The Former "Spirit of Waco" A-26 has a new home!

[T J Johansen]

Would you guys have any photos of what the rear cabin looks like?

T J

[viking73]

Would you guys have any photos of what the rear cabin looks like?

T J

Hi TJ,

Here's a couple of photos I took of the rear cabin area of "Spirit" in 2009.

Looking aft from the rear entrey hatch:




And looking forward from the rear cabin:




Hope these help.

-Derek

[Invader26]

tell me more about the entrance to the rear gunners area and how that is achieved. Mine is stock with a little side door and top hatch>>>>

[Cvairwerks]

Invader: When she was converted to an exec transport, the bomb bay doors were kept, but sealed. To gain access, the right door had an air stair installed on it. It is hinged on it's aft edge, and faces forward. If I remember correctly, it's placed so that as you come up the steps, you have full cabin height just aft of the forward edge of the opening... ie you won't bean yourself on the spar as you climb in. There is a bulkhead at the aft end of the bomb bay and access to the tail area behind it is from a hatch in the bottom of the tail and the area is not accessible in flight. I spent a couple of really nasty summer days in that area, in the summer of 1980 removing hundreds of pounds of boat anchor radios and wiring, just after the Ranger Squadron got her.

Copilot brakes were never added when she was converted. I think there were some discussions about adding them when the squadron got her, but because a glass nose was also being talked about in the early days, it never happened.

Lots of good times working on her in those days and lots of good people too.

[Invader26]

Thanks for the update...

[viking73]

tell me more about the entrance to the rear gunners area and how that is achieved. Mine is stock with a little side door and top hatch>>>>

Here's a shot of the door.

-Derek

[LadyO2Pilot]

Current plan is to fly A/C from Midland to Breckenridge Saturday.....ETD 1:00 CDT ETA 2:00 CDT. Hope it all goes as planned

[MX304]

Going to be a bumpy ride. Winds are forecast at 30+ on Sat.

[CrewDawg]

Just to reassure everyone we did have an inspector on duty in Midland on both Saturday and Sunday inspecting our work.


Here are a few other pictures from last weekend. Like Karen said the plan is to ferry her to Breckenridge on Saturday.




Invader26, here are some pictures of the B-26K a.k.a. A-26A that is also in our hangar. This may help with your question, however as part of the K model conversion the upper and lower turrets were removed. These were taken right after the plane arrived in Texas after the flight from Billings, so there is still a lot of stuff laying loose, but the radio's are all original.

[Rob Mears]

The patina on that paint is primo! Looks like they just pulled it right off the line at Pusan.

[T J Johansen]

Hope these help.

-Derek

Yup, that's just what the doctor ordered! How is that airstair operated? I noticed on Howard Keck's On-Mark it was electrically driven.

Invader: When she was converted to an exec transport, the bomb bay doors were kept, but sealed. To gain access, the right door had an air stair installed on it. It is hinged on it's aft edge, and faces forward. If I remember correctly, it's placed so that as you come up the steps, you have full cabin height just aft of the forward edge of the opening... ie you won't bean yourself on the spar as you climb in. There is a bulkhead at the aft end of the bomb bay and access to the tail area behind it is from a hatch in the bottom of the tail and the area is not accessible in flight. I spent a couple of really nasty summer days in that area, in the summer of 1980 removing hundreds of pounds of boat anchor radios and wiring, just after the Ranger Squadron got her.

Was the former exec. interior stripped out at that time? Given that it had been used as a drug runner I imagine that was the case.

[Invader26]

Thanks chaps for the pics. My aircraft is 44-35898...[aka Race 76] [aka Tanker 2]

[gary1954]

Thanks chaps for the pics. My aircraft is 44-35898...[aka Race 76] [aka Tanker 2]

Very nice airplane man, very nice....I would love to see it one day. Thanks for the pictures

[Cvairwerks]

If I remember correctly, it was electro-pneumatic and used the old bomb bay compressor to run it up. There was a switch near the door and it ran the compressor and pulled the door up when moved one way and vented the cylinder to allow the door to come down when moved the other direction. Locking was via manual handle. Most of the interior was gone I think when she arrived in Waco. That was lots of moons ago.....

[Randy Wilson]

The A-26 launched out of Midland today after lunch and had a safe ferry flight to Breckenridge, TX and Ezell Aviation's facilities. I'm sure there will be more updates to come. Randy