B-26K Counter-Invader Restoration ("Special K")

[A26 Special K]

More metal structure is going back in now to the area between the nosewheel well and the bomb bay. Ray has fabricated all of the replacement parts and has started the installation with his usual perfection. An attaboy for our metal wizard.

JR

[A26 Special K]

We are thinking of you, Jack. God be with you. JR

[A26 Special K]

Greetings from the other side of the world.. well, almost... 9 hrs ahead of Texas anyway. Just saw the Delta crew heading out to the triple 7 for the long trip back to ATL. These were the very nice people who got me here. One of the FA's is from Galveston so I didn't even need an interpreter! ... for Texan speak that is. All the other folks weren't from around here...I mean Texas... it is so confusing to wake up expecting breakfast and being almost late for dinner. Pardon my rambling. What I meant to tell everybody is that the Militaria show is tomorrow at the VFM Hangar in Ft Worth. Lots of military vehicles from the Camp Howse Mil Veh. Club will be there. If you don't know, Camp Howse was a huge Army Divisional training camp just north of the Gainesville, TX airport. It stretched out to the Red River and even housed POW's for a while in WWII. Lots of old foundations are still visible from the air. But I am rambling again. What I need to do is invite everybody out to see a hangar full of airplanes like the B-25, two A-26's, F-86, T-33, V-77, Stearman, T-6 and a few other goodies. Then there are tables set up with all sorts of military gear and uniforms for sale to browse thru. Outside will be other booths and the mil vehicles. The DC-3 will be on the ramp. This is a two day event, Sat and Sun. Two of our Nimrods will be there to share stories about the A-26's and their adventures at NKP during the unpleasantness in South East Asia. Ck out our website and Facebook page for more info. http://www.gga1.org. We are raising funds to restore our aircraft and keep them flying. All help is appreciated. From the sandbox, JR

[A26 Special K]

As previously reported on this very thread, that Duck Drivin Lady almost became the perfect woman when she lost her voice at the Central Texas Airshow a few weeks ago. Since that time, it has been reported that she is still a bit squeeky in the voice dept, but that is sufficient to remove her from the "perfect woman" list. Howsomever, it was also recently noted that the Pretty Little Black Airplane, aka PBLA, attempted to return to the Grand Prairie airport after the Hondo Airshow last w/e. Enter with me, if you will, into the Twilight Zone. Do not try to control your vertical or the horizontal. George will do that. Picture this... it has long been told that as time progresses that a pet will begin to look or act like its owner. When the PLBA's radio went to receive only and then the hand held back up radio could not be heard by the tower... a diversion to another airport was performed by our illustrious aviatrix. Should this be any surprise? How else can it be explained that owner, PLBA and back up hand held radio all got squeeky and short ranged all at the same time?? nah nah nah nahhhh. We now return control of your computer to you. Thanks for joining us in.... the Twilight Zone! L-) JR in the desert.

[A26 Special K]

Dropped by the hangar today after I got back from the sandbox. Didn't have my camera, but the right main gear is all installed and has been swung a few times for fitting and adjustment. Lookin GOOD! The B-25 is also going back together nicely. Still waiting on a new fuel tank for the left rear main. Should hear something about the availability on Tues. of a NOS or new built tank. That would be sweet if we could get the Prowler back up soon. The DC-3 is coming along, too. It is waiting on some field approval paperwork to get going again. So looks like the guys have everything going in the right direction. Good thing, too, cause I have to go the opposite direction to another desert. This time in AZ for my granddaugter's graduation. That is very cool. Just wish I could do a flyby with the A-26 over it. That would be even cooler. Can't wait to get an invitation to fly over a Texas Aggie homegame with it. Wonder if they would mind if I just circled to watch the game from the highest bleacher?? Maybe not. I can always dream. The only thing better would be a two ship with the B-25 and the A-26. Now we are really talking!! Oh, I just gotta get them both flying soon. Go Aggies!! Until next week... JR

[A26 Special K]

Well, here it is 5 am in Phoenix and my jet lag forced my eyes open so thought I would update our other progress. The decision was made to update our instrument panel a little bit since we obtained a new Garmin 650 nav/com/gps and a King HSI slaved system along with a Garmin 106A indicator. While every effort will be made to retain the original instrument panel, we have to make a few concessions to flying safety and practicality in today's environment. We just last night found a new Manifold Pressure gauge to go along with newly overhauled 3 in 1 engine gauge, airspeed indicator and altimeter. We also obtained an original radio bearing pointer instrument. Our instruments inventory should be complete by the end of the next week and perhaps our guys can start putting the panel and avionics in shortly afterwards. This would be another major milestone. The next big phase is still the engine overhaul fund raising activities. We are going to do an A-26 ground school along with our CAF A-26 neighbors on June 22 as a practice run with just our groups. Then we should be able to start doing them for the outside folks who have an interest in learning more about an airplane that can outrun a Mustang below 10,000 ft. Now for a question for our WIX readers. It is time to locate replica .50 cal machine guns for the nose. 8 of them to be exact. We have had suggestions that we could save a lot of weight and expense by using resin based replicas with metal reinforcements. Would anybody have experience with these and would they be able to withstand high speeds of 300 knots or so? The barrel ends might project out as much as 12 inches, but would be covered by metal blast tubes as in the originals. The rest of the guns would be sealed off from the airflow by canvas and rubber rings where the barrels projects thru the nose. Would these look authentic enough to pass the gauntlet of airshow visitors? Your thoughts? JR, Sleepless in Phoenix

[NImrodA26]

The barrel ends might project out as much as 12 inches, but would be covered by metal blast tubes as in the originals. The rest of the guns would be sealed off from the airflow by canvas and rubber rings where the barrels projects thru the nose. Would these look authentic enough to pass the gauntlet of airshow visitors?
=================
Externally, nothing shows but the blast tubes anyway. If you plan on opening up the gun bay doors it would take someone very knowlegible about those particular guns to notice any difference, and those people are getting in shorter supply every day! There was a guy at the militaria show last Saturday that had a replica .50 that was made out of WOOD, and from 6 feet away it looked like the real thing. Only thing was it didn't have the aircraft barrel on it, or the "buffer plate" on the rear of the gun. I would bet that a resin gun would look pretty authentic.

