Lockheed C60 Lodestar rescued from out of a junkyard

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:51 am

Quote:

The National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario is currently restoring a Hudson to static display using Lodestar (?) wings from out west.
Not sure if they have landing gear or not. Worth a try I guess...
http://airforcemuseum.ca/en/restoration ... estoration

I will give them a call and see if they need these landing gear. And yes, it is fun towing insane stuff behind this Dodge!

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:02 am

TAdan wrote:

Congratulations and Thanks for saving this one!

Have you determined an ID for the airframe?

I found the serial number painted on the inside of several nacelles panels---42-56065. When I Googled N43WT I found several photos of the plane and the serial number is a match as well. Some of the pictures were taken by Zane Adams(here on WIX) back in 1993. This Lodestar sure looked a lot better back then.

Fouga23 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:14 pm

Do you have any more pictures of the interior and cockpit? How about cutting it just in front of the big hole and using that as a trailer. Long enough, no?

cooper9411 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 2:25 pm

carlisle1926 wrote:

In honor of Gary Hilton's triumphant delivery of a Lodestar fuselage from Texarkana, TX all the way to Montana, I decided to have a small Lodestar moving ceremony. This poor Lodestar has had it pretty rough. It was submerged with salt water when Hurricane Ike pounded Galveston, Texas several years ago. The plane then ended up in a junk yard on Galveston Island. What the salt water didn't destroy, the Galveston Fire Department did when they used it to practice on with their cut-off saws. At some point in time, I lost my mind and decided that it would be a good idea to save it from the wrath of the fire department. I slid my 29 foot trailer under it, zipped off the wings Gary Hilton style and drove it away from the mean fire department bullies. The fuselage is in extremely poor shape but I can't leave a man behind so over the bridge back to the mainland we went with the relic of a Lodestar. The tail stuck out past the rear of my trailer only 16 feet, but the good news was that we were only 4ft over the legal total length limit. It was dark before we got off of the island and all of my trailer lights shorted out. The trailer brakes went out and the trailer license plate fell off . We past a ton of Texas D.P.S. cars along the way and we did so with no Imperial entanglements. Good times.

So, Ummmm, is it ready to fly yet!!! Ha ha

The Inspector · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:30 pm

Either you're missing a digit or two, or according Baugher that has to be the most modified Fairchild PT-19A ever done.

cooper9411 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:36 pm

While Baugher's site is very informative, at times I have found some discrepencies with it(not very often). I've used his site many times and on a couple of occassions when I submitted the information AFHRA, they replied that the information was incorrect.

Just saying sometimes mistakes happen :drink3:

The Inspector · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:52 pm

I understand and I've submitted info to Mr. Baugher to either add or correct info, and to assist in filling in holes in his lists.
The FAA site shows the Model 18 deregistration info as Model 18-56 msn 2565

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:56 pm

I went out and checked the serial number on the engine panel again and I was WAY OFF! 42-56065 is the actual number. How in the world did I get 42-2565 or what ever in the world I listed earlier? Since I have the world's most beat up Lodestar on my trailer, I guess you all have figured out that my mind is gone.

cooper9411 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:14 pm

carlisle1926 wrote:

I went out and checked the serial number on the engine panel again and I was WAY OFF! 42-56065 is the actual number. How in the world did I get 42-2565 or what ever in the world I listed earlier? Since I have the world's most beat up Lodestar on my trailer, I guess you all have figured out that my mind is gone.

You were way off due to your excitment of having it all to yourself :drink3:

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:20 pm

I found this tag in the cockpit today. I spent most of the day filling trash bags with insulation and salt grass hay that had washed in during the hurricane. I'll post the pictures in a bit.

cooper9411 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:27 pm

Looks a whole lot better. :drink3:

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:39 pm

What a difference it has made just sweeping up the inside of the plane! I need to get in there with a shop vac now to get the grass out of all of the places a broom couldn't get. I even threw out several pieces of fire wood, a rotten 2x4 and a lot of plastic kids toys that had floated in during the flood.

cooper9411 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:50 pm

I would have gladly trade you places and do whqt you are doing insted of having to clean all the dead birds/rodents and their ever so delightful smelling dung out of and off of the A26 that I moved a couple of months ago! I can still smell the stench :drinkers:

Fouga23 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:55 pm

Amazing how much is left in the cockpit! If it were mine, I'd cut it after the third window and install a new bulkhead to close the fuselage. The I'd restore the cockpit to stock, cut out the wingspar and use the back as a mancave. The nose can hold the fridge

Shame there aren't any project like that around in Europe

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:02 pm

I'm itching like crazy from all of the fiberglass insulation, but I can handle that a lot better than digging in dead birds in an A26.

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Lockheed C60 Lodestar rescued from out of a junkyard

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