Warbird Information Exchange

I knew I had a better photo of the damage a ball turret did during a belly landing:

This occurred at Grand Island AAF, Nebraska in early '44 to 42-31904, a B-17G-30-BO. The airplane was brand new, just assigned to a crew headed overseas, and they had a myriad of electrical problems during a shake-down/maintenance flight. According to the Base History the damage was severe enough that the aircraft was salvaged. The Sub-Depot Supply department was likely quite happy to have the extra parts they could pilfer off of her. Notice that the trailing wire antenna comes out on the right side of this airplane instead of the left as on TR. It looks like the gun barrel jackets still have the paper on them as well.

Scott

That's only five numbers before Nine O Nine - so maybe that's what it looked like when it was new? Did 909 pas through Grand Island as well?

_________________

All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Chris,

I didn't even think to pay attention to the serial number similarity! As to your question about Nine-O-Nine going through G.I., it's certainly possible. Both Grand Island and Kearney were processing B-17 crews and aircraft at this time, though Kearney was starting the process of training base unit personnel to begin B-29 Processing. The 9th Heavy Bombardment Processing Headquarters was in operation at G.I. when this incident occurred. Incidentally, Grand Island Sub-Depot personnel were being sent to B-29 School at this time in preparation for the conversion to B-29 Phase Training.

Here is the other photo of 904 from the Base History, showing an accident date of 2 February, 1944:


And here is the Sub-Depot newsletter front cover, just because it is cool:


According to the available information, 909 headed for England on 5 February. 904 was just about ready for the big trip when this incident happened on the 2nd. Unfortunately, I don't have the ship transfer serial numbers in either the G.I. or Kearney Base files.

Scott

First off...small world... my Oldest Brother was born in Grand Island, Nebraska in June of 1945 after my Dad transferred from Galveston, TX and training navigators.
I don't remember him talking about pranging a B17, but he did "total" a B24 because of a close encounter with a massive thunderstorm.

Latest updates... Col. Ron Dietes put some final cleaning on Eng. #2 and put the scat hoses back on.


Replaced control column parts with shiny new bearings above and
Col. Hyman helping with pulling the guts out of the co-pilot's control column below.

This batch of photos by Kara Hueni... many thanks!

_________________
Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

Request...
Do any B17 restorations have a picture of the Rudder trim tab adjuster mechanism that mounts in the rudder? (The cable drum and mounting bracket specically.)
We have drawings, but if we had a picture of a real one we might know what to look for.
Somebody removed TEXAS RAIDERS while the Rudder was being recovered and neglected to label it.


Picture of the week by Kara Hueni

_________________
Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

Don,

Doesn't the parts catalog or maintenance manual show a pretty good image of what you're searching for?

I promise I'll be back to finish my project--I've got a bit of spam can maintenance going on right now that has clipped our wings for a few weeks.

Keep updating us,
Scott

[quote="SPANNERmkV"]First off...small world... my Oldest Brother was born in Grand Island, Nebraska in June of 1945 after my Dad transferred from Galveston, TX and training navigators.


I meant to post these with my last post, Spanner--these are from a blueprint of Grand Island Army Air Field that depict the Base Hospital. If your brother was born on-base, this was where he came into the world:


This is the key that denotes the purpose of each building:


And the overall Base building layout. There isn't a date on this print, but it had to have been drawn in late '44 or '45 due to the inclusion of the celestial navigation towers, concrete tennis court, and fifth hangar:


And here is the hospital area taken in 1999. The hospital is at the bottom center of the photo. There is a Law Enforcement Training Center built on the exact spot, and some of the roads (and fire plugs) within the complex are from WWII. It looks much the same today.


Scott

Scott,
The manuals are either 2D line drawings or Xeroxes of the mechanism in place, without the details I am looking for.
(I guess the perfect depiction would be WHAT does it look like in a cardboard box, unlabelled as to what it was when some nimrod took it off! grrrrrrrrr)

As soon as you get your Spam Can work done come on down.
The Clico Farm is awaiting!

SPANNER

_________________
Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

Update:
Don located the rudder trim mechanism this Saturday. Thanks for all the help figuring out what it looks like.

Also, we held our monthly maintenance meeting this weekend and have some great progress to report from the last MONTH:

-Rudder cables finished and installed (it moves when you push the pedals now!)
-Completed machining work on our compression strut tie fitting (the big piece thats holding us up in the bomb bay)
-Completed repair of wing extension trailing edge (basically rebuilt from scratch following significant damage during the EFD-HOU move)
-Elevator cockpit bellcranks rebuilt (new bearings, and taper pins, stripped and painted, reinstalled)
-Yokes refurbished (new bearings, new aileron cables, new wiring, stripped and painted)
-New Elevator cables 50% completed
-3 more carbs overhauled (now have four ready to go)
-3 of 4 fuel filters reconditioned (parts for last one just arrived)
-Test stand: engine mounts tacked in place, oil tank cleaned, transported to pro-welder's shop
-4 blade 98" test prop in transit to the hangar

All in all, excellent work. Work here on TR has definitely taken off in the last couple of months. Attendance has doubled and we have some neat surprises in store for the next couple of months...

Onward,
-DC

_________________
B-17 Texas Raiders --- Maintenance Officer

Kara keeping the Control Cables Under Control!
Seriously, she has done more good work lately than I can list.

_________________
Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

At the top of this page I posted this photo and questioned why the trailing wire reel would be located on the right side of the fuselage:


Chuck (IRONHORSE) questioned whether the negative was flipped on another thread, and Dean (k5dh) confirmed his suspicions last night. Here is Dean's photo showing the evidence:

I thought I'd better post this in the interest of historical and technical accuracy so nobody else thinks they mounted the antenna on the right.

Sorry,
Scott

Hey Second Air Force...
How would you like to be in charge of "dropping the ball" (turret) that is next time you come down?
We need to address some corrosion in that area and it has been recommended that we do it BEFORE we hang the engines so that we don't risk a potential "nose over" when we lift the tail high enough to lower the ball onto a dolly-jack.

Earlier we were talking about the carbs and somebody was asking about whether we were mindful of plugging up the carb. intakes.

_________________
Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

When we pulled the ball from SJ, we did not jack up the tail. we disconnected the ball from the yoke and lowered it with jacks

Matt,

I was just thinking the same thing. Did you build a fixture to keep the turret stable while jacking? How heavy is the little feller when you get the bolts removed? Thanks for the help in advance.

Don,
Sure. Whatever needs to be done to move the project forward. My spam can project should be put to bed this weekend so we'll have transportation again.

Scott

Your asking me to remember something from when I was like 14 or 15 ? It prob was just a large floor jack, like for a truck.
I would think you could do some sort of cribbing, or since they are easy to get now, how about using a motorcycle jack ? They have a wide stance, are low to the ground, and have between a 12-18 inch lift, and they will hold my 900 lb Goldwing, and I doubt the turret wieghs that much, esp if you strip out the guns and sight.