[A26 Special K]

Randy, good points. We fitted one version of the plastic .50 in the nose a long time ago and it went in with hardly any effort to the original gun mounts. I am inclined to think this may be the way to go. Metal replicas have been quoted at up to $1800 ea where the resins go from $300 to $800. The only thing is getting the right end plates, barrels and no manual arming handle/trigger. Do you recall the proper nomenclature for the aircraft configuration instead of the crew served .50? M2 something? That would help in shopping around to the manufacturers, I reckon. On another note, we obtained a Garmin GDL39 avionics unit to go with the rest of our new radios yesterday. Very happy about that. Just need an audio panel for now. Maybe a new transponder later. Our avionics budget is just about shot. But she sure will be pretty!! While I was away to a very nice graduation ceremony for granddaughter in Phoenix last night, this morning the team is busy swinging the right gear and getting it all adjusted. I hate to miss out on working with the team, but I am sure they will carry on with their usual professional and dedicated ways. They are a great bunch. Come out and see the action any Saturday!! BTW, our next DC-3 class is June 1 at the VFM Hangar Conference Room at Meacham Field, Ft Worth. Contact Dana for enrollment info. http://www.gga1.org Cheers, JR

[A26 Special K]

While researching ordnance for the K, I ran across this video on armaments for the VNAF on Skyraiders, T-28's and B-26's. Shows the prep and loading of weapons at Bien Hoa in 1962 so the B-26's are stock and pre-K models... still interesting though. I can just see Randy and Bob out there loading up 26's after watching this. Hats off to you guys! JR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... XBV-_ysEFo

[NImrodA26]

Somewhere around the hanger should be that .50 cal. manual I left a couple years ago. it was a GM manual, and had pretty much all info about a fifty. The buffer plates would not be hard to replicate, and there was just a short stud that stuck out the side of the gun that fit into the slot in the gun charger when it was attached.
Randy

[A26 Special K]

Randy, I know where the manual is at the hangar and I have it copied on my computer at home, however, I won't have access to it until Monday. Just thought you might recall offhand what the nomenclature is. Seems like it may have been an AN/M2 .50 cal machine gun in fixed aircraft positions. Am trying to research builders of resin based replicas, but need to know what to ask about in this case. Does this ring a bell? If not, no worries, maybe another WIXer will be able to answer the question. Thanks, JR

[NImrodA26]

I think you're right, M2, Aircraft Basic. And not the heavy barrel like is on the tripod mounted ones. Barrel is pretty much straight from the frame out, covered by the ventilated cooling tube.

[A26 Special K]

Wow, I am so glad to be back in the Republic. Arrived tonight from Phoenix. Was very proud when the AA gate agent announced that the active duty military could board and the whole area full of passengers broke out in applause for them. Maybe there is hope yet for these United States. It has been a very eventful month for me personally, but the real JR and David A went above and beyond the call this weekend. They arranged our work area to take up less space so our neighbors could stretch out a bit and then worked on the left gear after it was discovered that one part had not been installed properly. The right gear is in and functional. Most of our instruments and avionics have arrived so the "Sparkies" are doing their magic with those. Work progresses on the bomb bay area repairs by our metal magician, Ray. So, we are back on track nearly. We want to get the K flying and fulfill our mission of honoring the vets who worked on and flew the A-26's. Here's to these guys and gals.

The other JR

[A26 Special K]

Wow, what a productive day. Both main gear were swung and tested with the wheels mounted. All of the indicator circuits were adjusted with power on the airplane so that the lights sequence properly. AND the gear horn certainly works. It will blast you out of the cockpit. Our "Sparkies" started mounting instruments in the panel to go with our new Garmin radio and King HSI system. Can't wait to see the panel back in the airplane! That will be so cool. JR

[A26 Special K]

Chow time... Hawkeye fixed burgers and chicken today on the grill. Always delicious!! We also had pineapple chunks, tator salad, chips, greens, Snickerdoodle cookies and apples! Who says we don't eat good!! To top it off, I may have met the man who gave me my first airplane ride back in the 1955. He flew DC-3's on the Central Airlines route that went from Guymon, OK to Liberal, KS. They actually started in Amarillo and ended in Wichta I think. Anyway, the Lion's and Rotary Clubs bought tickets for all the boy and girl scouts to ride one way and then would bus us back to town in order to get the boarding numbers up so that the airline would stay. It lasted only a few months, but George remembered doing the flights with all the scouts. The Flight Attendant's name was Pam. She was so pretty and took me up to the cockpit to see the pilots. They were so cool. Made me want to be an airline pilot and that's what I eventually did. Always made sure the kids got to see the cockpit, too, even it was only on the ground. It made a difference for me. I hope it did for some other kids. George is now 97 and still spry... flew B-25's back in the day. Hats off to you, George!! Thanks for stopping by to see us. JR