Warbird Information Exchange

Aw rats. Says "minor damage"; let's hope so.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

I think they should just lock down the nose gear and fly it as it. Call it the "Flying Ding."

I’m told the nose gear did not collapse per say, the upper strut tube broke as the aircraft touched down. The remaining “stump” kept the fuselage from contacting the ground. There was some damage to the underside of the fuselage and gear doors where the nose gear flailed around and hit it. After some investigation of the broken parts, they found very faint signs that the upper strut had been harboring a hidden crack, probably for quite some time. Other than that, the damage is as reported, minor. Good news! Hopefully they will have it back in the air for next year’s show!

John

Thanks for that info John, I haven't even seen it. I was looking for something else and just tripped over the flying wing notice.

Thanks for that, John. Just my kind of incident: nobody hurt, and minimal damage! That has to be one of the more interesting warbirds flying today (well, at least it was conceived with military DNA, and not civvie).

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Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

PIC, Ford 6600 pulling Rhino batwing up and down the runway