What Aircraft Have You Helped Restore/Maintain?

[soulezoo]

Going back about 26 years, helped restore a B-29 on display at Travis AFB. Also worked the vintage flightline at various airshows over the years.

My favorite though was helping to work on the Memphis Belle (not the static display original, but rather the movie star that makes the rounds). It clipped a wing on a tacan building when the brakes failed on a landing at the Fayetteville airport. I just arrived from an overseas mission and the mechanics there invited me over to lend a hand.

 

[GregP]

Fire panel was stock as far as I know. They were taking off to film a flight when the pilot was informed of smoke on one side after he was airborne. He continued, climbed, turned, and landed downwind, where he was met on the runway and they sprayed the engine compartment. Minor damage, not sure if it was a fire or just heat from the cracked cylinder, but we made new cylinders and are back in business again. The N9M-B is currently flyable but the main pilot recently had a medical issue and is not flying at this time. We have 3 - 4 other people who have flown it nd are qualified but not current, so the plane is not "down," just not flying as much as it used to fly ... at this time. It will fly in our annual aircshow and will be flown by a qualified pilot current in type.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Thanks Greg! One question though: How do you get current in type when there IS only one type?

 

[GregP]

You need to be qualified in a lot of types, get a briefing from someone current in type, and you need to fly it through several takeoffs and landings. Currency is three takeoffs and landings to a full stop within a 90-day period.

We have maybe 4 pilots who have flown the wing other than the primary pilot, and one of them will get current and stay that way until our main pilot has his medical back or we know that won't happen. In that case, a decision will be made about who will be the primary pilot going forward. This isn't a fighter ... it has two 350 - 400 HP Franklins in it and has some interesting but not dangerous flying characteristics. The airframe is solid and the plane is in great shape.

No reason to think it will not continue to be that way for a long time.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Great news!

 

[GregP]

Yes! It should be just fine going forward. The real trick is to have the airframe knowledge to keep it running and flying, not to find someone who can fly it.

The props would have REALLY long driveshafts except for the torque converters between the engine and prop. Think of them as automatic transmissions. The engines can start and you can hold the props stationary ... if you advance the throttles they will turn and speed up. At SOME point the torque converter will lock up and the props turn at geared speed.

This was done to help eliminate the vibration and harmonics from LONG prop shafts.

Works just great!

 

[GregP]

Here's the fabric I cut off an aileron ...

Did not intend to inclde the P-51 ... so please ignore it. Spastic mouse finger ...

This is how you ship a Zero to Japan. The rest is in a container.

 

[gumbyk]

What's the wingspan on that Zero, Greg?

 

[GregP]

Never measured it but it is a stock A6M5 Model 52 (except for radio and we moved the seat back 4 inches), so the wingspan SHOULD be 36 feet 1 inch.

 

[gumbyk]

We're looking at shipping an aircraft with a wingspan greater that 44ft. Wings are one piece, which makes shipping 'interesting'. Thought you might have a creative suggestion.

 

[GregP]

For the Zero, we have a 1-piece center section. We created a steel engine mount that really isn't an engine mount ... it bolts to the airframe and is used to bolt the aircraft down on a trailer nose down. We also built a steel framework and we use that to tie down the aircraft after it is bolted down. The we wrap it in shrink wrap tp ship across the oacean. You can see it in the post above on how we ship a Zero to Japan. Trucks can be up to 52 feet long, so doing a 44-footer isn't all that bad. We shipped a Zero, a Hawker Sea Fury (Tave 232 home from Reno a few times ...), and many other aircraft on trucks. Having a really big froklift helps a lot! Also know where you can tie it down without damaging anything.

Steve Hinton's shopo is Fighter Rebuilders in Chino. If you are with a Museum, give them a call and thay can help you do it ... if you need the help and can pay for their time.

It's worth it to get a precious plane transported without damage, and the next time you will KNOW how to do it. Keep anything you build for reuse later. If you ship it once, you've eventually ship it again, even if it is many years later.

 

[gumbyk]

road isn't really a problem. getting it from US the NZ is the interesting part for oversize containers.

