CG-15A Glider Restoration Updated 10/29/2008

[Quest Master]

Well I haven't done much restoration to the CG-15A Glider cockpit that I got from Gary (been working on other stuff), but I have finished the instrument panels. All three panels were fabricated from pictures in the parts manual since I couldn't find an original example to copy.
Main Instrument Panel (still missing a couple of gages and data plates):

Lower Pilot and Co-Pilot Panel (not yet finished):

The only picture I had to make the instrument panels from the parts manual:

Pictures of the CG-15A Glider Cockpit:
http://www.questmasters.us/CG-15A.html

Enjoy.

Last edited by Quest Master on Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[TAdan]

Havent done much?

I dont think so! Those panels look great. Nice work.

[Taylor Stevenson]

Just curious, but is this a strictly static restoration? I don't know much about heavy gliders, but will we ever see a CG-4 or CG-15 fly again or are they always damaged on landing?

[Shay]

Taylor I'd love to see one these gliders being towed behind a C-47.

, But I think it's like restoreing a ME 163 back to flying condition. Sure you could do it, but who are you gonna find that's crazy enough fly it??

I hope someone does one day though.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Taylor Stevenson]

I'm pretty crazy!

[CAPFlyer]

As am I.

[Chris Brame]

Van, was your CG-15 one of the hulks that were at the Rockdale, Texas airport back in the early seventies?

[Quest Master]

Just curious, but is this a strictly static restoration? I don't know much about heavy gliders, but will we ever see a CG-4 or CG-15 fly again or are they always damaged on landing?

All I have from this CG-15A glider is the cockpit - so yes it is static. I also have a CG-4A Glider cockpit that I am working on. There are plans for a CG-4A (from what I've heard) to glider land a restored CG-4A (not me) once again in France for one of the Normandy anniversaries.

[Quest Master]

Van, was your CG-15 one of the hulks that were at the Rockdale, Texas airport back in the early seventies?

Don't know. When I got it it was in Midland, TX.

[JDK]

Great work, Quest master.

But I think it's like restoreing a ME 163 back to flying condition. Sure you could do it, but who are you gonna find that's crazy enough fly it??

I hope someone does one day though.

A flying replica Me 163 was constructed between 1994 and 1996 by Joseph Kurtz, a former Luftwaffe pilot who trained to fly Me 163's but who never flew in combat. He subsequently sold the aircraft to EADS. The replica is an unpowered glider whose shape closely matches that of an Me 163, although its weight and internal construction differ considerably. Reportedly, it has excellent flying characteristics.

XCOR Aerospace, an aerospace and rocketry company, proposed a rocket powered replica. Although outwardly the same as a wartime aircraft, the design would have differed considerably for safety reasons. It would have been powered by a simpler and safer, pressure fed, liquid oxygen/alcohol engine and retractable undercarriage would have been used instead of a take-off trolley and landing skid. The project is no longer discussed on the company's website and it appears work has ceased on this project, possibly due to lack of commercial interest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163

[David J Burke]

Out of interest are there any CG-4 cockpit frames still derelict in the U.S or are they all now in the hands of collectors?

[John Lane]

Warhawk Air Museum of Nampa, Idaho has a CG-4 that was made into a trailer house. The center section and cockpit area are in one piece. No plans to restore it completely only the cockpit and aft about 14 ft. or so!!

[Quest Master]

Out of interest are there any CG-4 cockpit frames still derelict in the U.S or are they all now in the hands of collectors?

David,
Pretty tough to find nowadays. I also have a CG-4A cockpit that I am also working on (just finishing up that instrument panel - I'll post pictures when I'm done). Here is the link to the CG-4A page:
http://www.questmasters.us/CG-4A.html

[Robbie Roberts]

I know one came out of the Mahalchik estate sale, in Burlington County NJ back around 1989, after John Mahalchik passed away.(He had a really neat scrapyard here, and was a friend of mine)

Does anyone know what became of this? (I know one of the "K" type Navy blimps ended up at NAS Pensacola Naval Air Museum, and a couple others at FOF...

Robbie

[Second Air Force]

The now defunct Florence Air Museum in South Carolina had a CG-4A fuselage--does anyone know what became of it?

Speaking of WWII gliders, there are a few L-birds still around that were originally gliders used for training CG-4 pilots. There was a Cub for sale several years ago that started out as a TG-8 and was later made into a powerplane after the war.