Warbird Information Exchange

JR reported the highlights of the day, but let me add, it was a real honor for me to be asked to be the first one to hit the switch for the engine turning today!! I had an instant connection to all of the Nimrod pilots we have met over the years as I imagined how they would do it. I hope there are a great many other opportunities in the near future where we actually start the beasts. This was a good warm up for the big game! If you would like to see video of the cowl flap motor test or the prop turning on "Lisa" go to our Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/a26specialkay?_rdr=p

Many attaboys to the our team today!!

The Other JR

Awesome !!!!!! Congrats to all

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I stopped by Books-A-Million the other day to pick up some reading material. One of particular interest was a Air & Space Collectors Edition: Legendary Aircraft of The Vietnam War. About the middle of the magazine, there is a page featuring the "Legends", and among the 6 aircraft pictured, one is the A-26. The small painting accurately depicts an On-Mark Invader, with tail #671 no less.
However, the description could have been better. It says: "Crew: 3-Pilot, Nav/Bombardier, rear gunner" and Armament: "Four 20mm cannons and two 12.7mm machine guns, (.50 cal.) and bomb capacity of 2000#.
Despite that, it's still impressive that after all these years, the Invader of the Nimrods is still getting recognition. Can hardly wait to see Special Kay back in the air!

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

A big "attaboy" to everyone involved in cranking over the engines. It looks like you are getting close to that first engine start. I really want to be there so please give us as much advance notice as possible. You mentioned October... I already have a commitment for the weekend of the 17th but I'll be there any other day or month.

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Bob
Memories of Naked Fanny
More Memories of Naked Fanny (Nov 2013)
609th Nimrod, Bomb loader, Gun Plumber, '68 - '69

Hey Randy, if it is published in a book or on the internet, doesn't it have to be true?? Just cause you loaded eight .50 cals in the nose doesn't mean that someone didn't come along after you were done and change them to 20 mm because after all, it was a secret mission where you were not supposed to know what was going on, right?? Let's see.. hmmm.... is this more like it: normal crew of 2, 8 50's in the nose, 4000 lbs in the bomb bay and nearly that much under each wing on pylons? My fuzzy math comes up with about 12,000 lbs of stuff like napalm, cluster bombs and HE. Maybe it was a typo and they left the 1 off the 2000?? Distortion of the facts has never stopped a good publisher or a politician!! ha Glad to hear from you. Been awhile. Ya'll traveling again?? Regards, JR

Not traveling again, we're home for awhile. Just got back from 3 weeks at the beach. Got to see the Marines in action, with Cobras, Super Stallions, Hueys and V-22 Ospreys flying up and down the beach almost continuously. Good to look overhead and see and hear the sound of freedom.

The magazine didn't get all the facts straight, but at least had the right picture! The 12.7mm does equate to a .50 cal. Learned that from some Col. that got off the Klong hopper one day at NKP and walked over to where I was loading the guns, and said, "Those are 12.7mm guns aren't they?" I replied that they were .50 cal. He said, "Oh no, I'm sure they're 12.7mm." Not wanting to get into a pi**ing contests with a Colonel, I just said, "Well, they might be, but this .50 cal ammo works just fine in them." He walked off. I looked it up later. Guess we were both right. Of course, at the time, him being a bird Col. and me being an E-3, he was more right than I was!!!
Really appreciate the updates on Kay, and the video Hawkeye did was great. Be sure to get audio of the engine starts. Still got the short one Hawkeye posted on my iPod. Like to listen to it sometimes just for the thrill of it. Amazing how the sound of one of those radials starting up can bring back so many memories.
Take Care,
Randy

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

Randy... Bob... sure thing. We will let everybody know as soon as we have a date in mind. Remember though, anything can happen to force a reset so if we say Oct 19, you can bet your sweet bippy that Kay will have other ideas. The carbs have been sent though so that is a big step in the right direction. The engines are oiled and lines are being rechecked. Cowlings should be fitted soon. We are working on possibly getting help to install the glass in our canopies and right windshield. Those have to be drilled just right and need more expertise with the right tools than what we might have. The VFM Hangar Dance is the first Saturday in October so there is a chance we will pull K out for a spa treatment while the hangar gets emptied. The B-29 is back for some flight training and maintenance for about six weeks so that will keep the hangar purty tight. The Navy A-3D will be the centerpiece behind the band this year as the A-3 Association will be featured. Should be a good time with a new band. Be sure to check out the VFM website to order tickets early for a discount. It is too danged hot the next two weeks here at least with temps over 105. We will be starting work early and ending before it gets too hot. Progress continues on the nose gear doors. JR found the middle hinge we were going bananas trying to remember where we hid it. Turned out to almost be in plain sight. Dang, don't you hate it when that happens??? Check back for updates here and on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/a26specialkay The Other JR

Hard to believe that the magazine, Randy looked, at did not have more accurate information. Air and Space Magazine did a series of stories on some Vietnam era aircraft. The A-26, and the Nimrods, were featured in the July, 2010 issue. I had contacted the editor, Linda Shiner, about doing a story on the A-26 back in early 2009. After several months Linda got back in touch and said they were going to do the story and the author would be Dave Lande. After talking to Dave I asked him to attend the Nimrod reunion, in October 2009, which he did. Dave interviewed many of the Nimrods at the reunion. I don't see any mention of guns other than 8 .50 cal. The story was the 6th in the "Legends" series and is probably still in Air and Space Magazine's on line archives.
Frank Nelson
Nimrod Oct 67/68

Gonna be a hot one in Ft Worth this Saturday. Forecast is calling for a balmy 103. That sixty weight oil will be flowing like water. Plans are to start working on Kay's canopy glass replacement. VFM is having a pot luck lunch. Hawkeye is grilling burgers. Please join us and bring a side dish. Chow's on at 12:00.

