Warbird Information Exchange

It's a tie down shackle......btw, incorrectly installed, as the shackle bolt has threads in bearing on the casting.

The mystery item of the week is still a mystery. A tiedown ring would be on the bottom of the wing, eh? This item is on top and attached to the aft spar towards the rear of the nacelle. Think Macon!! JR

As it is on top of the wing, on the main spar, and it looks like it might normally be under a panel, I am assuming it is a lifting ring at the lift point of the airplane to raise it if the plane has to be lifted for whatever reason. Gear up landing for instance. There should be one on the other side in a mirror position and then one (or more) somewhere down the spine of the aircraft and maybe one towards the nose-depending on how many lift points the engineers thought they needed.

Or I could be wrong!

JMC

Not answering because I already know what it is and what's used for........and can answer without asking a multitude of questions

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That's where the tow ropes go, so you can waterski behind, right?

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Yeah, isn't it amazing. She bet that you would not respond. Of course, I bet she would not respond so I lost that one even though her comments are not really the answer. For some reason, the Duck Drivin Lady can ask more dang questions in a minute than a lawyer ever thought about askin. Right? JR

Actually, you are quite correct except the lifting ring is on the rear spar. There is another one on the other side. Haven't really looked for the others places on the fuselage, but our guess is these were installed to lift the airplane at Macon, GA, after the landing gear was ripped off in the bad landing. Haven't decided whether to remove them or not. We would still have to fill the holes in the spar with the bolts though. Decisions, decisions... JR

Tell ya what, you find us a long enough lake near Chandler, AZ and we will put some tow ropes on this baby and see if you can stay on the water skii's for eight seconds. This would be like rodeo style. The rope pick up at 200 Knots might get a little tricky. You get style points if you hit the water grinnin and your arms still in the sockets!! JR

There's the lower Salt River where the tubers go. The real trick would be keeping the bird in the canyon<G>

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Simple thing is just pull the shackle and bolt and leave the spar fitting alone. Toss the pieces into your emergency kit and it's all taken care of.

More than likely, the lifting points were manufactured in the when the plane was built (a design feature). We had lift points on the F-15, but had to install the lifting hardware if it was needed. Unless they are in the way of something, or improperly installed as one person suggested, you may as well just leave them there.

My opinion,

JMC

Bet you'll find two more somewhere.......Oh just leave them on.......then the Sky Crane can come lift ya just like it can mine

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HHHUhhhhh??? The Broom has a hoisting ring? Well, I'll be.... Who knew? JR does know where the other two locations are on the fuselage of K, but we don't have the hardware for those.... just on the two wings. Guess we need to put that on our wish list from Santa. Just hope we don't need "em! Cheers, the other JR

Not as much of a worry as you think. Most of the time when an F-15 needed lifting we would just toss a sling under it and lift it that way. Or airbag it up til we could get the landing gear down. Whatever works in Crash/Recovery!

JMC

True, I suppose one way or the other, we need to take them with us for when we can't find a sling or airbag system because we will be touring some fairly small towns along the way to the larger ones. I prefer airbags actually after observing several recoveries where I've seen an improperly used sling cause more damage in moving the airplane. The A26's are historically prone to gear collapse incidents and while we have taken all the precautions we can in overhauling the entire system, there is always that chance with a 70 year old airplane. I shudder to even think about it. JR