Warbird Information Exchange

Okay, small update. I unfortunately didn't get pictures. We spent Saturday putting the turret on its new stand and taking the opprotunity to move it outside and power wash it to try and get as much gunk out of it as possible. As part of this process, we discovered that the turret's floor is rotted out (it was suspected) and will require some major work to fix/replace the areas damaged. We also revealed a segment of the lexan that hadn't been exposed to the elements like the rest and is still in excellent shape. It is interesting to see amber lexan on a ball turret when all the others I've seen either have the blue-green tint or are clear, but that is the correct color for it.

I will try to go out on Thursday or Friday and take a few pictures of the turret and the lexan so you can see where we're at.

Finally, we have found that Essco has both the B-32 Erection & Maintenance manual and the B-32 Parts Catalogue. I have sent an e-mail to them to see if they contain the information we need on the turret. I am hopeful because we do need to disassemble the turret's outer shell to be able to get to some of the equipment and to let us have more room to work on some of the mechanical parts of the turret that are currently hard to reach.

More for everyone soon!

Any updates?

Django,

CAPFlyer doesn't have time to fiddle with that dadgum turret--we've roped him into working on '927! (I hope)

Scott

I'll post some updates on Saturday evening or Sunday. I'll be out there Saturday (I hope) and get some pics and updates.

Source of parts for acft .50s (some are REAL pricey, tho....):
Think item # 7312953 may be what you're looking for

http://www.bmgparts.com/aircraft.html

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Bob

Well, I screwed up my camera or something because none of the few pictures I got Saturday evening came out.

As a result, I'll have to get some more pics on Friday or Saturday when I'll be back down there again.

However, in the meantime, some work has been done and I started trying to break loose the screws that hold in the lexan and weather stripping so we can get the remaining piece out. This didn't go too well unfortunately and I'm going to try to soak it a couple of more times this weekend and see what happens.

Okay, I didn't get any work done again.... Screws still won't release, so I may have to look elsewhere or start looking at cutting the heads off...

Anyway, here's a few pictures:

The new stand. It will be "fixed" once the restoration is complete and a lower mount fabricated to support the turret. We have not decided on paint scheme, but last I heard was that they were thinking yellow with black stripes.







Here's a picture of the "undamaged" section of plexiglass that was being protected by the upper turret cover.

No luck with a knocker huh? Next best thing I can suggest, if you can drill straight on the fastners ( Not attacking your skills at all, just meaning drilling access and position ); is to pilot with a #50, follow with a #40 and so on until either a #2 or 3 extractor fits correctly...should be able to get in the hole about .20" or better without bottoming out. Drive it in a little and try that. If need be and access is acceptable, add a little heat from a microflame torch or jeweler's torch, using the absolute smallest flame you can get and stabilize. Shouldn't be a problem to break them loose then. If that doesn't work, just keep coming up in drill sizes incrementally until you can pop the head off. BTDT, got a few hundred to do myself....

Yeah, I've been learning about how to extract screws this year by helping a little with the work we did removing and replacing the fairings on the R4D. Russ Coonley has been in charge and he showed me a lot about drilling and extracting (well in his case, breaking) screws that the ribnut had broken loose on when they tried to pull the fairing off and replace it with a new one and put in new screws. It's been a very enlightening process, so hopefully I can use it with the Turret. As well, I'm hoping that I can get a few more to break loose with a heavier application of penetrating oil as they seem to start getting loose.

What if you guys built a replica nose to mount the turret in, viewable from both sides? Maybe paint it up as Hobo Queen II or The Lady is Fresh? It wouldn't be a small task, it could really be a valuable tool to teach the public about a little known aircraft. And it would be a great draw for the warbird crowd. If those guys in Ireland (?) can build a whole replica Clipper, surely a nose section isn't out of reach?

Two problems -

1) Space. I wish I could give you a picture of the whole hangar, but there's not really room for a whole B-32 nose section.

2) Practicality. If we got $5000+, we might be able to afford it, but then again, do we want to take up that much space?

3) Functionality. The idea with the turret is to get it functioning again using the manual controls. By placing it on the lift as we're planning, it will allow people to climb in and move the turret left and right, up and down, and feel what it was like to be in a turret on a B-32. If we can raise enough money, we have thought about doing a propane modification to whatever M2s we end up with and people being able to "shoot" the guns as well for a small donation. It's not as cool as one of Taigh's turrets, but it sure as heck costs a lot less.

BTW, I will post up some unashamed donation contact information tomorrow when I find my roster again so if anyone's interested in helping us out they know who to call/e-mail/send a letter (or package) to. We've already raised a enough to pay for the plexiglass and weather stripping so far and we're on our way to getting the guns, so we thank those whom have donated so far.

Also, if anyone has any information about the fire control system (including pictures of the control yoke) for the turret, we would be extremely greatful to have that. We have not been able to locate anything substantial on it yet to be able to at minimum replicate it if we're not able locate (and/or afford) a real one.

CAPFlyer,

I'm sure you have the photos from the Turret Classroom at Fort Worth AAF, would one of the training mock-up stands work for what you need? Just a thought that popped into my head, it would allow movement, be very stable, and also be an accurate training aid display, in addition to not being overly large or expensive to build.

Thanks for the update and those screws will be defeated!
Scott

I will ask Elaine if we have any pictures, but was the training stand on wheels? I ask because if we do end up putting in the propane weapons, it'll need to be easily moved outside the hangar.

CAPFlyer,

Here is that photo of the training department at Fort Worth AAF. It looks like it would be relatively easy to put a set of wheels on one of those stands, and it wouldn't take up an enormous amount of floor space. Sorry about the quality of the picture.

It appears that the Turret School took over the gymnasium when they needed a home!

Scott

After a long hiatus from updates, I have some significant ones. Before that - I promise to post photos on Saturday Night or Sunday of the progress. A lot of thanks goes to Jerry Wisley, the Squadron XO, for the work he's done and coordinated on the turret since my last update. Now, on to the progress:

1) We have found the inspection panels that were "missing". They are now installed on the turret.

2) Much of the cosmetic restoration work has been completed, including painting.

We now lack the new glazing (being worked on) and several (IMHO) very important parts, which is where WiX comes in.

1) We need the control yoke & control box. We have been unable to locate any or even any good pictures of them for fabrication of a replica. Any help in this would be greatly appreciated.

2) We need either two replica AN-M2 .50 machine guns or one replica AN-M3 .50 machine gun. We are aware that the AN-M3 is not accurate for the turret, however we have one AN-M3 already and want to make a matched pair either way.

3) We need 2 Edgewater adapters for mounting either pair of machine guns.

We have contacted Carl Scholl at Aero Trader already and he has priced the replicas at about $900/each and a barrel to change the AN-M3 to an AN-M2 at $200, so no matter what, we're talking about needing somewhere around $1100 minimum to get the replicas.

Your help would be greatly appreciated. We are very close now and only need the expensive stuff...