Pooners Harpoon N7257C airborne today
Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:15 pm
3 flights were completed with a max airspeed of 1 ft per second, and to a maximum altitude of 20 ft. all went well, no engine noise was noted and the plane used no fuel or oil.
Pooner, myself and a crew of workers loaded Pooner's harpoon N7257C onto 2 flatbed semi's for a trip from Chandler Memorial to Falcon field. All went well other than having to deal with a set of wings that were extremally trailing edge heavy. The crane operator did not have a clevis small enough for the rear spar fittings, the problem was solved by using a ACE Hardware padlock as a clevis, and with drivers that did not know what to do when confronted with a WWII patrol bomber on the freeway. More pics to come later
Pooner, myself and a crew of workers loaded Pooner's harpoon N7257C onto 2 flatbed semi's for a trip from Chandler Memorial to Falcon field. All went well other than having to deal with a set of wings that were extremally trailing edge heavy. The crane operator did not have a clevis small enough for the rear spar fittings, the problem was solved by using a ACE Hardware padlock as a clevis, and with drivers that did not know what to do when confronted with a WWII patrol bomber on the freeway. More pics to come later
Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:30 pm
Great news and great photos!
Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:22 am
Good going Poon! Glad to hear she moving right along!!!!!
Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:53 am
Hey Pooner,
Way to go! What was the overall height? I know the width...and any idea on the estimated weight?
See ya Friday if the snow in Tx doesn't hold me up, By the way, nice pics!
Way to go! What was the overall height? I know the width...and any idea on the estimated weight?
See ya Friday if the snow in Tx doesn't hold me up, By the way, nice pics!
Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:02 am
That last pic should have a caption of,"We're 106 miles from Chicago, we have a full tank of gas, a half pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we are wearing sunglasses. Hit It"
Fri Dec 28, 2007 10:08 am
GARY HILTON wrote:Hey Pooner,
Way to go! What was the overall height? I know the width...and any idea on the estimated weight?
See ya Friday if the snow in Tx doesn't hold me up, By the way, nice pics!
Gary, it was 14Ft 1 high, and 15,000 lbs, no props but engines we still installed.
Fri Dec 28, 2007 10:31 am
Man, I still can't believe we did this. The riggers, drivers, loaders and crane operator were the real heroes here - they sure know their jobs and made what appeared to me to be an almost impossible task simply routine. Made me think that the little kids who play for hours on end in the sandbox with their toys grow up and get paid to play with even bigger trucks. I think they had more fun than I did getting her up and out of the Indian community's airport.
She's a wee bit chunky for an old gal. I lost the weight bet by more than a ton or two. Crane operator said she clocked in at a mere 15,000 pounds. Overall height was just at or slightly under 14' and with the beam on the bed we were at 20' in width. Route from "A" to "B" was about 25 miles.
Couldn't have done it without the help of countless folks over the months who've toiled with me under the blistering sun of the summer and cold winter to get her moved around the field, wings and tail feathers dropped, and all of the effort it took to get her down the road. Sort of a bittersweet move to leave two other Harpoons and a Howard 500 behind in our little "derelicts row" there at Memorial Airfield. Owners say they plan to move them soon, but I felt I got extremely lucky with the Indian community when they granted us an extension two weeks ago when they closed the field. At this point the fate of these other birds lies in the hands of the Airport authority....
Matt is correct about that Ace Hardware lock - it made four lifts of 850 pound plus wing panels and I did a lot of praying each and ever time they became airborne (Hello, God? Yeah, it's me... again...). Maybe we can convince them to do a corporate sponsorship for 57C's rebuild and they can incorporate that into some TV advertising? "Our locks are just plane tough!"
