Warbird Information Exchange

Frank, what about napalm & cluster-incendiary bombs expended in '68? .50 cal ammo used? Do you have any reports from 1969? Many thanks! JR

Today, JR and his Assistant Crew Chief went out to work on Kay. On passing thru the hangar, T, the assistant,decided he needed to inspect the B-24 Diamond Lil so he got the tour. Not often you can see a B-24 cockpit windshield filled with B-29 coming at you. But his dad reported he was more curious about the Hula gal on top of the instrument panel. Now, don't pretend you didn't notice it... as if. Interesting that a four year old asked what the girl was doing up there, huh? I think he missed the explanation about it being a vibration monitor for the engines. We have one for Kay for the same reason only ours will have a red Nimrod stencil on her backside!!! If she gets to dancing too hard, we will be getting very nervous... but for different reasons ... all mechanical, of course! The Other JR

OK JR here are some more numbers for you. Rather than providing a total for the year I think it is a little more meaningful if they are looked at on a quarterly basis.
For the M31/M32 500 lb. Incendiary Bomb Cluster; 864---1261---236---0. For the .50 cal Armor Piercing Incendiary ; 146,290 rds---157,835---167,050---215,175. These figures are for 1968
Frank Nelson
Nimrod Oct 67/68

.......For the .50 cal Armor Piercing Incendiary ; 146,290 rds---157,835---167,050---215,175.

===darn!!! That would make a continuous belt of .50 cal. 10 MILES LONG!!!! Apparently, those 8- 50's in the nose maintained their popularity through the years!

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Randy, sure wish I had 8 .50's with 10 miles of rounds right now. Man, we could really have a big wild pig BBQ!! But I have to think about rolling in on some bad guys who can shoot back. As they say, tracers go both ways and if I understand the Nimrods' stories, they preferred not to be identifable in the dark. Hmmmmm.... Well, that just leaves one category of ordnance to report. Frank, do you have the number of napalms used in '68. Out of all these various weapons, which one was your crew's favorite to use?? Regards, JR

A good day was in the making after the Sun finally started warming things up nicely. Nearly impossible to believe it is almost February and we can almost work in the hangar without a coat. Hawkeye came up with some more hoodies for the guys who didn't get one last round due to the availability of sizes. These are black with the Nimrod logo on the front. They come in right handy on these cool morning starts. While some of the guys were working on Ichabod Crane and changing the oil/filter, others were cleaning up the bomb bay doors and running checks on them with the aux hydraulic pump. A small problem developed in the electrical relay that runs the pump, but JR installed a spare relay that he had and fixed the issue. The edges of the bomb bay doors also got a big clean up so that the seals can be installed and just about finish up the doors project. Will post some pics of the differences tomorrow. Larry and Stan continued pursuing the wiring trying to finalize that end of the door biz. We have been a bit short handed lately, but hopefully everybody will be back and well next Saturday. We are having a big lasagna feed for lunch with all the sides so maybe that will encourage them to be there!! Drop by and visit with us any Saturday!! The Other JR PS Big shout out to Big Ed and best wishes for a successful surgery this coming week!

There was a repeat of previous post here so thought I would just change it for something better. Plans for the coming weekend include rain and cold. Howsumever, there is a very nice lady planning a good hot lasagna luncheon for our guys to warm them back up. Sure want to thank those folks involved for taking care of us so well. This could get to be a habit with the success of the potluck luncheon we had at Christmas for everybody who works at the hangar. Kinda nice to hang out and find what other folks are working on, etc. If you have some sheetmetal skills, please consider joining our team and helping us out with the myriad of projects that need some quick attention. See JR, the Crew Lead, and talk with him about it, please. The other JR

JR and Tim took some time, ok, a lot of time to clean up the edge of the bottom half of the bomb bay doors yesterday. As seen in the picture, it was full of grime and oil from all the many years since it was new. This cleaning is necessary so that new seals can be installed all around the edges. Might stop some of the air noise when we are chuggin along at 300 k rolling in on those wild pigs out at the ranch. All the better to sneak up on them!! Standby for the "after picture" coming up in the next post.

