Warbird Information Exchange

Then on South to the family farm, where I landed on the strip for the first time. It's a Moth/Stampe airstrip, 1600 ft, trees and one end, a fence at the other, and 30 ft wide. Some caution is required. But it all worked out.
And then it was overalls on and get to work. My brothers were there and we put up about 6 cords of firewood for our folks.





The guy on the right, above, is Chris, a twice-flown astronaut, first Canadian to walk in space, only one to visit Mir -- great long list, and still adding to it. In the middle is Phil, a 767 Captain, and working the splitter is the old man, an ex DC-8 Captain and aerobatic competitor. (Note the fairly relaxed dress code.) And surprisingly, we all used chain saws and splitters all day and lost no toes or fingers. Hardly even a flesh wound!

Work complete, we squeezed the Fairchild into the hangar beside tractors and the Stampe, and had a great dinner.



Next morning, in the frost and chill, we improvised some heat, and after an hour she started right up.



Last Friday she let me down. It was cool, about 8C, and I tried starting with no pre-heat. No luck. Pulled a few plugs and didn't like what I saw -- obviously I've converted a large quantity of lubricant into carbon. Cleaned them up, then back to normal -- a good start.

Regarding Warners, Andy, gentlemen, how often do you generally clean the plugs? Looks like about every 50 hours, to me.

Then, back home with a 140 mph groundspeed (strong SW wind at altitude, highest GS I've seen), and fill-up for the next time.



Dave

Dave,

Since we only fly the Waco RNF about 50hrs a year anyway...that is when we clean ours. Our Warner runs rich (no mixture control) and generally the plugs are black but with no oil and very little Carbon build-up....unlike my Jacobs which are always oily and get carbon.

Andy

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President National Waco Club
Curator for the Waco Historical Society Air Museum
Writer for VINTAGE AIRPLANE, SKYWAYS, BARNSTORMERS.COM EFLYER

Dave,I see you have been keeping busy. That is a beautiful shot Peter took. Good to see the family is in good health. Nice catch on the Ornithopter.

Eric

_________________
The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

Beautiful airplane! I can almost smell the the two cycle oil and the fresh cut wood. It's nice to see the well cared for old Farmalls too. I can't afford an airplane but I have restored several old Tractors. Nice "A" and "H" there. Hugh

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My father was a a/c armorer 7th aaf 318FG 73FS

Thanks, HM.

Yes, the tractor collection is pretty comprehensive -- Internationals from the 40s and early 50s. They're still working machines. The only diesel on the place is in the 3/4 Ton truck he uses to hauls the tractors around to shows. All the fieldwork is still done with the tractors I grew up driving. (I had a hell of a right arm at age 16 from wrestling with the "ball" on the wheel of a Farmall M. Wish I still had an arm like that.)

Actually, with the price some of these antique tractors are fetching, airplanes are beginning to look cheap.



Dave

Nice, A gasoline McCormick W6 with a loader. The gas start/diesel run ones, (WD6) the exhaust was on the other side of the hood. I have shed room at home for tractors and no room for a runway. I insure the few that I take to the shows for about $10.00 per year with a '67 Impala convert. and a '56 IHC pickup. An airplane needs an anual, hanger w fees and a wee bit more for insurance. But I would find a Navion if I didn't have other family matters to attend to first. Someday---. Renting a 172 is not all that bad. At least it's flying! Hugh

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My father was a a/c armorer 7th aaf 318FG 73FS

Oil Pressure Drop.

Coming back from visiting the Harvard guys at Woodstock last weekend, the oil pressure was 10 psi less in all phases of flight. (It's funny how as soon as you notice something like that, the engine sounds rougher.) Seemed odd. All we'd done is some circuits -- Robin jumped in the left seat and did a number of patterns on their nice grass field. But all had been normal.

So, at home, I perused my many printouts, talked to my Dad (the "very old engine guy"), called up Stan the mechanic, and suspected the Pressure Relief Valve in the oil pump.

Yesterday I got at it, backed it off 2 turns, rapped it sharply with a wrench, restored it (got it signed out of course), and went flying. Perfect. Total fix. Dead easy.

Apparently Warners are quite susceptible to a bit of crap of one kind or another getting under the ball in the valve and stopping it from seating.

Another symptom was the oil pressure dropping off to near zero (15 psi) at minimum ground idle (500 rpm). Once fixed, the relief valve closes and on a Warner, you still get 50 psi in that situation.

FWIW...

Dave

That is one tight airstrip. A crosswind could be just a bit of trouble!!! I love the old Farmall Cub, brought back memories! Drove one of those in my youth on our farm in WI, that and our big one, an Allis-Chalmers.

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Aviation Illustration Website
http://shepartstudio.com/illustration/

Did an air-to-air with Eric Dumigan. Great time!

He really is the best. The day we had was far from perfect, and we had to hunt for little patches of sunshine.

http://www.airic.ca/html/davefairchild.html

Dave

I see Dave beat me to the post. We had a great day Sunday despite Mother Nature trying to stop the fun.

We had planned the shoot for early Saturday morning but with the weather predicted we called off the shoot Friday night. I was up at 5:30am Sunday and caught a very nice sunrise for the drive to where Dave keeps the Fairchild. The plan was to fly in the Fairchild and shoot a Nanchang CJ6 that was taking off from Edenvale near Collingwood. While it looked good where we were Edenvale was in rain and I started loose hope of getting the shoot done but after a short delay we got airborne. The Fairchild’s roll-down windows were nice for shooting out of and we got some great pics of the CJ6.

We recovered at Collingwood and I jumped into the Nanchang while Dave kept the Warner running and we were off again searching for sun. The Fairchild is a very classic aircraft to see in the sky and was a pleasure to shoot. Dave and I have done this a few times now and I think we make a pretty good team for getting air-to-air shots. After we get the basic formation shots Dave will manoeuvre the aircraft around which helps generate some great angles not normally seen.

After a nice lunch at Edenvale we headed back and Dave let me fly the Fairchild for awhile which just added to my memories from the day.

Can’t wait for our next shoot.

Eric

_________________
The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

Awesome shots as usual Eric !

Kudos

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Michel C
Thousands of a/c pics at Passion-Aviation

Like I said Dave she looks great in her element!
Have to swap stories some time about driving those Internationals. Great shots Eric.

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“Try to fly in the middle of the air. The edges are filled with mountains and oceans and rocks and it’s much harder to fly there.”

Wish we could find someone who's willing to buy our Farmall C, I'd even trade it for a plane.

Superb Fall weather so far. Wonderful bonus.

Robin and I dropped in on our friend Craig, near Mt. Forest, Ontario. He's a new owner of the property, and has a 2000 ft strip. So we baptized it with a Fairchild! (And took Craig for a ride.) Lovely piece of very smooth grass, and a very nice setting complete with stocked trout ponds. (Business opportunity, Craig! Fly-in, catch a trout, fly home. Perfect!)





Dave