B-17G "Chuckie" Update

[Second Air Force]

We did a gear swing yesterday to make sure that all the working parts are in order before starting the gear change. We found a couple of little adjustments will be in order, but nothing serious. We also inspected both main gear wells and the tailwheel compartment for any clearance issues or other possible discrepancies while the gear was stowed.

Here they are retracted electrically, with Bill, James, and Perry looking over the result:


And this photo is of the manual extension test. The guys traded off cranking the mains down and us old coots stood on the ground and watched....:


I did grudgingly crawl back in the tail and wind down the tailwheel so as to look like I was good for something......

As Bill said earlier, we wish we'd have gotten '543 ready for TOM, but it wasn't in the cards. We'll still keep making updates as we continue with the maintenance and inspection program, and we thank everyone for their positive thoughts as we've gone along.

Scott

[67N20]

Any chance of being at Wings Over Houston this October?

[K5DH]

Sunday update (a couple of days late, sorry )

Bill and Godfrey cleared a workbench in the maintenance shop and moved the replacement left main gear leg to that bench so that the overhaul can be done properly. Bill and James gave the replacement unit a thorough inspection and evaluation once the parts were spread out on the workbench. I spent some quality time at the parts washer, de-gunking the rest of the shafts, bearings, and shims for the torque links (the ones I didn't get to Tuesday evening ). I then had a really fun time scraping the congealed grease out of the inside of the oleo tube with a plastic paddle (literally in up to my armpit ). The inside of the tube is in superb condition! Bill and Pat researched the proper paint type and color to use when we repaint the leg, and the team discussed which parts to use from the replacement assembly and which ones to re-use from the old assembly. All in all, we have a good plan in place and our talented team will be able to get the job done right and give us a nice, safe gear leg that won't need attention again for several more decades!

Pat, Rick, and Mike spent much of the day troubleshooting and fixing some cockpit gauge problems, which were traced to crossed connections in the left wing. These are comparitively minor problems and are typically not hard to fix, but it sure takes a lot of time and teamwork to find the cause!

James, Pat, Mike, and I began looking into some ongoing oil temperature problems, which will require some minor work on two of our wing-mounted oil coolers. It's not going to be a huge job, per se, but like everything else, it will take some time and manpower.

Not mentioned specifically are the countless other little things that are happening all the time.

As for making it to Wings Over Houston, all I can say is that we can't make any promises. We're all looking forward to seeing our beautiful bomber back in the air where she belongs. There is still a lot of work to be done on her, and our team will push forward to the best of our ability, without cutting corners and taking risks. There's only one way to do the job, and that's to do it right. There is no other option. She'll be ready when she's ready. We'll be sure to let everyone know when that joyful day comes!

We've had several new volunteers join the Museum lately, including at least one licensed A&P. It's nice to see new faces and increase our available manpower. We can always use more helpers, and we have something available for everyone who has the time to come out and help, all the way from sweeping floors clear up to working on the aircraft. If you live in the D/FW area and you like old airplanes, please come out and give us a hand! We have an unlimited supply of ice water for those hot days. . .

Dean the confident

[TimAPNY]

The final piece of the radome form jigsaw puzzle is in place. We had many errands to perform yesterday and ended up near a big sporting goods store. After shopping through the beach and swimming pool accessories we didn't see anything that would work for us. As we were walking out the door we remembered getting Ellen one of those big workout balls a couple of years ago and our problem was solved. I purchased a 75cm. "core ball" and blew it up with the air compressor to about six inches larger diameter than it was intended to be .......and it didn't blow. All I had to do was let out enough air to make it slide into the cylinder and the form is complete.


Now all I need is five gallons of resin and I can start slapping fiberglas on it.
Scott

Has there been any progress on this side of the restoration? I know everyone has been crazy busy but I figures I'd ask. I hope I did not miss any updates

Tim

[Second Air Force]

Has there been any progress on this side of the restoration? I know everyone has been crazy busy but I figures I'd ask. I hope I did not miss any updates

Tim

Nope, I put the radome form in my shop and haven't worked on it all spring/summer. Since there isn't much for me to do on the airplane until after the landing gear business is sorted out I might be able to do something on the radome now.

Scott

[Django]

Sorry to hear you guys won't make your goal of Thunder, but I certainly salute all of you for your efforts! Hang in there, looks like you are really close now.

