Fearless Tower wrote:
Well....I think I have a good handle on the 'ups', but looking for a realistic picture of what to expect from an ownership standpoint.
I'm contemplating buying a T-6. I have a good handle on fuel consumption, oil, hangar fees, insurance, etc, but wondering what other 'gotchas' in the annual and maintenance side I might be getting myself into.
I currently own a Cessna 170, so I'm familiar with the money sucking aspect of aircraft ownership, but obviously not on the scale of the care and feeding required of a 600hp warbird.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Depends on what you start with.
An A/C that has had a total restoration in the last 15-20 yrs should give you a decent A/C depending on who did the work and that they did a total strip down and insp along the way.
I've seen a number of strip and paint everything restorations but they didn't check and lube bearings or change out bolts that act as a bearing, ect.
You also need a good prebuy inspection.
Items that typically take a beating in normal use are exhaust and landing gear. Of course the engine and prop.
Warbirds have an "Old Airplane Syndrome" that happens. Things you find wrong while you look for something else.
I've dropped the stress door on a T-6 to inspect the down lock linkage and found the center rib had been squished in the past and had wrinkles and such that it needed to be replaced. You deal with a MLG system issue and then have to pull fuel tanks and do major sheetmetal replacement in the center section. This ended up with new MLG legs and down lock pins and recievers as well. It was a SAAF A/C that had been rebuilt after receiving some wing damage and was retired by the SAAF. This was long before they sold off all the T-6 A/C and parts. The MLG system had been beat up.
I've had another T-6 that came from the SAAF that wouldn't fly straight. It would always turn to the right IIRC. After I found a crack in the steel tube at a wing attach cluster I had to disassemble the A/C and I sent the tube fus to Ken Dewelle who had a jig to repair it. When it returned I sighted down the 2 attachments for the control stick torque tube. The rear one was a short steel tube welded on and it was aimed about 3-4 inches off to the right of the fwd attach point which was also a small tube welded in place. I ended up putting a KS type bearing which has a self aligning swivel instead of normal K type solid bearing and then it would fly straight. The mis alignment of the attachment points for the torque tube put a bending load on the torque tube so that it wanted to sit off of center. With no cables connected it would spring to a position slightly right of center.
All these A/C have a personality.
Good luck and I hope you find a good one.
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