B-17G "Chuckie" Update

[K5DH]

I forgot to mention. . . it takes 250 and 1/4 turns to crank each main gear leg down, and whoever's doing it has to count the turns and report the number to the record-keeper. If their count is much more or less than the prescribed number, troubleshooting must commence because there's something amiss.

Cheers,

So does that mean that there is a really good excuse for there to be 4-5 people on board (required crewmembers) for an airshow?

Ryan

We usually fly to air shows with a full crew of ten people. We fly with a three-man cockpit crew (pilot, copilot, flight engineer). At the event, the entire crew handles such tasks as wiping down the airplane upon arrival, tour guides, PX table staffers, fueling the airplane, checking the engine and turbosupercharger oil, and so on. Whenever the airplane is open for tours, we station two or three tour guides inside and one or two outside in order to keep guests moving through, answer questions, keep guests from hurting themselves or damaging the airplane, and reduce the chance of theft and vandalism that other bomber crews have experienced. When it's time to head for home, one crewman will serve as ground boss and two will serve as fireguards for engine startup.

Cheers,

[CrewDawg]

First of all, yes - I will take my turn at cranking the gear all the way down. Somehow I think it should be a right of passage for any B-17 crew chief! When I crewed F-16's we used to have to pump up the two 3000 psi hydraulic accumulators that were used for starting the main engine. There is a hand pump in the LH wheel well that took about 3 guys trading turns about 10 minutes to pump those stupid things up to 3000 psi! So yeah, I get the idea

Too bad there's no such thing (that I know of) on an F-86, Second Air Force (Scott) is the new Crew Chief on our ex-Bolivian Sabre. I guess the next best thing would be polishing the entire airplane by hand! No power tools allowed!! LOL!!

[CrewDawg]

BTW, I haven't forgotten about posting the CFM Spit pic's I just haven't got them all scanned yet. I'm pedaling as fast as I can!

[Sabremech]

Now that Scott's the crew chief for the Sabre, I agree, time for the paint to come off. There's bound to be some shine under all that paint! Looking forward to seeing Chuckie and the Sabre in a couple of weeks. Keep up the good work guys.

David
WHF Maint

[retroaviation]

Are y'all really going to polish that Sabre? As cool as those look, almost every Sabre you see is polished. It's kind of like seeing a P-40 with shark's teeth on it. Cool, but not very unique. Not that my opinion matters (and yes, I know that I can paint my Sabre whatever color I want), but it would look kind of neat in a color scheme that it once wore. It would certainly be unique.

But, I'm the guy who would restore a Tigercat or TBM into firebomber colors, and painted up a B-24 in camoflage colors, so consider the source.

Gary

[Warbird Kid]

Okay a TBM yes it would be cool to see one in fire bomber markings, but not a Tigercat! I wish we could put our FGD1 back into its FAS markings though.

[Second Air Force]

I agree, Gary. I mentioned the idea of re-doing the Bolivian camouflage on page 5 of this thread. After all, the little airplane flew in foreign service for over thirty years and only two or so in the USAF. Re-doing this camouflage scheme would represent the last front-line service of the Sabre and be a tip of the hat to North American for building such a long-lasting fighter.

The early Venezuelan scheme was basic NMF with attractive national markings and is pretty sharp. Later it appears that the Venezuelan AF painted some of their Sabres silver, which may account for the silver layer I found the other day.

If we do go back to bare metal I'd think the 332nd Fighter Wing markings from Foster AFB would be appropriate--keeping the Texas connection alive, don't ya know? Time will tell, and this project is not going to move forward very rapidly. We really need to get the Fortress flying again before doing much to the Sabre.
Scott

[K5DH]

First, let me offer my thanks to Scott for stepping up and taking on the job of Crew Chief for the F-86! I look forward to helping with the restoration. The F-86 is my favourite jet fighter of all time!

As for how to finish it, I think the 332nd FW markings would be great because of the "Texas connection". We definitely need to make it look appealing to Mr. and Mrs. Average Museum Guest. To the average American, a USAF scheme would be much more interesting than a foreign one. If you ask 100 people on the street where Bolivia is, most would not be able to tell you what continent it's on, and many would not even know that it's a country (I'm not joking here!). I also think it would be easier to get sponsors on board if we carry out the USAF / Texas theme!

YMMV. Flame away.

Cheers,

[Second Air Force]

Those are all good points, Dean. My thinking has been that this is the actual no-sh__ paint scheme that the little airplane really wore (and is wearing) and a much bigger part of its history than the USAF scheme. Keeping the Bolivian scheme is just something that had been percolating in my head since seeing it in person. Whatever scheme we eventually decide on, I intend to display models of the airplane in the other liveries it wore as a teaching tool and historical record of its service.

Ummm......I think I got this thread off on a tangent. Here is a nice B-17 maintenance school photo from Amarillo AAF to get us back on track :


Scott

[Sabremech]

I think I got this thread off track. Sorry about that.

David
WHF Maint

[CrewDawg]

I'll take part of the blame for announcing Scott's new job!

Any other WIX'ers out there looking for a warbird to play with? We could use all the help we can get! Scott, myself, Dean and only a couple of other guys are working on Chuckie with much regularity. I come from a repair station background where it's hurry up and get'r dun and out the door, so this long time that it's taking to get Chuckies annual completed is taking some getting used to. Once Scott has finished doing all of the rig checks on the engine controls, his next job is fixing a corroded skin (the one with the camera door in it) under the radio compartment. I still have some work to do on the engines and a whole lot left to inspect on the airframe.

Like Scott said, once we Chuckie back in the air we'd like to turn our attention to the F-86 and the TC-45J in the North hangar. Rumor also has it that we may have an ex-RCAF T-33 joining our flock later this month. I don't know the serial number, but it's an early RCAF T bird that was buit by Lockheed not Canadair. Coming straight from a Canadian bone yard. I'll try to confirm if it's actually coming or not this weekend.

Take care and see you around the hangar!

[CrewDawg]

I just found this picture on Aluminum Overcasts Facebook page. I'm guessing it was taken at Thunder over Michigan 2005.



Great shot of Chuckie up where she belongs!!

[Second Air Force]

Speaking of the strike camera doors, if anyone out there has a lead on the linkage and actuating mechanism for the doors let Bill or I know. A really good photo of the assembly installed in an airplane would be very helpful also. It won't be a big deal to build the mechanism from scratch if I have to, but having some or all of the parts would be a great help.

Scott

[Matt Gunsch]

Speaking of the strike camera doors, if anyone out there has a lead on the linkage and actuating mechanism for the doors let Bill or I know. A really good photo of the assembly installed in an airplane would be very helpful also. It won't be a big deal to build the mechanism from scratch if I have to, but having some or all of the parts would be a great help.

Scott

I would contact the guys that are doing the Picadilly Lilly restoration at Chino, That B-17 has never been civilianized, other than civil radios installed.

[Holedigger]

Might check with the "My Gal Sal" team, it stated on their website that after finishing out the radio room, the camera bay would be getting rebuilt. Looks like they were doing a VERY nice job on the interior.

see at
http://www.ultimatesacrifice.com/cincin ... _wings.htm