I've been slacking off and not posting any updates lately, maybe because I've been so busy working on the airplane. Since the airplane arrived in Fort Worth, we've been very busy. I've been going through the rigging of the ailerons since we had a slight wing RH wing heavy condition on the flight home. I'd like to meet the Douglas engineer who decided that the only access you need to get to the LH aileron trim drum is by removing the landing light and sticking your arm in the hole elbow deep! What a pain in the A$$!!!! I finally got all of that figured out, now just waiting on the next flight to see how she flies. Meanwhile other members of the Invader Maintainers, have been working on replacing some crazed and cracked cabin windows, cleaning up the interior and fixing some other minor squawks. We have some gear issues to work out, a leaky hose on the LH gear actuator, the emergency gear release cables are frayed, and the selector valve is leaking also. That's next on the list. I put jacks under her last Sunday, so we can start on the gear issues this Wednsday night when we will have a work party out working on her. Once the gear issues are taken care of we just have to replace the LH fuel selector valve which sometime decides to leak, and other times not, so we're just going to replace it so we dont' have to worry about those pesky fuel leaks in the engine nacelles.
We have 17 working days (weekends and Wednsday nights), before our first air show is scheduled, which is Barskdale AFB, then we have Dyess AFB, followed by Temple.....no pressure whatsoever on the Invader Maintainers!
Just so nobody is surprised when you see it, the plane is now named "Texas Special" after an 8th Bomb Squadron A-26 that served in Korea. We changed the name from "Hoodle Head" primarily for marketing reasons. When you get right down to it, you need to be able to market and raise money to keep these machines flying. We feel that we can do that better with the name "Texas Special". We are still going to pay tribute to Capt. Walmsley the 8th B.S. MOH recipient, his name will appear below the pilot's canopy and we will have a sign board telling his story. We hope to get the red parts painted yellow (8th B.S. colors) ASAP, but it may not happen before the first couple of shows. The name will of course be accompanied by an appropriately proportioned pin-up girl, the exact design is still in draft. We are fortunate to have an artist in our squadron who actually did some restoration work on the original "Spririt of Waco" Indian Princess many moons ago.
I know that there are many opinions on the naming of an airplane, believe me many were expressed by the squadron membership, and all have merit. I dont want to turn this thread into another debate on the subject. If anyone wants to debate it, please start your own separate thread.
We are always looking for new members and espeically for mechanics, if anyone is interested, PM or email me. I'll try to remember to take some pictures Wednsday night and post them. I know, I'm a slacker....
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I'm hoping for a post change and maybe getting a weekend day off or the hours to be a little more condusive to do more than work and sleep.
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