Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:07 am
Thanks, Django and JDK! We're working really hard to get the old girl back in top shape. Finally the weather's starting to cooperate with us.
You know, Django, if you're down this way and would care to do a little nose art refeshing, we wouldn't turn you away
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
You know, Django, if you're down this way and would care to do a little nose art refeshing, we wouldn't turn you away
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:04 am
Wow...great work guys. Considering the temperature conditions you guys have to work in
Please keep the updates coming along. Trully appreciated
Please keep the updates coming along. Trully appreciated
Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:44 pm
Every time I read your posts, and others like it on WIX, I am reminded just how many people of varied talents & skills it takes to "Keep 'em Flying!"
Thanks for all you do.
Thanks for all you do.
Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:20 pm
This is how you do a maintenance thread about one heck of a cool warbird! Keep em’ coming! Also, any chance of you guys making it to Geneseo this year? Sure would complement the Navy theme!
Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:27 pm
We'd sure be interested in Geneseo. I've always thought it would be great for the Harpoon to fly in an all Navy themed airshow.
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and good wishes.
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and good wishes.
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Wed Mar 25, 2009 7:23 pm
Thanks guys for the good words. I started putting these things out there in case anyone would be interested to hear about it, and it's good to know that we've got anyone's attention. It is a labor of love for everyone involved.
Hot Stuff has been out of commission for not quite two full seasons, and after no income and two engine changes in that time, finances have been pretty dire for a long while.
So, yeah--airshows are what we are all about. If there's interest in having Hot Stuff at your favorite local air show, please feel free to say so out loud and repeatedly to the people who matter, and send contact info to us while you're at it.
Hot Stuff was recently given status as an Indiana Historic Landmark, and national historic status is coming shortly, and that's all at our President Penny's doing. In addition, our Penny is beating the bushes for all she's worth for airshow bookings, just like every year. But lord, the calendar is thin.
We need all the bookings we can get, if we're going to make this season the Triumphant Return we've worked so hard for, and not he Last Hurrah instead. I would say everyone involved has tried as hard as humanly possible, and I've tried to do their efforts justice in these postings. Bringing her back to airworthy is only part of the battle, though.
Come Fall, I guess we'll see. She's got to pay for herself. If you're sympathetic, and have any means of helping us keep her alive and in the air, we're right there with you, and thanks.
And do please keep up with the kind thoughts! We will take all the good karma we can get as well.
In maintenance news, the Wednesday work crew was out there this evening, and did good work. We are pretty much ready to run at this point. Our troublesome issues from Saturday were all wrapped up. We have a pulley to replace in the nacelle (prop control), and AI's final inspection, and there we are.
The rudder gust lock, recently reconstructed, is working like a champion. No more flappy rudders, and that is most definitely a good thing.
After running and setting up the left engine, we'll finish the annual on the right engine, and get 'em both running together. Full details right here, with pictures, right after it happens.
Hot Stuff has been out of commission for not quite two full seasons, and after no income and two engine changes in that time, finances have been pretty dire for a long while.
So, yeah--airshows are what we are all about. If there's interest in having Hot Stuff at your favorite local air show, please feel free to say so out loud and repeatedly to the people who matter, and send contact info to us while you're at it.
Hot Stuff was recently given status as an Indiana Historic Landmark, and national historic status is coming shortly, and that's all at our President Penny's doing. In addition, our Penny is beating the bushes for all she's worth for airshow bookings, just like every year. But lord, the calendar is thin.
We need all the bookings we can get, if we're going to make this season the Triumphant Return we've worked so hard for, and not he Last Hurrah instead. I would say everyone involved has tried as hard as humanly possible, and I've tried to do their efforts justice in these postings. Bringing her back to airworthy is only part of the battle, though.
Come Fall, I guess we'll see. She's got to pay for herself. If you're sympathetic, and have any means of helping us keep her alive and in the air, we're right there with you, and thanks.
And do please keep up with the kind thoughts! We will take all the good karma we can get as well.
In maintenance news, the Wednesday work crew was out there this evening, and did good work. We are pretty much ready to run at this point. Our troublesome issues from Saturday were all wrapped up. We have a pulley to replace in the nacelle (prop control), and AI's final inspection, and there we are.
The rudder gust lock, recently reconstructed, is working like a champion. No more flappy rudders, and that is most definitely a good thing.
After running and setting up the left engine, we'll finish the annual on the right engine, and get 'em both running together. Full details right here, with pictures, right after it happens.
Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:07 pm
Good luck in the coming airshow season...I hope ya'll stay busy pleasing the crowds!. It would be really special to see a couple of PV's flying formation too! Gary
Sun Mar 29, 2009 3:17 pm
Hello WIXers,
Time for the weekly maintenance report, and pretty much nothing but good things to talk about.
