Warbird Information Exchange

Well, it's finally here. C-GYCJ. Registry information to follow Scott.

Congratulations! Those CJ's are sure fun airplanes.

Gary

Cool Dan!

Congratulations!!!

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

It's sure a neat little thing. I only got to play with it for a day before I had to head out of town again but I'll be back home in a few days. I never felt so awkward taxiing an airplane in my life, but I'm very impressed with the quality of the construction and the thought put into the design. The fabric isn't the greatest - it most definitely was not someone's pampered pet (one patch on the elevator looks like it was gnawed off the roll) and they seemed to have often just frayed the edges of a patch out instead of pinking it, but they're serviceable. And the paint is about #300 grit! The basic design though is very well thought out, and it's interesting to study another cultures practices and construction standards - the Chinese build good stuff! My partner's having a ball with it (and keeps emailing me while I'm gone and telling me how much fun he's having!) And I never saw such a clean running little radial!

More to follow. Fly safe.

Dan

Congrats buddy. That is awsome.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Very cool Dan. I can see you having lots of fun with her. I will have to send you a PM some day about my Alberta adventure. I was there 16 days and only got in one day of shooting. Our next trip will be right back to Alberta so I will see if we can meet up then.

Happy Landings,

Eric

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The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

That thing'll probably make a fairly decent photo platform, so absolutely!

Dan

That's great! I wish I could have one of those!

Enjoy it as much as you can.... for me and all the other WIXERs that don't have one.

Cheers,

David

Tom, greetings from a fellow Albertan. Sorry if this is a newbie question, but I have no idea what kind of aircraft this is. The pic properties say stearman but I suspect this is not correct

Oh... never mind, found it on Transport Canada's registration site... Nanchang CJ6a... that correct?

Yes, the Stearman is just a stable-mate, and my photobucket account name. It is a Nanchang CJ-6A Dragon. It's natural habitat appears to be parked in front of the fuel pumps!

Congrats Dan. They've been a very popular 'affordable' warbird here in Aus and in the UK for a while now. I'm advised you'll have fun.

Certainly one standard way of using fabric for British built aircraft of the First World War had fraying rather than pinking of the edges, tapes etc. If you get to see a genuine W.W.I fabric job, it'll often be frayed. But I don't think you are meant to use Canada's natural tree-feller as a tool! 'By hand' was the recipe, and I think that's why pinking took over as a technique - it's a lot faster, unless you have a team of highly trained Beavers.

PS - wondering aloud. When were pinking shears invented? If they were a 1920s+ item, that would explain it, but seems a bit late to me...

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Hello James,

Actually that's the first thing that went through my mind when I looked at that patch: "Haven't seen this done for awhile." Years ago my late father did some fabric repairs on one of Cole Palen's airplanes when he brought a couple of them to Canada for a display, and Cole got the biggest kick out of seeing those patches authentically done like that. You can't argue with the results but when they're recovered this winter they'll get the boring old pinked Ceconite fabric and tapes on them. Call me traditional but I like the best!

I'm not sure when pinking dates from, but certainly pre-WWII. A slick salesman sold me a roll of unpinked fabric tape once with the claim that with the new material, chemicals, and processes, etc that pinked tapes were a thing of the past. You know what - he was DEAD WRONG - as evidenced by several tapes on the Stearman's lowers that have started to lift over the years. Never, NEVER again. "Pain in the right ruddy posterior" does not begin to convey my opinion of unpinked fabric tapes. And whoever invented pinking was a proper genius.

Fly safe. I enjoy your column.
Dan

Decided to explore history of pinking shears....you got my curiosity up

FYI from Wikipedia:

"Louise Austin of Whatcom, Washington, received United States patent number 489,406 on January 3, 1893 for "Pinking shears". The patent describes how "pinking scissors or shears" are superior to the existing tools at the time, "pinking irons" and "pinking cutters". The operation of the shears are described as "pinking" or "scalloping". There are references to "cut ornamental openings in the body portion of fabrics" but no references to the more utilitarian function of preventing fraying."

Are you sure you got that right about the pinking shears Karen? A woman invented them? Unreal, can't beleive it. I guess now I have to throw all mine away. OK I'll keep them but in your research who (or what gender) invented the rotary pinking shear that made them usefull.
Wayne the chauvinist

So you aren't going to import the authentic Chinese Fabric Nibbling Beavers to 'edge' your fabric on the Stearman to match the CJ-6? Disappointed.


Thank you. We aim to entertain.


I found that quote as well, thanks for highlighting it. Poses the question as to what kind of pinking tools there were before (and how far before) and how they were used. Mrs JDK (a quilter) guessed at the 1890s for 'trying to invent pinking shears'. Not bad. It's clear that the British either didn't have access or didn't trust their use on aircraft fabric. Nor, I suspect did anyone else in W.W.I. I'm trying to think of any time I've seen pinked fabric on a non-'modern' aircraft. Odd. I'll do a bit more asking around!

Ober. You are on your own. You know High Noon?

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com