Warbird Information Exchange

Now that the left main gear is about rigged, Miguel, the real JR and David A worked on rigging the gear doors. They are not ready to mount, but we need to get them all adjusted before covering the lightening holes and painting the inside. The other JR

The right side gear is readied for paint so Big Mike, Denis and Mark spent most of the day with the prep and started spraying silver. The paint room was a little cool this morning so they placed electric heaters and lights in it to get it up to the right temp. This worked well. Big Mike will finish anything left over on Monday so we can start reassembly next weekend. The nose gear actuator was overhauled and also got paint today. The right wheel well just needs a little touch up and should be ready to paint when the temp is right. The nose wheel compartment will be next for the blaster, but our metal guys are still repairing some hidden damage between the compartment and the bomb bay that occurred during the gear collapse problems. There are some incredible pictures that Rob took when he was repairing the airplane in Macon in 78. I would not have believed they could have repaired it all and ferried it to Montana to finish the job. Man, are we lucky! JR

Ray, one of our metal wizards, has produced some replacement parts for the structure supporting the area between the bomb bay and the nose wheel well. These are just some he has been duplicating. This area once held the bomb bay spoilers that were hydraulically actuated. They had been removed and the area covered over. Guess Denny and Rob did not plan to drop any bombs out of it so wouldn't be missed! They were only necessary if going greater than 240 mph so that the bombs would drop cleanly out instead of being forced back upwards by the airstream. That could ruin your whole day! JR

Big Mike wasn't kidding!! He started spraying silver on the right main gear parts today! Hope to have those finished by the weekend so the gear can be reassembled. We then have the wheel well to finish cleaning up now that it is stripped. After we get that painted pretty like the other side, we will all eat our Wheaties and try lifting the gear back up in place. Actually, we have a rig to do just that, but the gear still has to be lifted just a tad to fit into the cradle. Joy!! Back on 3 legs again. Although, I must say it takes getting used to the airplane being lower again and having to duck to go under it while working around it. Small price to pay I suppose! JR, a proud resident of the Republic... the Lone Star Republic, that is! Ya'll come see us!

Okay, dumb question time. Why can the original part not be reused? Aside from the the section that broke off nearest the camera, the part looks to be in relatively good condition. Obviously, it would need a sandblasting and repainting. I would think that any of the other damages could be repaired: the bent parts formed back into shape, the dents pounded out and the cracks welded back together. Even the missing section seems to me like it could be replaced with a new piece of metal.

Please note: I am not a mechanic, metalworker, or otherwise.

Not-so-dumb question #2: What do you guys do with the original parts - like the one above - that you end up not using?

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

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Lets start with corrosion, then stress fractures. Just because it looks good to the naked eye does not mean it can be reused. A good example where NDT comes into play!
NDT= Non Destructive Testing

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

Hopefully not to detract from your outstanding thread. May I add another photo of my favorite airplane and your favorite airplane with I'm sure several others favorite airplane between the two. The A-26 in the photo is rather a rare one indeed as I wasn't aware of too many Navy A-26's.


F6F-5N Hellcat and an AD-5 (Tow) aircraft of VU-1 flying out of NAS Barber's Point, HI 1959, The aircraft was modified to an F6F-5K. It was lost January 26, 1960

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

Not-so-dumb question #2: What do you guys do with the original parts - like the one above - that you end up not using?

The originals... well, depends on what it is. These sheet metal parts will probably be flattened and cleaned up a bit, then some small section will be included in the frame for some of the Taichi prints of the airplane that we have that are autographed by some of the Nimrods. We are placing the first one in our GGA auction to be held at Meacham Field in Ft Worth on 2 March. See our FB page for some of the items. http://www.gga1.org
JR, Greatest Generation Aircraft Non Profit.