Looks like that zero frame would lock onto a 40ft container. We may have come up with a solution, which will basically mean it's shipped as deck cargo, unfortunately that means a certain amount of exposure to the elements.

 

[gumbyk]

road isn't really a problem. getting it from US the NZ is the interesting part for oversize containers.

Looks like that zero frame would lock onto a 40ft container. We may have come up with a solution, which will basically mean it's shipped as deck cargo, unfortunately that means a certain amount of exposure to the elements.

 

[GregP]

Yes, when we originally restored the Zero, we had help from Mitsubishi and Nakajima. Wehen we have shipped it t Japan (3 times now) we always used a Mitsubishi ship and shipped it on deck, we sprayed the aircrame with protectant and wrapped it in shrink wrap ... and we were VERY careful about loading it. Dockyard workers aren't exactly paragons of care, but we were able to convince Mitsubishi to lend very qualified people on their ships. We also had to go over to Japan, meet it at the dock, and reassemble and test it ourselves. We used our own pilots on all three visits, but we DID allow about 100 former WWII Zero pilots to sit in it.

Almost to a man they cried and were quite grateful for the chance to get in one more time.The Japanese people may or may not identify with WWII, but we DID have 1.6+ million people watch it fly the first time we went over there. We have a nice pic flying over Mount Fuji. Steve Hinton did some demonstrations with it and the public responded very well.

Best of luck with your endeavor. Our plane, even though shorter than 40 feet, also will not fit in a 40-foot container (too tall), so we had to come up with a shipping method for overseas operations. We had a standard tralier and built the engine mount, the frame, and the covering for it. The whole thing bolts together, can be towed by a truck, and can be lifted with a crane for easy ship loading and unloading.

 

[GregP]

Here's a pic of one of the airframes they used to develop the Me 309 landing gear.

I think they should have tried to make THAT work instead of continuing on with the tricycle gear but, hey, that's just my opinion.

 

[nuuumannn]

Nice. Helped to assemble in museums, a Vampire, Harrier and F-4, conservation and preservation work on an Me-163, Spitfire XVI, Vulcan, de Havilland Comet airliner, bits of rockets and other assorted aircraft related things including different engines, like RR Derwent, Merlin, Great War Renault V-8 from a B.E.2 etc. Worked on worbirds as an engineer mainly in a propeller workshop, Hamilton Std 23E50 for DC-3 and Yak-3, and Rotol (actually a Hoffman prop, but no one can tell the difference) prop for a Spitfire IX. Worked on as an engineer P-3, C-130, UH-1, also involved in prepping 17 ex-RNZAF A-4s for storage outside. I guess all those can be called 'old' aircraft, all having their first flights in the 1950s!

 

[Tracker]

In the last few years have helped restore/maintain the following:
DC3/C47, B25, Chipmunk, Lancaster, Stearman, Harvard, Tiger Moth, Cornell, Lysander, Tracker (S2F-2) restoring to airworthiness, CF-101B,and Beach 18.

 

[Tracker]

In the last few years have helped restore/maintain the following:
DC3/C47, B25, Chipmunk, Lancaster, Stearman, Harvard, Tiger Moth, Cornell, Lysander, Tracker (S2F-2) restoring to airworthiness, CF-101B,and Beach 18.

 

[MustangManiac]

Hi guys,

I've gotten to help restore 4 T-6s with 16 more that were on order but the economy crashed and we went bankrupt before we could build them all. I did everything from sit in front of the computer and design custom instrument panels to parts we couldn't get replacements for any more, to helping drill rivets and doing disassembly of original parts, to installing restored fuel tanks, to assembling canopy sections. We restored them all to airworthy status and there was no adrenaline rush like the maiden flight and putting another bird back in the air....damn I miss my old job and want another one. I just wished I'd gotten to experience more variety of WWII warbirds. I do know the owner, flight engineer, master mechanic and crew chief of the only airworthy F-100 at this time too. I got the honors to work with all of them except the actual owner.

Cheers,
Brady

 

[GregP]

F-100 is way cool and is really the "Super Sabre." What a neat aircraft. Wish we had a few more flying.

Good on ya'.

We have an F-100 but I do NOT know the restoration plans.