C-47 #43-48716, "Luck Of the Irish" Restoration Thread

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Fri Nov 29, 2013 9:50 pm

flightsimer wrote:

That looks like Paul, who single handily saved over 200 POWs during the Korean War in a single night after killing 4 guards with his hands. He is a very interesting man, who has many amazing stories.

Wow. Talk about the line of the century...

Gotta' meet that man and shake his hand.

lbarber · **Posted:** Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:29 pm

Put me down for one of those shirts Tyler

flightsimer · **Posted:** Thu Dec 12, 2013 10:12 pm

Alright Guys, I will be meeting with the company tomorrow to finalize the shirt and the order will be placed tomorrow or Monday. If you said you were interested prior or if you are now interested, please either PM me or post here the size, quantity and color of the shirts you want so I can make sure you get the shirts you want.

Sizes XXL and XXXL are available for an extra $1.50 and $2.00 per shirt, respectively.

There will be two changes to the design.

Change 1: The Black lettering on the back of the shirt will be changed to red due to Black lettering being washed out in the Dark Green and Blue shirts.

Change 2: The Front Air Heritage Logo will be reduced in sized and placed over the Breast.

I will begin taking payments next week, so I will PM you the details once I get your information on the shirt you want. I will be accepting payments from both Paypal (credit Card) and by a check sent to the museum. You will not need to have a paypal account to use that method.

Shipping Costs are not available yet, but I am going to try to have them around $5 for small orders that can fit in a bubble Envelope. I will get exact costs tomorrow though and will let you know in that PM.

Remember Guys, this is for a good cause.
All the proceeds are going to be going to the restoration of Luck of the Irish. We will be stopping work on the plane shortly due to having to get the C-123K in for its annual. But as soon as we are done with the pig, we will be making a big push on the 47. We have a lot of interest in this plane already for air shows in 2014, but can only get it there with money to finish it up. Hopefully, we will be able to get all the needed parts stockpiled so once it is back in the hangar; we can finish it up quickly!

Thanks, Tyler

flightsimer · **Posted:** Tue Dec 24, 2013 9:22 pm

Tonight, marked the 70th anniversary of our plane, "Luck of the Irish" flying its first combat mission, over the Battle of the Bulge, dropping supplies and ammo to the 101st airborne below in the city of Bastogne.

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:54 am

That's pretty epic. What is known of the crew and their lives? I wish everyone there a very merry holiday season and Merry Christmas! I look forward to seeing another fantastic restoration out of Air Heritage again!

patelie · **Posted:** Wed Dec 25, 2013 5:43 am

flightsimer wrote:

Tonight, marked the 70th anniversary of our plane, "Luck of the Irish" flying its first combat mission, over the Battle of the Bulge, dropping supplies and ammo to the 101st airborne below in the city of Bastogne.

69th anniversary Tyler.... 69

flightsimer · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:55 pm

patelie wrote:

flightsimer wrote:

Tonight, marked the 70th anniversary of our plane, "Luck of the Irish" flying its first combat mission, over the Battle of the Bulge, dropping supplies and ammo to the 101st airborne below in the city of Bastogne.

69th anniversary Tyler.... 69

Lol, thanks :axe:

Chappie · **Joined:** Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:40 am **Posts:** 987

Thought I'd bring this to the front page. How's the Irish coming along?

Chappie

flightsimer · **Posted:** Sun Feb 16, 2014 1:17 pm

Chappie wrote:

Thought I'd bring this to the front page. How's the Irish coming along?

Chappie

Work Continued to progress on her through last month. Engines are ready to go, both props need to come off to be inspected for an AD however.

We ordered and received to brand new main tires for her as the ones she had were pretty well oil soaked and showing signs of dry rot, plus were worn down to about 1/3 tread remaining.

The rudder and elevators are nearing finish with the metal work required on them due to the light corrosion we found in them. Once that is done, they will be primed and recovered. We still have one elevator left to do however that remains on the aircraft.

I have gotten in touch with a mobile painting facility, which I hope we will be able to work out a deal with them so that they can paint her for us at our own airport.

She is currently sitting in another hangar not being worked on because we had to bring our C-123K in for its annual. Since it already is flying, has shows already booked for this spring and supports our museum, it takes priority over everything else. So once the 123 is done, the 47 will be brought back over and work resumed.

Still a lot to do, but with enough people helping, I think we could easily be flying by June, realistically.

patelie · **Posted:** Sun Feb 16, 2014 1:34 pm

flightsimer wrote:

Still a lot to do, but with enough people helping, I think we could easily be flying by June, realistically.

And you will be able to celebrate her 70th anniversary ..... in her WWII colors !

flightsimer · **Posted:** Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:27 pm

We have not been working on the aircraft physically, but we have been trying to line up things for when work restarts.

One thing we have done is sent out to companies to receive quotes on repainting the aircraft. We have received some back, with two possibilities in the works. With either cases, it will require a Big fundraiser to undertake, but Hopefully we will be able to have her professionally painted!

The Aircraft will be back into our hangar by the end of April after Thunder Pig has vacated it and we have had our Annual Pig roast Fundraiser.

I also would like to note, as some people following this thread had known about Air Heritage, that Virgil Wyke passed away on Feb 16th. He suffered a heart attack while at church and passed instantly.

Virgil was the Crew Chief on our C-123, Thunder Pig, since we brought the aircraft back from the bone yard in 1994 until just this past December or January when he gave up his position. He was a wealth of knowledge for both the C-123 and C-47 as he crewed both during his time in the service. He will be greatly missed by all of us at Air Heritage.

flightsimer · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2014 6:17 pm

Gonna post an update since it's been a month and a half since the last.