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The real JR

It barely broke 100 today, possibly accounting for all the activity in the hangar. Kay had a good size crew with Ray working on re skinning nose gear doors, Arnold, Alex and Dewey finishing up cowling supports, Rand installing fairings and Ed, Bryan and yours truly lining out the all important canopy. Good to see Jim S. He was working on fitting some of the access panels on the No 2 engine. Yes, Martha we are getting close.

Big Mike, a long time Kay crewmember stopped by to update us on all his activities. Mike's employer has a fair sized collection of East Texas based classic aircraft. Greg Trowbridge, a Lil crewmember who hails from within sight of our neighbor to the north also topped by. Greg reports the last of the snow is gone so he and his bride were passing thru on their way to AMA. Greg & I worked together for the same org at 400 Main St, East Hartford, the home of dependable engines.

Across from Kay the FIFI crew was hard at it too. They have only a few weeks to git er done before big dog goes out on tour. Quite a respectable turn out. We also have a new neighbor, a really sweet E18S Twin Beech. P&W 985 powered station wagon. A really nice, well maintained example of the classic Beech. Congratulations.

We do it all again next week. Until then...ya'll come see us now.

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The real JR

Great stuff JR, thanks for the update! Must be getting pretty exciting over there.

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Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22

Well, the Other JR is back from the high mountains of NM. Sheesh, the heat in TX was a shock to the system yesterday, but a cold front is due by Thurs when the temps will only hit 89. Brr, where is my sweater?? It will be nice though when Sept gets here, the weather cools a bit and flying activity picks up. JR kept everything going in my absence. The carbs made it to California for rework. The new skins for the nose gear doors are ready to shoot on after Ray checks out the hinge line with the nose gear wheel well. Looked like a good fit. JR worked on the canopy frames, but we are missing some hardware that will have to be located. Those things were taken off a long time ago and we have moved several times since. They will probably show up when we dig deep enough. Progress continues with the avionics, but Larry and crew do more during the week now trying to finish up and check all of the installations. Larry did find that the 650 needed an update in the software to handle the connection to the Flightstream 210. This will be handled shortly as the cavalry has been requested and is on the way. So all good stuff for sure. Stay tuned. The Other JR, glad to be back in the Republic.

We got our cold front as expected and it did cool things off considerably, however, it looks like it will be back up to 100 by Saturday. We will have the team working on the airplane anyway. The B-29 is back in the hangar for maintenance and some engine runs were done yesterday we heard. Rumor has it the crew from Wichita will be training in FiFi sometime soon. Should be fun to watch. In other news, Zane Adams has invited us for an interview on Warbird Radio next Tues evening at 8 pm Central to talk about the restoration and history of Kay. Might be worth your while to listen in. Meanwhile, yours truly has a quick trip to NJ so maybe I can get in and out before anybody notices!! The Other JR

Wow, hot and humid again here, but the team managed to work thru it. Ed and Arnold worked on the number two engine and cowling ring. Larry and Stan continued working on the avionics and found that the IFF had a classified tag still on it. Interesting what Easter eggs we still find on the airplane. We are looking at replacing the Bomb Intravelometer thingee as ours is kinda rusty. It could be cleaned up probably, but might look nicer if we can find a better one. Not sure the Nimrods used these at all since I think they were set for multiple drops out of the bomb bay. Maybe Frank or somebody can enlighten us. The real JR, Ray and T are planning to work tomorrow morning on the nose gear doors. BTW, we received two very nice thank you cards from our Nimrod guests Leon and Ken from their visit a few weeks ago. We appreciate that!! On the other end of the Hangar, "BUBA" got a spa treatment today and will head out to the big Midland Airshow on Thursday. There is a special show and practice on Friday and then the main show on Sat and Sun. The pyro people have some very special effects planned for the A-26 passes so if you are out that way, be sure to attend. Some little known outfit will perform afterwards..... think they are called the Thunderbirds or something like that. The Other JR PS Be sure to follow us on Facebook for pictures. http://www.facebook.com/a26specialkay

I remember us having to get up in the plane when doing the armament systems check and test the "BRIC" , as we called it.(Bomb Release Interval Controller) I don't know whether or not the pilots used it or not, have to ask them about it. I think I remember it having a switch that would be set to "Select" or "Train", meaning that you could select to drop a bomb with every push of the button, or if it was set in "Train", one push on the button and they would all step out. Now, if you had your airspeed set correctly, and the interval you wanted between bomb impacts, it would calculate the release time---theoretically, of course! I would guess it was used for cratering runways or long stretches of highways, railroads, etc.
I remember having to cock all the bomb releases in the bomb bay, and checking if they all released on que. I know if you set a low airspeed and long interval, you would get a slow thump, thump, thump from the bomb bay. But, if you set a high airspeed and short interval, it would sound like a machine gun going off, with them releasing so quickly. It was fun to mess around with when you had a spare minute! That's how I remember the thing working, but with that now being 49 years in the past, I could be wrong on some stuff!!!!!

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