Warbird Information Exchange

You mean I've been away all this time and YER NOT DONE YET?!?!?


Just kidding! I'm amazed at the progress pics! When you do get her in the air and start doing airshows, come to Mississippi so I can meet you and see her!

_________________
"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Frank... thanks for the info on the book. I've now got it on order.

While searching for the B-26K & Congo, I came across a couple of interesting links. This first one has some video of A/C 644 painted in Congo "clothes" taxing and flying:

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675058316_B-26-K-cachita_taxi-along_plane-parked_takes-off

I also found this link. I think everyone has probably been to this site many times. This page has information on the Congo operation. It also mentions the mod for the carbs. Here it is:

http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id249.html

_________________
Bob
Memories of Naked Fanny
More Memories of Naked Fanny (Nov 2013)
609th Nimrod, Bomb loader, Gun Plumber, '68 - '69

That Congo video is pretty neat Bob, thanks. It's the first time I've had a glimpse of the whip antenna at the lower rear. We have a semi-whip in it's place that's actually our primary VHF. Some changes have to be made for airworthiness you know.

I think it's a crime to ask $180 bucks for 105 seconds of old film of an item that's probably only near and dear to a few.

Larry

Larry's right! Google Map the address. Coming from Reston, VA, next door to the BIA. Probably some Govt employee found something we citizens already paid for. I thought this stuff would have been handed over to the NASM.

_________________
The real JR

The team was a little thin this weekend as several members went off to Indiana with the DC-3 for a swar-ray up there. But we soldiered on and got several things accomplished. Alex continued working on the cowl ring mounts. He is having to engineer new ones and fabricate since so many were cracked. JR and Ray continued working on the sheetmetal of the nacelle upper covers over the vent lines and for the oil tanks. Tim assisted as needed on several projects. Stan assisted Larry in finishing the installation of the Flightstream 210 which will allow us to upload flight plans from the IPad (Bluetooth) directly to the GTN 650. The new 406 ELT was also installed and wired in to the GPS. It will broadcast N number and GPS position should something really bad happen. Just need to finish up the ELT antenna installation. Can't wait to give all those new radios and instruments the "smoke" test!! By the way, see that big empty space on top of the nacelle behind "Mona"? That is where the carburetor goes. We are just waiting to make sure the cowlings all fit before we send the carbs out for rework again. Once that is done, we should be able to put some fuel on board and pull her outside for a test run. No, we are not getting anxious..... but it is kinda like wanting to take your 9 months, 25 days, expectant wife for a ride over a bunch of rough railroad crossings.. if you know what I mean! Old wives' tale says that may get things started!

Hey Muddy, where bouts in Mississippi are you talking? We have some plans for Lake Charles and N'Orlns next year. Will be passing thru on the way to Hurlburt probably next year as well in OCT.

We do accept ca$h and credit card$

_________________
The real JR

I'm in Jackson. Might be able to make New Orleans with some lead time and a tailwind!

_________________
"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Besides all the detail work and systems checks, we have two major projects left. One is the nose wheel doors and the other involves mounting new glass in the canopies and right front windshield. One of the problems is shown in this picture. This is not our right side canopy but one that we kept around for what you see there. The vent window is going to be something of a challenge to cut in the new glass. After flying BUBA, it gets extremely hot in the cockpit without a vent so it is a must have. Then there is the hardware like the hinge and lock that we have to copy. Obviously this canopy has a lot of issues so can't be used directly. Probably wouldn't fit anyway. We have found that a lot of the various parts were hand fitted at the factory and aren't necessarily interchangeable such as the nose gear doors but that's a story for later. We also have to find some of the canopy parts that were put away a long time ago and nobody seems to remember where we hid them??? They will turn up sooner or later. Keep your fingers crossed!! It would be nice to find a shop that could do the canopies for us so we could expedite the project. There are a lot around, but all seem to be busy. Any suggestions besides the usual suspects?? JR
PS to Muddy, will let everybody know when we head to Florida as we are planning some stops along the way. Alexandria, LA is a must stop since Kay is carrying the tail code "IF" for England AFB there. We need a 5000 ft min runway for operations so that is also a consideration as to where we will stop. Stay tuned!

Was pleased that BUBA had a successful mission tonight with a flyover at the Southlake 4th of July Celebration. This took place about 3 miles just west of DFW Airport, but the controllers there worked us in right on time. Time over Target was 8:01 pm and we made it. The second pass was set for 8:20 and that was hit close enough for guvmint work. The kind folks at Southlake invited us back for next year. The Real JR got video. Will post it on the FB page this weekend sometime. The Other JR

We have said before that it seems like miracles keep happening with Kay. The right person or part just shows up when needed the most. It happened again today!! JR was working on the nose gear doors which had been bent in an earlier incident. He was deskinning the door when a fella walked up and offered to help. Before long, he had the door straightened right up and just about ready to reskin. JR plans to put a little bit thicker skin back on it for stiffening. It was a great day in the hangar!!! Kudos to JR and Duke for pulling this miracle off. Doing the Happy Dance in the Republic, The Other JR

Awesome nose gear door fix scenario. Funny how things work out.

_________________
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Thanks Scott! We got lucky!!
It is going to be a great day in the neighborhood today!! The GGA DC-3 will be selling rides as will the CAF B-17 "Texas Raider" from Houston today. TR will be here today and Sunday and then moving to McKinney and Addison on subsequent weekends. BUBA, the CAF A-26 will be flying some training missions this morning also. There is a lot of warbird flying in Ft Worth going on! The Special Kay team will be working as usual on the airplane! Come on out to see... JR

Lisa got fitted for a new prom dress today. Needs a stitch and a tuck here and there, but should be no problem for the guys to get 'er dun. Getting closer to sending those carbs off for rework and engine starts. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself. Mona got her newly overhauled oil tank filled with 120 oil today and the prop feather pump was tested. Was sweet when that baby started moving the blades and the little red light in the feather button lit up just like Larry said it would!! JR continued working on cleaning up the nose gear door. Arnold is picking up some sheet metal for the outer panel replacements. Lots going on in the hangar this weekend. The DC-3 flew a load this morning and the visiting B-17 sold some rides and tours thru the day. Will be there again tomorrow. The CAF A-26 may fly about 10 am or so for training purposes. More warbirds than you can shake a stick at. Great day to come visit the Vintage Flying Museum in Ft Worth!
Ya'll take care now, ya hear?? The Other JR, from Deep in the Republic... the Lone Star Republic, that is.

Hmmmm, another gawdawful hot day in the hangar today, too. In spite of that fact, we had a new member join the team who used to serve in the AF with our avionics guys. They spent the day running the wiring from the cockpit to the right side cowl flap motor. It turned out that the motor was misbehaving and needed a stern talking to. We will figure this one out soon just as we seem to always do.... knock on wood. Yesterday was a great day as well. Lots of detail work got done. The top of the right nacelle cover is coming along nicely. The right prop feather pump runs as advertised. The cowling fitting continues so that means we are getting close to finding the right combination to unlock the keys to the engine starters. Can't wait to convert oil into blue smoke. It has a magic perfume smell all it's own. Maybe we can start on the canopies soon. Seems like that is the last big hurdle now. Keep wishing us luck to make Oshkosh next summer!!!
You can follow us on http://www.facebook.com/a26specialkay and our hangar mate BUBA at
http://www.facebook.com/invadersquadron

GGA is in the process of rebuilding our website so these are good for the interim. Thanks!