Corsair Spar Replacement

[paulmcmillan]

All

In the Latest Classic Wings it details the return to flight of Brewster Corsair F3A-1 Bu.04634

This is the first to fly with a new build Spar and Classic Wings names a couple of people who were involved with the manufacture this. One of which has posted here before and the other has a Corsair under restoration

I did a bit of research online about this, and I wonder if they were constructed by the old 'Aerocrafters' company before 2005 ??

Or were the spars made more recently

Anyone know ?

Many thanks

Paul

[Michel Lemieux]

Funny you ask!

Many, many, many moons ago I remember visiting Tom Reilly's place in Orlando way before they got hit by the huricane. What a place to visit!

Kermit's B-17 was still there. Their B-25 Killer B on the ramp, a pile a smashed P-38 parts, a yellow Avenger in the back. Even some of the floor folks taking about the Texas Air Museum FW190 thay were working on for Mark Timken now with the Colling Foundation.

And there was this Corsair which was claimed to have the first and only new built spar for a corsair ever made. I think I was sold for static and never flown but I do remember the fuss about being the first.

No clue on provenance....sorry cannot help here.

[Michel Lemieux]

this bird

http://m.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=136672

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3728

[bdk]

I believe this may be the aircraft in question:

http://vought.org/rest/html/rf4u2.html



Now at the National Museum WWII New Orleans, Louisiana.

I believe the spar was built up from formed angles and plates rather than being made to original standards. Maybe someone got cold feet about using this spar on an airworthy aircraft.

[Matt_in_NC]

I saw that airplane down in New Orleans and was pretty disappointed. Granted, I'm sure the Vought group did what they could with limited funds, but the cowling is clearly wrong for the airframe, not to mention the prop...as I recall, the cowl flaps are all open to essentially cover up the fact that the FWF does not match the fuselage. The exhausts are all in the wrong places, essentially b/c the plane is more -4 than anything else. It's missing the pitot tube, and there were a couple of other things I thought strange, but I guess the vast majority of visitors won't know the difference. I have no idea if the spar on it is new or not, but it sure would seem a shame if that's the case.

[LynnHunt]

Paul:

The spar used in the Brewster restoration is one of a group of newly-manufactured spars that were worked on by Aerocrafters. You might be happy to know that new spars are still being assembled for Corsairs and there will be several more aircraft flying with them in the future. The years have not been kind to Corsairs in general and wing spars in particular. While incredibly strong and well built CV used a large number of steel fasteners which has been a source of corrosion for many. Scratch-building main spars has been both challenging and rewarding and very necessary.

[paulmcmillan]

All and especially Lynn Hunt

Thanks for your replies very interesting and Lynn thanks for your efforts on this and I am sure many more Corsairs will benefit in the future especially as the work continues





Paul

[T J Johansen]

Any chance Lynn might be able to update us on the state of his B-25, as being asked about here:
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... =3&t=31698

and here:
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=55123

T J

[Eric Rogers]

3731 Vought Corsair Center Sections were produced at the Toledo Jeep Plant, which I used to drive by everyday on my way to work. The plant is no longer there, I wonder what ever happened to all of the tooling used to build them?

Article showing all of the WWII products that were produced at the Toledo Jeep plant.

http://usautoindustryworldwartwo.com/wi ... erland.htm

[JohnB]

I drove by the old Jeep plant in the mid-90s. Quite a place, and dear to my heart since I drove a stock CJ-5 for several years as a daily driver.
The auto industry has quite an aviation record even after WWII.
Fuselages for Grumman Albatrosses were built by Plymouth in the '50s, I believe in Evensville, Indiana.

[Cvairwerks]

3731 Vought Corsair Center Sections were produced at the Toledo Jeep Plant, which I used to drive by everyday on my way to work. The plant is no longer there, I wonder what ever happened to all of the tooling used to build them?

The answer depends on how a production contract is written and any modifications to it. We've done contracts that require us to deliver all tooling built for a program to the contracting agency, in latest configuration, including any final updates. On others, we have been required to destroy the tooling, others make no mention of tooling ownership and disposal. At the time the last of the Corsairs were produced, the chances of every building any more or having a need for major components, was almost zero. With that, the tooling went to the scrapyard probably within weeks of the final delivery.