds of thrust and became the GE J-31.

Here is a shot from about floor level of the right-hand engine (starboard) with cowling removed. Yes, the damned left tire is flat! We have to change it out this coming weekend. Bummer, but it happens.



The I-16 is a centrifugal flow engine (has a centrifugal compressor). Sorry, I didn't get a shot of the cutaway I-16 but will in the near future.

Here is a shot of a cutaway J-47 from an F-86 Sabre. It may not be obvious, but the fuel-air mixture flows around the red and yellow inner combustion chamber and it bleeds in through the holes. Hopefully this avoids blowing the fire out until a much higher airspeed.



All for now. - Greg

One very interesting anecdote we were favored with was last year when our Heinkel He-162 was the featured aircraft at our monthly event (first Saturday of the month, every month). Rather stupidly, I don't remember his name (but can find out) ... but we had a real He-162 pilot come in and give a talk.

Turns out this guy was an American citizen visiting Germany when the war broke out (remember, not with the USA until Dec 7, 1941). He was a pilot who was flying around Germany at the time and was "impressed" into Luftwaffe service and became a "delivery pilot" for Heinkel when war was declared on the UK. He was the guy who flew and delivered our He-162 to it's front line unit!

Later in the war, but not much later, he was delivering another He-162 and was shot down by a P-51 Mustang behind "emeny" lines, and was repatriated with the USA after surviving the crash landing. How strange is THAT?

He said the He-162 flew rather well if you were a seasoned pilot, but he would not recommend it for a low-time guy. We opened the plane and he got into the cockpit and was happy to make the re-acquaintence.

Not a story ... true!

Edit: I was given a synopsis by another volunteer who said he was an American in Germany in WWII. This apparently isn't correct. See below. He was German, and was LATER an American citizen. That makes me wonder about the rest of the version I heard. Obviously he would not have had citizenship mpapers if he becamne a citizen later. I'll check on it and report, or get WheelUpCavu to give HIS synopsis.

-----------------------------------------------

We've also had two pilots come through the museum (and give a talk at a monthly event) who flew our Bell YP-59A Airacomet airframe! (ours is S/N 42-108777). We know of many who flew it, but not ALL the pilots who did so. So far, we've found two still alive and kicking who were willing to come see it and talk about it.

Edit: One of the pilots who flew our YP-59A is Vaugh E. Denning, author of "A Pilot, First, Last, and Always." I don't recall the name of the other one who came through, but I bought a copy of Vaughn's book, so it is on my shelf as a reference.

Just FYI.

I'm very, very surprised the Germans would let a American citizen fly a advanced Luftwaffe aircraft, "impressed," coerced, or drafted.
Once you're in a single seat aircraft, you can no longer plead coercion. By the time the He162 was flying America and Germany had been at war for quite a while.

I'm also surprised he wasn't prosecuted for aiding the enemy after the war, people have lost their citizenship for less.

As a delivery pilot, he wasn't given very much extra fuel. Other than that, he didn't address those issues much, but did say the Nazis were very dilligent about keeping tabs on people. By the time he was shot down, the Allies were advancing into Germany and the front lines simply weren't very far away. He was in the process of flying a new He-162 into Allied hands when he was shot down before he could land at an Allied airstrip.

The rest of his talk was about flying the planes. He knew that most Americans hadn't heard much firsthand about the German planes, so his talk was about flying the 109, 190, 162, and 262. He liked them all but felt the jets had too short an endurance to be worthwhile. For an attack fighter, he preferred the piston fighters.

Well, of course he was trying to fly that He162 to the allies.

After he was shot down and captured by them, what would you expect him to say ?