And this is what they got after much scrubbing and cleaning. It will still need some work and paint above the seal lip but lookin good!! Thanks guys! The Other JR

Nice to see the progress you folks make every weekend. I guess those seals on the bay doors might quiet down some noise but with 2 R2800s churning I doubt if you are going to sneak up on those pigs. Now lets get back to munitions numbers. First I need to make a correction to the M31/M32 info I sent on the 19th. The number of M31/M32s used, in the last quarter, should have been 490. That would make a total of 2851 for 1968. The data on the various napalm bombs for 1968 follows; BLU10 (250 lb.) 532, BLU1B (750 lb.) 64, BLU23 (500 lb.) 1211, BLU27 (750 lb.) 2486, BLU32 (500 lb.) 4879. The best ones were the BLU27 and the BLU32 because they had fins on them and could be accurately delivered. I think the BLU10s were always unfinned, so they made good ground markers. As far as having a favorite weapon I guess most crews favored the M31 & M32 or the 750 lb. napalm.
Frank Nelson
Nimrod Oct. 67/68

These are the limit switches on the bomb bay doors. We kinda thought they had something to do with turning hydraulic power off and on to the actuators, but it turns out they only illuminate the door position lights on the armament panel. Who knew? Too simple in theory, but a bear for Larry and Stan to position right. Ray, our metal wizard fabricated the mounts and did a very nice job with those. So Frank, those smaller unfinned napes, do you recall the altitude you dropped those from? Seems to me that it was around 300 ft because there was no telling where they would go otherwise. The finned ones could be dropped from much higher, but I don't recall the drop altitude on those. Do you? Seems fairly obvious the crews favored the weapons you mentioned because of the numbers. Effectiveness and perhaps being able to drop them from higher altitudes were all in their favor?? Oh, in other news, guess who is coming for dinner tomorrow evening!! Yes, the Mona Lisa will be here probably around 4 to 6 pm if the driver is on time!! It is a beautiful thing. JR

All the way from Grangeville, Idaho, Mona is back!! David A's grin can be multiplied by about another 14 as all of us are so excited to have this engine ready to go... well, almost. We still have to install some overhauled accessories and mount the engine to the QEC before we install the QEC to the firewall once again. Kay will feel a lot better having an even weight on both sides now. Tomorrow will be a very special day for the team as we take a peek under the covers and then talk over the Oshkosh probabilities. Our goal was to make it to OSH in July but it all hinges on everything falling in place and no delays for weather or anything else. Since Miss Kay is notorious for springing surprises on us, this may be easier said than done. At any rate, can't get there if we don't try. It just has to be done right as we probably won't get another chance like this to make her the best she can be. Important discussions on tap for tomorrow. JR TGIF

..........All the way from Grangeville, Idaho, Mona is back!!

Wow, they even gift wrapped it for you!

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Yep, gift wrapping came off this morning! JR and David A got the first peek under the covers as they are always the early birds. They usually get there about 6 am and get things rolling. We had a great lunch thanks to the mom of one of our youngin's who has started helping us. His dad is working on the T-37 sim in the musuem. So a shout out to Jenny and our many thanks! Best Italian chow since David's sister fixed some for us awhile back. The team got back to work prepping the engine with the overhauled accessories and plumbing associated with it. Some worked on the QEC to finish that prep. Earlier this week, Ray completed some metal repairs to the nacelle structure so this very important piece was finished. We are doing all we can to make this engine installation go as smoothly as possible. Can hardly wait to hear "Mona" make noise. She is a beautiful thang. My first 2000 lb girlfriend!! Almost a shame to put that cowling around her. It would almost be like putting canvas around a bikini babe. Ewww, bad image. Hey Randy, ya'll need to come see us when she fires up! Best regards, The Other JR

Don't know about ya'll but Photobucket seems to be trying to place a lot of malware on my computer. Can't hardly upload or download a picture that I don't get a warning from my virus protection. Anybody have some insight into this? Then there is the ad for Publisher's Clearing House that always shows up in the background. And a nasty Add on program that has a Microsoft title but is not MS. Getting really fed up with it. JR