Yup - "Operation Travelin' Poon" went off without a glitch (well, old Pooner did get yelled at by a Highway Patrol officer, and the commander in charge told everyone from the chase vehicle operators to the heavy haul folks at Empire Machinery and the volunteer group that 'This was by far the worst transport escort I've ever been involved with in 15 years with the Department of Public Safety!'" (Pooner decided to keep his mouth shut and did not point out that DPS did not bother to hold a pre-move meeting with all involved to share information and establish individuals roles... Pooner still has to pay DPS for their escort duty and did not want to double or triple the bill with wagging tongue. Pooner look dumb but sometimes uses small brain properly.)
Old '57C will now get a nose and tail job and will be placed into a hangar at Mesa's Falcon Field (FFZ). For the first time in at least five of six decades she'll be out of the weather and away from vandals and can get some proper attention.
Of course, more pics to follow!
She's a wee bit chunky for an old gal. I lost the weight bet by more than a ton or two. Crane operator said she clocked in at a mere 15,000 pounds. Overall height was just at or slightly under 14' and with the beam on the bed we were at 20' in width. Route from "A" to "B" was about 25 miles.
Couldn't have done it without the help of countless folks over the months who've toiled with me under the blistering sun of the summer and cold winter to get her moved around the field, wings and tail feathers dropped, and all of the effort it took to get her down the road. Sort of a bittersweet move to leave two other Harpoons and a Howard 500 behind in our little "derelicts row" there at Memorial Airfield. Owners say they plan to move them soon, but I felt I got extremely lucky with the Indian community when they granted us an extension two weeks ago when they closed the field. At this point the fate of these other birds lies in the hands of the Airport authority....
Matt is correct about that Ace Hardware lock - it made four lifts of 850 pound plus wing panels and I did a lot of praying each and ever time they became airborne (Hello, God? Yeah, it's me... again...). Maybe we can convince them to do a corporate sponsorship for 57C's rebuild and they can incorporate that into some TV advertising? "Our locks are just plane tough!"
Yup - "Operation Travelin' Poon" went off without a glitch (well, old Pooner did get yelled at by a Highway Patrol officer, and the commander in charge told everyone from the chase vehicle operators to the heavy haul folks at Empire Machinery and the volunteer group that 'This was by far the worst transport escort I've ever been involved with in 15 years with the Department of Public Safety!'" (Pooner decided to keep his mouth shut and did not point out that DPS did not bother to hold a pre-move meeting with all involved to share information and establish individuals roles... Pooner still has to pay DPS for their escort duty and did not want to double or triple the bill with wagging tongue. Pooner look dumb but sometimes uses small brain properly.)
Old '57C will now get a nose and tail job and will be placed into a hangar at Mesa's Falcon Field (FFZ). For the first time in at least five of six decades she'll be out of the weather and away from vandals and can get some proper attention.
Of course, more pics to follow!
Fri Dec 28, 2007 10:52 am
Excellent work everybody. Congratulations Pooner, and thanks for your perseverance in saving this old beauty! I know it's been a long road for you.
Another one escapes the scrapman. It's a good day.
Another one escapes the scrapman. It's a good day.
Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:22 am
Man, I thought us (Dixie Wing CAF) moving our PT-26 from South Fulton Skyport to Brooks GA was a big deal, but wow that Pooner convoy is heck of a sight. Way to go guys, congrats on a sucessful move. 
Robbie
Robbie
Re: Pooners Harpoon N7257C airborne today
Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:09 pm
Matt Gunsch wrote:3 flights were completed with a max airspeed of 1 ft per second, and to a maximum altitude of 20 ft. all went well, no engine noise was noted and the plane used no fuel or oil.
That's good, the tree huggers will like that
Tillerman.
Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:56 pm
Is that you on the red bike, Matt?
Pooner, what nose gun arrangement would you like to install? Do you know what this individual a/c had originally?
Glad the move came off successfully and safely. What will be done with the abandoned airfield?
Doug
Pooner, what nose gun arrangement would you like to install? Do you know what this individual a/c had originally?
Glad the move came off successfully and safely. What will be done with the abandoned airfield?