Thanks Mark, that is a great picture of the A-26 or JD-1 as the Navy called it. Later the Navy changed the designation to DB-26 later I think. Anyway, they did operate about 150 or so of them. Lots of target tugs, but this one appears to be a drone director with all the extra antennae on the roof and the nose mod as my best guess. I don't see the usual elevator and rudder protection for towing targets. There is a small connection to our K in that if you go look at the air museum in Palm Springs, there is a JD-1 or at least one painted to resemble one. It was Denny Lynch's airplane, one of two used in making the movie "Always". And of course, Denny also is the one who saved our K. We owe a great deal to Denny and Rob for taking care of this National Treasure. On another note, Arnold and I are going to make a run across the border into the Territory this weekend for an A26 ground school with some of our CAF brethren in Enid. I suppose it is about time to start thinking about training and flying the airplane! JR

Big Mike was busy yesterday and again today getting some of the landing gear parts painted silver. We are still hoping to see some assembly done on this over the weekend. This particular part is from the "beartrap" that holds the springs for tension in the downlock. Those two small holes side by side toward the top are where the springs go that were shown a few pages back. We think these springs should be changed out fairly frequently due to fatigue. They are compressed too much in the original spec and tend to fail. Well, there goes your downlock potentially. Anyway, the ROAD TRIP is on for Arnold and me. We are going to try to sneak across the Red River into the Territory without getting caught. The goal is to attend the CAF A-26 ground school in Enid tomorrow. Yeah, it is all about the stock airplane, but there are still a lot of similarities in systems like the hydraulic, electrical, flight controls, etc. We know the differences with our K so it will be great to visit with the guys who operate the stock airplanes and see what they like/dislike about the handling of the A-26. Can hardly wait... stay tuned for future reports. JR

Thru a generous donation from our sister organization, the A-26 Legacy Foundation, we got these two new toys to help set up our engines. That should not be too far off in the future. I love the smell of 2800 oil smoke at start up!! Thanks Tom and Don for the help.

Big Mike and friends got the right main gear painted up in silver this week as promised. So here it is.... some assembly required. Hope to see it together next weekend. The wheel well has been stripped and cleaned so if we get some good weather this week, perhaps it will get the paint applied like the left side which is looking very nice!
From the B-25 end of the hangar, good news on the repairs. They are coming along nicely. The aux fuel tank has been sent off to AeroTraders to get refurbed so hopefully that won't take too long. Would like to have the Prowler back up for the summer airshow season... if there is one. Somebody tell me how we elected those guys in Congress and the Administration who are messing with the economic future of the country, aviation in general and the warbird industry in particular. Oh, nevermind, there is no logical explanation. JR

As reported earlier, Arnold and I attended the CAF Invader Operators A-26 ground school in Enid... that is in the Territory North of the Republic... on Saturday. They were most gracious hosts there in spite of a little dusting of snow overnight Friday. We had a great time and learned a lot. Gave us a lot of tips and insight into operating stock airplanes on the airshow circuit. Of course, we really wanted to get a good understanding of the aircraft systems and info on how best to maintain them. Many are still the same for the K. We accomplished the mission. Above is "Lady Liberty" and it was great getting a close look at how the airplane had been modified with seats. She is one of the oldest A-26's still flying. Even noticed they still have an A-26 on display at Vance AFB. Good choice!! More pics on the next session. JR

While they may be North of the Red, it'll be cool when we can see both of the CAF's A-26's in Oklahoma flying. Pair that with you guys, Texas Spirit, Guns for Hire, and Hard to Get, we'll have one hell of a hog-hunting air force.

Yessiree, that would be cool. The OK boys have invited Texas Special up to Enid in the next month or so for training crews so there will be two airplanes operating out of there one of these weekends. I'll let everybody know when the date is set. Look out hogs, the BBQ sauce is in the making! Should be ready just in time. Wish K was going to be ready for this and also the big gathering in Topeka the first weekend in August. We are taking the DC-3 and B-25 looks like. Mass formations of warbirds would be an awesome noise! There is a thread on this started already, but if you haven't read it, check out the website for some great news! http://www.warbirdsandlegends.org/ Just follow the yellow brick road to Kansas to see some legends!!
JR, Anxious for August