Saturday night saw the 50th birthday party of Deb Curtis, wife of our pilot and wrench-turner Scotty. Deb was well surprised, and was basically cute as a bug in her happy embarassment. She was shown the love by friends, family, and sundry Harpoonies, and great quantities of beer were drunk on pilot Glen's dime. He did not discover that it was his dime serving up the beers for a while there, but he delivered with good humor even after the discovery.
Previously, out on the ramp, it was the day for our AI, George, to come out and give the engine install the seal of approval. He found a couple minor discrepancies, which were corrected on the spot. We're good to go for running this engine. We still have a couple floor brackets for the copilot side to install, and the cockpit work will be done. Most likely, we'll run the engine on Good Friday or that Saturday. So that was the topic of a few birthday-party toasts, right there.
There's a view through the escape hatch as PJ and Rich no 2 work on the cockpit items. With most of our maintenance stands committed for the inspection, there was a limited number of projects we could do. That cockpit is a priority.
There's chief Pilot Steve, in the office performing his primary chief pilot duties of locating and terminating all available goodies and beverages. We may have an airshow on tap for mid-May, and that's the target for all the work now. Steve will be left seat.
We had two fellows one day away from their type-rating checkrides when our engine went down. A high priority of ours is to get that wrapped up for both of them. This may not happen until after the first airshow, though. That'll be two more left-seaters for us as soon as we get 'er done.
With the engine inspection all done, George had a detailed look at the various refurb projects associated with this annual. There's Machine Shop Gaylon, going over the bomb bay door hinge overhaul with him. There was a lot of work done in that bomb bay this maintenance period, mostly by Gaylon and PJ.
Another little side project that's been out there is a pilot's sliding window, which hasn't wanted to close completely. Pilot Glen and CAP Caded Ehren spent the afternoon attacking that. It's not a very large assembly, but it has a whole bunch of fasteners. The new seal is more pliable than the old one. We think that the old one was too age-hardened, and that was the problem.
There's Scotty and Ehren, taking care of minor items in the nacelle during the course of the inspection. It's all coming together now.
We're closing in on completing the annual, and expect to have it all done before April is done. Engine runs will be followed in fairly short order by test flights and crew training. It will be a fine day when we see air under the wheels of ol' Hot Stuff, and that day is not far off at all.
Till next time,
Time for the weekly maintenance report, and pretty much nothing but good things to talk about.
Saturday night saw the 50th birthday party of Deb Curtis, wife of our pilot and wrench-turner Scotty. Deb was well surprised, and was basically cute as a bug in her happy embarassment. She was shown the love by friends, family, and sundry Harpoonies, and great quantities of beer were drunk on pilot Glen's dime. He did not discover that it was his dime serving up the beers for a while there, but he delivered with good humor even after the discovery.
Previously, out on the ramp, it was the day for our AI, George, to come out and give the engine install the seal of approval. He found a couple minor discrepancies, which were corrected on the spot. We're good to go for running this engine. We still have a couple floor brackets for the copilot side to install, and the cockpit work will be done. Most likely, we'll run the engine on Good Friday or that Saturday. So that was the topic of a few birthday-party toasts, right there.
There's a view through the escape hatch as PJ and Rich no 2 work on the cockpit items. With most of our maintenance stands committed for the inspection, there was a limited number of projects we could do. That cockpit is a priority.
There's chief Pilot Steve, in the office performing his primary chief pilot duties of locating and terminating all available goodies and beverages. We may have an airshow on tap for mid-May, and that's the target for all the work now. Steve will be left seat.
We had two fellows one day away from their type-rating checkrides when our engine went down. A high priority of ours is to get that wrapped up for both of them. This may not happen until after the first airshow, though. That'll be two more left-seaters for us as soon as we get 'er done.
With the engine inspection all done, George had a detailed look at the various refurb projects associated with this annual. There's Machine Shop Gaylon, going over the bomb bay door hinge overhaul with him. There was a lot of work done in that bomb bay this maintenance period, mostly by Gaylon and PJ.
Another little side project that's been out there is a pilot's sliding window, which hasn't wanted to close completely. Pilot Glen and CAP Caded Ehren spent the afternoon attacking that. It's not a very large assembly, but it has a whole bunch of fasteners. The new seal is more pliable than the old one. We think that the old one was too age-hardened, and that was the problem.
There's Scotty and Ehren, taking care of minor items in the nacelle during the course of the inspection. It's all coming together now.
We're closing in on completing the annual, and expect to have it all done before April is done. Engine runs will be followed in fairly short order by test flights and crew training. It will be a fine day when we see air under the wheels of ol' Hot Stuff, and that day is not far off at all.