[Second Air Force]

In honor of the birthday of the Flying Fortress, here are a couple of 2nd Bombardment Group photos from the earliest days of B-17 operation with the USAAC:





S

[Nathan]

Thank you Scott for trying hard for TOM. All I can say to keep positive is that Chucky will fly someday soon! How about that?

[Second Air Force]

Thanks for the support, Nathan. We certainly wanted to be there! The calendar and a couple of other items didn't cooperate. Our primary goal is a safe, clean airplane, and we just weren't going to rush it even though TOM was something everyone at VFM wanted to do.

Scott

[RAMC181]

Sorry guys,

Looks like I won't be able to cross the Pond and come visit later this month.
Won't be able to get to the 401BG reunion either.

It seems people without a credit card or US bank account aren't welcome in the USA anymore.

Ah well, the next 401BG reunion is in 2012, maybe things will have changed by then.

All the best,
PB

[CAPFlyer]

Saw the news story today. Sorry that you guys ended up another victim of the HVAC/copper thieves that are going around. BTW, do they have any idea how they got by the fences and on top of the roof? They seem pretty high, even considering where they've been stealing from.

Story -

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/air-co ... rom-museum

[Second Air Force]

We were really looking forward to your visit, Paul. The world has certainly changed in the past few years. We will find a way to get together somewhere down the road, I'm sure. In the meantime we will rely on electrons for communication!

Scott

[RAMC181]

I'll be there, sometime...
I've been chugging through a pack of 401BG mission reports today.
Some interesting debrief comments regarding GEE and H2X equipment playing up and overheating/burning out the generators in combat during the 2nd half of 1944.

Have applied for my 2-year US visa waiver thingy in advance today, will cost $15 from next month.
I didn't have any of these problems in 2005, but as you say the world is changing.

One thing I must mention though: a BIG thumbs up for American Airlines.
Not only would they have taken me direct from Heathrow to Ft Worth, and then onto Savannah direct and then home, but they were only asking 10% of the fare that BA wanted via Heathrow-Amsterdam-Dublin-Atlanta (inc. a 36-hour stopover at Amsterdam) and then find your own internal connections. Each way!

Sorry to hear about the scrotes on the roof, hope they get what's coming to them.

All the best,
Paul

[CrewDawg]

Well everyone, we're still working on getting the gear squared away on Chuckie, however we have our 20th Annual Big Band Hangar Dance and Silent Auction coming up on October 2nd which is just 4 working weekends away, so we've put the B-17 work on the back burner for a short time to get the hangar ready for the dance.
One thing that sets the Vintage Flying Museum apart from many other museum's is that we are a working museum. This means that on any given day we have any manner of Warbird Maintenance and/or Operations going on. From a B-17 landing gear replacement, to a C-47 restoration or a B-25 engine getting some attention. This means that the place gets a little....shall we say DIRTY! This is why it takes us 4 weekends to start the prep work. We pull EVERY airplane out of the hangar except for the B-17, clean the floors and set up enough tables and chairs for about 1000 people.
This year we are celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the first flight of the B-17. Each and every WIX'er is cordially invited to attend the Dance. It's a good old fashioned hangar dance, with BBQ and a live Big Band Orchestra, swing dancers, re-enactors in uniform, and yes, it's BYOB!

What could be better on a nice October evening than listening to some great music, with great people, around great airplanes, with a cold drink in your hand and talking about airplanes!

I'll be the grumpy looking crew chief in the HBT coveralls and hat, chomping on an unlit cigar.

Tickets are available at http://www.vintageflyingmuseum.org/danceTickets1.htm

Thanks everyone, I look forward to seeing a good showing from our WIX friends. (Paul, we'll let you off the hook this time, but next year...... )

[CrewDawg]

Here's the latest on Chuckie's return to flight. We have completed the LH MLG installation and she is now sitting comfortably on the ground on her new leg. Steve finished plumbing in the new engine fire extinguishers today, while I ran around making sure that we tied up the myriad of loose ends and making sure that all the squawks got signed off in the log. All the panels are back on and we don't have too many left over parts on the rack . We plan on running engines in the morning to do some last ops checks and then hopefully if the weather and scheduling gods permit, we'll have first flight in the next couple of weeks. We're hoping to make it to the DFW Expo, which is an aviation career fair for school kids at DFW Airport on Dec 10th. Hopefully this time when we're on approach they won't say "Boeing N3701G descend and maintain 200 knots" like they did one time in the past thinking that we were one of those new fangled kerosene burning Boeings!

I'll try to make sure that someone gets some stills and hopefully some descent video of tomorrow's activities.