Warbird Information Exchange

O2Lady... this is where our towel rack is on the belly or rather where it was. Looks like the horns got sawed off. Reminds me of my alma mater War Hymn... has a phrase that includes "Saw Varsity's Horns Off.... Short!!" Love that song.... such a catchy tune. But I digress. Anyway, I don't see how you can hang towels on your rack since they are top?? Did the FM radio still work when you got it? I think ours will still fire up, but can't use it anyway. May make a dummy towel rack if we can't locate one that is cheap. Say, do you look up at the topside when you do a preflight? Brother J

Randy, you had asked about the bomb release set up in the bay. This is a picture of the forward section you mentioned. As you can see in the shot, there are provisions in the front bay for the small extra weapons although the releases have been removed. The yellow caps are placed over the electrical plugs for these releases. So you remembered correctly. Attaboy!! JR

You do that a lot, Jim.


Wrong-o, buckaroo! If the HF SSB radio and antenna are in working order, a licensed Amateur Radio Operator would be allowed to operate it on the amateur bands. I just happen to know such a person, and I feel quite certain that this person would be very happy to do it!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH

Crew Chief, NAA F-86F Sabre 52-4689
Vintage Flying Museum
Fort Worth, Texas

Well, except we are talking about the FM homing antennae and not the SSB whatchamacallit??

This is our new logo for Greatest Generation Aircraft Non Profit Foundation. It didn't start out to be a non profit operation, but as with all things in aviation, it just turned out that way. Say, did you notice, that from Jan 21st to present date, we have had over 3000 views on this thread. Went over 30,000 this morning. Want to thank everybody for their interest in our project. Please keep up the encouraging words! We enjoy the support. Many thanks!! JR

Very nice logo indeed. Kudos to the designer. Are there any plans for hats/patches/decals??

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

Yes, we are working on patches and t shirts with the new logo, but also a new patch, shirt and hat for the A26. Just finished designing a challenge coin that has this new logo on one side and what will be part of the A26 patch on the other side. It shows an A26 with the US Flag behind it. The new patch will have something similar but we are looking at putting a blue border around it with Greatest Generation Aircraft around the top and Ft Worth on the bottom of the border. Not final yet as we have to get an estimate from the vendor on the setup of the design. Will sure let you know when these are available and when our new online store will be up on the website. http://www.gga1.org. Thanks for asking. How are things in the fine state of Virginia?? Sleepy in The Republic, JR

This is the aft left side of the bomb bay racks. The shackles will be removed and cleaned before we start stripping paint and prepping it for new. All placards will be preserved as much as possible and for those we can't save, we have replacement potential. JR

Rand is hammering out the restoration of the cockpit and radio panels. He is an old AF crew chief and he knows how to make these things pretty again. Just part of the makeover we want. Not too new looking, but just like it might have been for the A26 guys a year or two after coming out of rebuild at On Mark. BTW, I have been engaging in quite a few conversations with Bob Denny who is the son of the founder of On Mark. As a 17 yr old, he got to fly the first of the K's off the assembly line. What a heritage he has from his father who flew for Chennault after the AVG was disbanded. Kudos to Rand and Bob. JR

Yea!!! Arnold and Randy delivered the "Ice Cream Wagon" on this fine, crisp Texas morning. They figured out how to use the 48 V batteries that run the cart into an instant, presto chango, engine start cart for the airplanes on 24Vs. Just drive up, plug in and you got power!! Can carry tools in the back if needed on the ramp. Our hangar is now getting pretty full with the CAF A26 in the front. The B25 is still up on jacks at the front also, so maneuvering around it gets a little tricky, but Bill G and the CAF guys seem to have a handle on it. The former Spirit of Waco got a wash job today. Wouldn't that be awesome to see 4 A26's coming over in formation? Anyway, we plan to share the new start cart with the hangar occupants. Nice option to have. No ice cream though until next summer. Oh hey, I just had a thought. We have a margarita machine. I wonder...... Hey Arnold... don't go away just yet. JR PS, see more of the cart at www.a26k.org or www.gga1.org and click on the A26. Go to the A26 Information page.

This one is for Dean and all the other radio guys. This is the center pedastal which has camera... yes camera controls plus some of the radio equipment. There is a another stack of remote control heads that goes down the middle of the instrument panel between the pilot and copilot's flight instruments. More about these later, but Rand is cleaning up and restoring the painted lettering on each of the control heads plus making the knobs and switches work again. Hot dog!! Not only can we nape those feral hogs for the BBQ, we can take pictures while we do it. Anybody got a lead on cameras that were designed for the bomb bay?? JR

That is awsome Jim!! You provide the power and I will get Jimbo G to provide the ice cream!!! Tractor ice cream that is, the best ever!! Best hangar mates ever!

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Bill Gorin
Vintage Flying Museum
http://www.vintageflyingmuseum.org
bill.gorin@vintageflyingmuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=57513906106
Commemorative Air Force
EAA Warbirds of America Member

.............. How are things in the fine state of Virginia??
Things are supposed to become crappy overnight, freezing rain and sleet, if it gets across the mountains to the West. Doubt it will happen.
Those bomb releases look familiar. After the problem we had with "hung ordnance" we had to start performing a full function check prior to loading. Cock all of the releases, then get in the cockpit and step through them while someone observed in the bomb bay, making sure they tripped. Don't remember how long that went on. We tested the system in "select", "train" and "bomb bay jettison", then tested the releases to see if the "safe" side of it worked OK. It was kind of fun experimenting with the "BRIC", setting different intervals and airspeeds and listening for the delay between releases. Think they eventually gave up on the daily testing, since we were never able to reproduce the problem on the ground.
Guys, y'all just got to get the "Good Humor Jingle" playin' on that ice cream truck!!
Randy

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

Here's an old one dug out of the archives. This was the "ammo" tent at NKP, situated between the ramp and active runway.
That's me, up to my "brass" in ammunition. The ammo came in 100 linked belts, and we would break them out and make a continuous belt. We would take the boxes to the tent and pre-load them, then haul them back to the plane and install. Seemed to be faster that way. I read in some publication I have around here that in the 6 or so months of Project Big Eagle, there was over 770,000 rounds of 50 caliber expended.
I was also reading that A-26 manual on the new site, and Jim and Hawkeye, I guess the mystery of how much ammo the K models held is solved. Says in that manual that each gun had 350 rounds, for a total of 2800. I "think" you could squeeze in about another 15-20 rounds in each belt between the box and gun.
Randy

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

The 609th Special Ops Squadron, aka Nimrods, had this as their squadron patch. But there were several other groups like Randy's Project Big Eagle for instance, who flew the A-26's first from Naked Phanny and proved the value of the aircraft over the HCM trail in Laos. Thanks for clearing up the mystery about the ammo load, Randy. That really you back in the day?? Got any of Walt? I suspect you have some blackmail photos somewhere!! So anyway, how bout this Super Bowl Game? Halftime was spectacular, but my greatest, favorite ad has been the one with Clint Eastwood. Boy, those are some words we need to pay attention to and get with the program. Back to the game!!! On the Edge... JR in THE Lone Star Republic.