Doug
Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:13 am
Canso42 wrote:Is that you on the red bike, Matt?
Pooner, what nose gun arrangement would you like to install? Do you know what this individual a/c had originally?
Glad the move came off successfully and safely. What will be done with the abandoned airfield?
Doug
That be me, that is my 2001 GL1800 Goldwing. I have a CB on the bike and was able to listen in on the escort trucks. Pooner is in the white truck with the diamond plate box. some of the pics were taken from another truck.
Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:29 am
Great job!! I'm sure it got plenty of looks 
Keep us posted and more photos
Thanks Mike
Keep us posted and more photos
Thanks Mike
Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:38 am
Very Nice.
Anybody know what the specific Military history of this bird is?
BuNo. 37270
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
Anybody know what the specific Military history of this bird is?
BuNo. 37270
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:09 am
Thanks for asking, guys!
Old 37270 was quite the fearsome killer in her day... that is, to fire ants and other creepy crawly critters in the southern and western United States. Navy card shows her acceptance date of 29 Aug 1945. It's interesting to me that even though this was long after VJ Day that she was actually completed at Lockheed Burbank versus the fate of so many other aircraft on the production lines with varied manufacturers. We've all seen the horrible shots of half-completed airframes sent out to the scrapyards just after the surrender papers were signed. She rolled off the line as a "C" model and that's our restoration plan - five .50 cals in the nose, two in the Martin upper turret and two in the rear tail gun position.
Anyway, '270 sat around forever, it seems, and was finally accepted by USN on 27 November 1945. It appears for the next decade she flew all around the US from one Naval Air Facility to the next, probably as a medium weight multi engined aircraft for active duty and reserve pilots to maintain currency and draw a little flight pay. At each NAF, she received some sort of modification or repair work. At least one of the mods was evident when we pulled the wings - the old aluminum oil tanks had been replaced with rubber cells and some plumbing was re-routed.
She was retired from the Navy 09 May 1956 with 1206 hours TT. She'd been in storage at Litchfield Naval Air Facility, Goodyear, Arizona having flown in from Willow Grove, PA.
This airplane was one of 21 or 22 PVs purchased by Ralph Johnson at Litchfield. He told me a few years ago he'd stopped in to the area originally to purchase a few radial engines, and ended up bidding on a PV as it was a better deal to buy engines "still on the hoof" he told me versus the pulled and prepared powerplants sitting in neat little rows.
Ralph bought the first PV and was offered the rest of them for one lot price. He wasn't exactly sure what he paid for the first one, but thought it was no more than $1,800 - give or take. "It seemed like a pretty good deal to me at the time, and they were gonna scrap all of them in a little corner of the airfield," he said.
Eventually all of Ralph's PVs were ferried from Litchfield to PHX and then to Douglas, AZ, where his chief mechanic Jay Yotti, began removing all of the military stuff and devising a spray system for each airplane. Over the years, Ralph's airplanes, operating as RALCO based in Wyoming, applied fire retardant to forest fires and killed bugs all across the United States. This one was fitted with a dry bait system. A large hopper in the belly of the plane was filled with chopped corn cob pieces bathed with malthion. A pump system drove the dry bait thru a series of pipes and was dispensed through the wing tips. It was a truly ingenious affair.
Ralph sold off most of his fleet in the 1980s. Hirth Air Tankers was the last firm to operate some of his PVs - others having been sold to various operators. John and Connie Hirth allegedly came down to PHX and had planned to fly this one out, but robbed a few parts off of it to get another PV back to Wyoming.
Over the years '270 was attacked by vandals and parts mongers who took her instrumentation, radios and props. Sadly, the log books were thrown away long ago (some say they ended up in Wyoming by mistake, but I couldn't find them at Connie's place a few years ago). A souvenir hunter took her data plates as well. It became the property of International Air Response until I purchased it in 2005.