Till next time,
Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:27 pm
Well, WIXers, another week come and gone, and the maintenance crew has done its thing for another couple of Maintenance Days, and so here comes the Maintenance Report.
This was an odd week for IndyJen, because I only vaguely retain any ability to have a life outside of an old freakin' Harpoon, and while that isn't any sort of complaint at all, it does make it feel strange when I do get to go off on a spree.
This weekend you see was the weekend for the annual St. Louis Tionol (pronounced "chunnel"), the first Irish traditional music festival of the year, and my own favorite for years now. IndyJen is herself an enthusiastic proponent of the Irish tradition, and will inflict the jigs and reels upon you with her fiddle and banjo, and leave you liking it.
A friend and I flew over there in the beloved Grumman Traveler of IndyJen. The very first thing that happened to us upon landing at St. Louis Downtown was that Todd the Line Guy began hearing all about Hot Stuff the Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon--from fiddlin' friend Kate, mind you; I was busy tying down. Kate, however, has heard endless tales of Hot Stuff, as you may imagine. Anyhow, ol' Todd has a liking for historic old birds, and he took us around to see his local treasures. These included a Lodestar tucked in back in the old Curtiss-Wright company hangar. There are some MIGs on the field, too, and somebody's dark blue T-28 in the FBO hangar, waiting on a fuel boost pump.
The Curtiss-Wright hangar was an art deco delight itself, and the Lodestar is a lovely example, wearing a high-gloss warbird paint scheme with invasion stripes.
We could only peer through the locked hangar-door windows at it, but I hope they fly that plane from time to time, and I'd love to get in there and see her better some time. There are some nice planes there at St. Louis Downtown, Cahokia IL.
The Tionol starts about Wednesday and rages on till Sunday, and it is as mighty as all get out for the many musicians and punters (onlookers) who attend, but there was a Harpoon awaiting me back at MQJ, so all I had was the Friday night sessions, and I got all I could get of 'em, too.
I staggered out to the plane early Saturday and launched for home, heading straight to Mount Comfort. The AMHF crew, alerted to the fact that I wouldn't be there to annoy them, had a a brass band and acrobatic clown acts, according to PJ, who also claimed other misdeeds and malfeasances for herself, just to get my goat. I believe she is embellishing, however, because when I taxied up, all I saw was a bunch of work going on.
There's the beloved Traveler: that tiny thing back behind the Harpoon. I've been thinking about giving her a new paint job, and now I think of it, I think she would look great in a Harpoon scheme.
First thing I saw, upon parking, was the starboard empennage all de-paneled. With that side done, that completes the empennage inspection overall. One discrepancy left to fix and sign off there.
Another item receiving a lot of attention was the ground power cart, an old surplus generator that gets a lot of use. The boys were in there tearing it down far enough to determine what suddenly began causing the horrible noise last Wednesday. (Doesn't it figure? Right when it's near to Engine Running Day, too. But it is what it is.) There's potential to have it going again come Saturday, which is what we're shooting for for engine running.
Thanks to PJ for all these photos, too.
Rich No. 2 was part of the GPU repair team, but here he's shown wrapping up a repair in the cockpit. That GPU team , which included also Hot Rod Steve and Rich no 1, the Official Dad of IndyJen, just got together and attacked that problem.
There's Hot Rod Steve with the power cart. When they were done, the engine was out and cylinder heads pulled.
Up there on the right engine, quietly working away all day long cleaning it up, is Bob the new guy. He ran into PJ at the drugstore one day, and heard all about Hot Stuff the Harpoon standing in line with her. Next thing you know he's out on the MQJ ramp.
Bob's an old tanker jet engine mechanic, and understands about caring for an old bird. I hope to see more of him out there.
Our maintenance team has added a bunch of good people in the last couple years, and John FedEx is not the least invaluable one of those folks. He has become our goto guy for sheet metal work, and he has pretty much wrapped up his repair of the co-pilot's floor structure. I'll try to get some pics of that on Wednesday's work day.
Ol' FedEx had the benefit of the Official AMHF Giant Extension Reel, which Machine Shop Gaylon and Roy the Electrical Guru concocted a little while back in a fit of creativity.
That's about it for this week's report. The Return to Flight countown continues, and there'll be more about that presently ...
This was an odd week for IndyJen, because I only vaguely retain any ability to have a life outside of an old freakin' Harpoon, and while that isn't any sort of complaint at all, it does make it feel strange when I do get to go off on a spree.
This weekend you see was the weekend for the annual St. Louis Tionol (pronounced "chunnel"), the first Irish traditional music festival of the year, and my own favorite for years now. IndyJen is herself an enthusiastic proponent of the Irish tradition, and will inflict the jigs and reels upon you with her fiddle and banjo, and leave you liking it.
