B-26K Counter-Invader Restoration ("Special K")

[AKflier]

Craig, I worked for Alaska Air Taxi last summer through last winter and was laid off right about this time last year. I flew out of Deadhorse and we lost quite a few charters when the ice roads went in. Things are still pretty slow up there apparantly.

[AKflier]

Bill is right. We'll do one last run up before she goes into the hangar. We'll probably get started at noon this Saturday.

[pmahaffey]

She should look something like this when we get done with her.

Patrick Mahaffey
B-17 "Chuckie"
B-25 "Pacific Prowler"
B-26K

[Ryan Keough]

Have you guys had any contact with the group in NH that was looking at her for so long? I know that most of their ranks are either old NIMROD crews or sons and daughters of them... they might have a lot of history to help contribute and may be a good partner in the end to make events and airshows a lot more attentive to her history.

Great job getting things going... what positive movement!

[AKflier]

We haven't yet, Ryan. We've all been incredibly busy with all of this over the past few weeks, but we fully intend to get in touch with the A26 Legacy Foundation and work with them to learn as much as we can about the Nimrods and the airplanes.

[rikkirokett]

Pat Mahaffey

[CrewDawg]

Check out Warbird Radio's interview with Steve Swift (AKflyer) on the B-26K tomorrow at 10am Eastern (or right now if you're a subscriber)! http://www.warbirdradio.com/.

Good job on the interview Steve! (not too many "ya'll's" or "uhh's"!)

[Ken]

You guys going for an authentic SEA flat camo scheme, right? Surely there are enough photos and data available to do her justice! Mike Schloss certainly has the FS paint numbers.

http://pimaair.org/collection-detail.php?cid=79

http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

http://photos.military.com/gallery/2905 ... 9126_KqKpq

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsh ... p?fsID=301

http://www.a-26legacy.org/locations.htm

[CrewDawg]

As promised, Steve and Pat fired up the B-26K today and did an engine run and did a short taxi with it. Here are some pictures of the engine run.







3 people in a cockpit built for two








We spent the rest of the day cleaning out space in the north hangar to move some airplanes over there to make room in the south hangar for the B-26. Hopefully she'll be inside and work will start by next week.

[aerovet]

Guys,
it looks like you have found a real "diamond" !
We will watch the restoration of this unique bird from the other side of the atlantic !!!
Lucky we have WIX !!!!!!

Wishing you good luck on the project from Holland...

Aerovet

[Pat Carry]

An outstanding set of photos. Thanks for keeping us in the know.

[Pat Carry]

I'm curious how the paint stripping process works. Does pressure washing alone take the paint off or is a stripper applied beforehand? Thanks

Last edited by Pat Carry on Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:00 am, edited 2 times in total.

[Pat Carry]

One more example of "be careful what you ask for, you just might get it"! It's gonna be fun making room for it . Glad to hear Pat got a turn at the controls.

Funny, I dont remember being at the controls. Oops, must have been a different Pat.

[AKflier]

We took the airplane to a piant shop where it was professionally stripped with chemicals. We're finishing up the job with a little more stripped and a high pressure steam cleaner. Our next order of business will be to dry ice blast the interior and wheel and flap wells. And for all the authenticity junkies (such as myself ) we'll be sure to carefully mask all of the original stencils and decals that are still legible, then photolog and reproduce any damaged ones. We also plan on semi-weekly restoration updates, so send us your thoughts and stay tuned!

[Pat Carry]

We took the airplane to a piant shop where it was professionally stripped with chemicals. We're finishing up the job with a little more stripped and a high pressure steam cleaner. Our next order of business will be to dry ice blast the interior and wheel and flap wells. And for all the authenticity junkies (such as myself ) we'll be sure to carefully mask all of the original stencils and decals that are still legible, then photolog and reproduce any damaged ones. We also plan on semi-weekly restoration updates, so send us your thoughts and stay tuned!

Cool. I was just reading about how the NMUSAF is using the dry ice blasting in their restoration area.