Maybe fellow WIX members can keep an eye out for any of her log books. It's a real long shot, but maybe somebody has them on a library shelf somewhere. I'm real curious as to her civil hours. It's not that impossible of a thought, as I know one former PV operator here in Mesa who still has about a half-dozen airframe, prop and engine log books that belonged to Harpoons that either crashed while in civil service or were scrapped for parts.
Maybe, just maybe, someone will find a trinket out there somewhere marked BuNo 37270....
Old 37270 was quite the fearsome killer in her day... that is, to fire ants and other creepy crawly critters in the southern and western United States. Navy card shows her acceptance date of 29 Aug 1945. It's interesting to me that even though this was long after VJ Day that she was actually completed at Lockheed Burbank versus the fate of so many other aircraft on the production lines with varied manufacturers. We've all seen the horrible shots of half-completed airframes sent out to the scrapyards just after the surrender papers were signed. She rolled off the line as a "C" model and that's our restoration plan - five .50 cals in the nose, two in the Martin upper turret and two in the rear tail gun position.
Anyway, '270 sat around forever, it seems, and was finally accepted by USN on 27 November 1945. It appears for the next decade she flew all around the US from one Naval Air Facility to the next, probably as a medium weight multi engined aircraft for active duty and reserve pilots to maintain currency and draw a little flight pay. At each NAF, she received some sort of modification or repair work. At least one of the mods was evident when we pulled the wings - the old aluminum oil tanks had been replaced with rubber cells and some plumbing was re-routed.
She was retired from the Navy 09 May 1956 with 1206 hours TT. She'd been in storage at Litchfield Naval Air Facility, Goodyear, Arizona having flown in from Willow Grove, PA.
This airplane was one of 21 or 22 PVs purchased by Ralph Johnson at Litchfield. He told me a few years ago he'd stopped in to the area originally to purchase a few radial engines, and ended up bidding on a PV as it was a better deal to buy engines "still on the hoof" he told me versus the pulled and prepared powerplants sitting in neat little rows.
Ralph bought the first PV and was offered the rest of them for one lot price. He wasn't exactly sure what he paid for the first one, but thought it was no more than $1,800 - give or take. "It seemed like a pretty good deal to me at the time, and they were gonna scrap all of them in a little corner of the airfield," he said.
Eventually all of Ralph's PVs were ferried from Litchfield to PHX and then to Douglas, AZ, where his chief mechanic Jay Yotti, began removing all of the military stuff and devising a spray system for each airplane. Over the years, Ralph's airplanes, operating as RALCO based in Wyoming, applied fire retardant to forest fires and killed bugs all across the United States. This one was fitted with a dry bait system. A large hopper in the belly of the plane was filled with chopped corn cob pieces bathed with malthion. A pump system drove the dry bait thru a series of pipes and was dispensed through the wing tips. It was a truly ingenious affair.
Ralph sold off most of his fleet in the 1980s. Hirth Air Tankers was the last firm to operate some of his PVs - others having been sold to various operators. John and Connie Hirth allegedly came down to PHX and had planned to fly this one out, but robbed a few parts off of it to get another PV back to Wyoming.
Over the years '270 was attacked by vandals and parts mongers who took her instrumentation, radios and props. Sadly, the log books were thrown away long ago (some say they ended up in Wyoming by mistake, but I couldn't find them at Connie's place a few years ago). A souvenir hunter took her data plates as well. It became the property of International Air Response until I purchased it in 2005.
Maybe fellow WIX members can keep an eye out for any of her log books. It's a real long shot, but maybe somebody has them on a library shelf somewhere. I'm real curious as to her civil hours. It's not that impossible of a thought, as I know one former PV operator here in Mesa who still has about a half-dozen airframe, prop and engine log books that belonged to Harpoons that either crashed while in civil service or were scrapped for parts.
Maybe, just maybe, someone will find a trinket out there somewhere marked BuNo 37270....