The plane was finally brought back into the hangar the last week of April and work has resumed!

So far, the two sliding side windows in the cockpit have been removed and replaced with two new ones. Half of the fuselage side windows have been cut but have not been installed yet.

The floor inside is made of wood but is only half there. We are going to be replacing the floor with new wood as the right side doesn't even have a floor at the moment. When finances allows, we will acquire and install the original metal flooring. But the new wood flooring has been cut and is being prepped for painting and treading. It will be in the plane soon.

Recovering of the control surfaces are underway. The right elevator has been meticulously recovered by Bob Morelli, who is our fabric expert. He is finishing up the last bit of rib taping and then has two more coats of Polly brush to apply and then it will be ready to be painted. After that, the rudder will be recovered and then finally the left elevator.

This pic was taken just after they started laying the stits fabric down and shrinking it.

I have sourced an astro dome, however price may keep us from getting it at the moment.

Any way of maybe getting this thread stickied?

flightsimer · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:28 am

Got some cool information today on our C-47. We were contacted today by a gentlemen who's father is pictured in the photo of our C-47 for the 75th TCS engineering photograph found in the 435rd TCG book.

We are eagerly waiting to hear more from him and to hear the stories his father might have passed along.

flightsimer · **Posted:** Sun Jun 08, 2014 4:18 pm

Pathfinder wrote:

Typos happened...you have to be aware of them and vet every piece of info. I once had a Discharge document that showed the veteran as having served with the 504th Parachute Regiment of the 84th Airborne Division...go figure.

Regarding Radio Operator Harold E.Harris, I am working this:

HAROLD E(dward). HARRIS
B: Feb. 17, 1907 Akron Summit County Ohio, USA
D: Mar. 20, 1988 Akron Summit County Ohio, USA

Yes....he would have been 37 in 1944....but it happened.

Patrick extracted "Lockbourne, Ohio" as his residence of record from the wartime lists. Lockbourne is south of Columbus, OH, and was the site of Lockbourne AAB...later called Rickenbacker AFB. (Now closed). Site of the Legends Airshow a few years ago.

Unfortunately his ASN does not show up in NARA...but his number beginning 35 indicates he was drafted (3) and was from Ohio (5).

He is buried in Greenlawn Memorial Park in Akron.

I leave it to you to check his obituary which appeared in the Akron Beacon-Journal on 21 and 22 MAR 1988. That is where you will find corroborating information reference his military service---presuming my initial search is viable. You can purchase an obituary online through ObitArchives.com with a credit card.

I would advise CAUTION in contacting this family as the widow of this individual passed away LAST MONTH.

They have two sons in their 60's both living in Ohio. The minister conducting her services was her brother-in-law so that might be an avenue of approach to the sons. (He would be their uncle--probably through the mother's married sister).

FYI there was another Harold E. Harris from this same corner of Ohio (New Lexington)....but he served in the Pacific. I believe I can exclude him as a separate individual as the name of his relative who memorialized him on the WW2 site does not reference to the Harris family we are looking at.

At the moment I would advise getting the obit to confirm this is the right Harold.

I started looking into crew members again over the last week. After a year, I finally made some progress.

I made contact with Harold's Son, James, today. He confirmed is father as being our crew member. Gonna send him a packet of information in the mail this week as he does not have a computer.

I believe of the four men who flew luck of the Irish over varsity, all have passed away. I am still searching for family members of Jesse T Slusher and Dennis F O'Connor. I have a number for the possible son of Dennis' but no answers or returns of my phone calls have been made.

flightsimer · **Posted:** Tue Jun 24, 2014 12:42 am

Well, Finally going to do my first full update of 2014. Finally have had some time to do some actual work on Luck of the Irish myself as well. I am planning on finishing up the paint stripping process this week, weather depending. All that remains is the underside of the right wing and the area on both wings and fuselage above the flaps.

So a little recap. Some of the things, I believe I have posted before, but never took any pictures of it.

To start it off, the flaps have finally been removed from the plane to allow stripping to be done. It looks as if the flaps have never been stripped before as it seems there are about 5-7 layers of different paint on them on the inside portion. It will take at least one more application of stripper to get them to bare metal. After that they will just need to be washed and will be ready for paint prep.

Greg power washing off the stripper

Results from the first stripping

The Cowls have been finished and are ready to be put back onto the aircraft once its ready to be painted.

Floor panels in the cockpit were repainted.

Flooring has finally been cut and installed in the cabin on the right side. When we got the plane, there was no flooring there for some reason. The Wood flooring will eventually be replaced by the correct metal flooring once we begin the task of restoring the interior.

The new CLEAR and SLIDING side windows in the cockpit.

The Right Elevator is completely ready for painting. First will be multiple layers of silver UV protection paint. We are gonna hold off on painting them in the top coat until its time to paint the entire plane as I want to match the color off of the topcoat used on the plane.

The Rear covers over the accessory compartment have been re-installed. Here are two of our members installing the last piece on the right engine.

Things remaining include:
*Pulling the right prop for the AD inspection.
*Recovering the Rudder and painting it
*Removing the left elevator off the aircraft, removing the fabric, repair/treat any corrosion and recover with new fabric
*I have sourced one C-47 Astrodome, but the seller wanted $2,000 for it, so we have not got one yet. Still hoping to find one cheaper, but we will have to have it prior to painting, so soon we will have one; one way or another.

I am hoping that I will have the plane primed by August 23rd for our Aviation Appreciation Day if not painted fully. It has still not been determined if it will be professionally painted or done by ourselves yet.

Expect another update in the next week or two

Tyler

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C-47 #43-48716, "Luck Of the Irish" Restoration Thread

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