A friend and I flew over there in the beloved Grumman Traveler of IndyJen. The very first thing that happened to us upon landing at St. Louis Downtown was that Todd the Line Guy began hearing all about Hot Stuff the Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon--from fiddlin' friend Kate, mind you; I was busy tying down. Kate, however, has heard endless tales of Hot Stuff, as you may imagine. Anyhow, ol' Todd has a liking for historic old birds, and he took us around to see his local treasures. These included a Lodestar tucked in back in the old Curtiss-Wright company hangar. There are some MIGs on the field, too, and somebody's dark blue T-28 in the FBO hangar, waiting on a fuel boost pump.
The Curtiss-Wright hangar was an art deco delight itself, and the Lodestar is a lovely example, wearing a high-gloss warbird paint scheme with invasion stripes.
We could only peer through the locked hangar-door windows at it, but I hope they fly that plane from time to time, and I'd love to get in there and see her better some time. There are some nice planes there at St. Louis Downtown, Cahokia IL.
The Tionol starts about Wednesday and rages on till Sunday, and it is as mighty as all get out for the many musicians and punters (onlookers) who attend, but there was a Harpoon awaiting me back at MQJ, so all I had was the Friday night sessions, and I got all I could get of 'em, too.
I staggered out to the plane early Saturday and launched for home, heading straight to Mount Comfort. The AMHF crew, alerted to the fact that I wouldn't be there to annoy them, had a a brass band and acrobatic clown acts, according to PJ, who also claimed other misdeeds and malfeasances for herself, just to get my goat. I believe she is embellishing, however, because when I taxied up, all I saw was a bunch of work going on.
There's the beloved Traveler: that tiny thing back behind the Harpoon. I've been thinking about giving her a new paint job, and now I think of it, I think she would look great in a Harpoon scheme.
First thing I saw, upon parking, was the starboard empennage all de-paneled. With that side done, that completes the empennage inspection overall. One discrepancy left to fix and sign off there.
Another item receiving a lot of attention was the ground power cart, an old surplus generator that gets a lot of use. The boys were in there tearing it down far enough to determine what suddenly began causing the horrible noise last Wednesday. (Doesn't it figure? Right when it's near to Engine Running Day, too. But it is what it is.) There's potential to have it going again come Saturday, which is what we're shooting for for engine running.
Thanks to PJ for all these photos, too.
Rich No. 2 was part of the GPU repair team, but here he's shown wrapping up a repair in the cockpit. That GPU team , which included also Hot Rod Steve and Rich no 1, the Official Dad of IndyJen, just got together and attacked that problem.
There's Hot Rod Steve with the power cart. When they were done, the engine was out and cylinder heads pulled.
Up there on the right engine, quietly working away all day long cleaning it up, is Bob the new guy. He ran into PJ at the drugstore one day, and heard all about Hot Stuff the Harpoon standing in line with her. Next thing you know he's out on the MQJ ramp.
Bob's an old tanker jet engine mechanic, and understands about caring for an old bird. I hope to see more of him out there.
Our maintenance team has added a bunch of good people in the last couple years, and John FedEx is not the least invaluable one of those folks. He has become our goto guy for sheet metal work, and he has pretty much wrapped up his repair of the co-pilot's floor structure. I'll try to get some pics of that on Wednesday's work day.
Ol' FedEx had the benefit of the Official AMHF Giant Extension Reel, which Machine Shop Gaylon and Roy the Electrical Guru concocted a little while back in a fit of creativity.
That's about it for this week's report. The Return to Flight countown continues, and there'll be more about that presently ...
Sun Apr 05, 2009 1:24 pm
Do you guys sell any gear with the nose art on it?
Sun Apr 05, 2009 2:37 pm
Right now, we only have the buttons we give out in exchange for donations, but we're ordering stock for airshow season right now. We're intending to have patches, vinyl stickers, and t-shirts with the nose art (the t-shirts are monochrome, the other things are full color).
Sun Apr 05, 2009 2:43 pm
Sounds like some stuff I am going to need. Plus the money goes to a good cause. It makes it easier for me to spend money that way.
Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:54 pm
Mustangdriver, PJ says she has some of those Hot Stuff nose-art stickers, and she's going to send you a couple. Look for a PM from her.
Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:43 am
Hey Thank you very much!!
Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:30 am
Anyone have any resources for a used Wisconsin VH4D 30 h.p. 4 cyl. Wisconsin engine for the above mentioned ground power cart? Ours has thrown a piston and we need to rebuild/ replace it ASAP. Any source for parts?
Thanks,
P.J.
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Thanks,
P.J.
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org