Warbird Information Exchange

ok, I got a few more pics uploaded. while we were unloading, we had a visiter fly over.


Unloading at Falcon field

And our makeshift lifting shackle, a ACE hardware padlock, You may be able to shoot a master lock and it will remain locked, well this padlock lifted the wings a total of 4 times.

We were in good company with SJ overhead!

The project continues... yesterday old 57C was tugged across the field to the hangar bays (a special thanks to Ed Packard, Air Response, and Jack Fedor of Barbie III crew for the use of their heavy tug). Positioning the beast along the hangar rows and attempting to back her in to the barn was a little difficult at first for this very green crew. Problem solved by Stearman owner Merle Shawver, who shared one of his secrets for moving his airplane without assistance. In short, it's get her lined up straight, measure half the landing gear stance against a center line, block the right wheel with chocks, unlock tailwheel pin, and push her in. Under his watch it was a one-shot deal.

WIX member and 'Poon owner Gary Hilton came down from Missouri to turn wrenches and drive the tug. This is hands-on training for Gary, who is doing a similar dismantlement on his bird in Wyoming. Other fellow wrenchies included Greg Sisson and father and son team of Larry and Nathan Welty.

Tail and nose section will be removed this morning (along with the monster spray tank system in the fuselage) and hopefully we'll be able to close the barn doors at the end of the day. Right now it appears we're trying to stuff 10 pounds of "stuff" into the proverbial 5 pound sack. We had a lot of folks stop to look yesterday, and the oft-made comment was, "It ain't gonna fit, fellas!" (or, upon seeing the project, "What've you been smoking?!?").

So far, so good!

Hey Pooner: Pallet racks with the heavy crossbeams make great space multipliers. Three 12'+ uprights with 24 12' beams and decking makes 144 sqft of floor into 720 sqft or more of storage space. If you get the heavy duty units, 20K# per set of racks is possible. If you set them up in parallel rows and space them apart a few feet, it would be possible to store the wings and tails like covers on the top. Would require a crane to get them up or down, but would put them out of the way until you were ready to work on them.

By using the pallet racks and decking the entire back section of the "T" hangar that I was in, I managed to keep the L-5 project, the AT, most of my shop tools, the vette, a sailboat and the majority of stuff out of a 2400 sqft house inside. Didn't have room to change my mind, let alone work on anything.

CLICK! The light bulb just came on.....doh! Warbird Digest #15, July/Aug. 07 has a feature.. "Ghosts of Chandler" , by Doug Fisher with a real sharp photo of Pooner's Poon on P 58.

Pooner, there's one small inset photo on p. 57 with no caption of what looks like a C-54 cockpit lying its side on the ground. Is this the one that has been the hot topic here lately?
Also, in the 7257C photo, directly behind the tail in the background is what looks like an old Sikorsky helo.
The N # is going to be confusing for any PBYers here since there is a flying PBY in New England N7057C.

Doug Ratchford

Hey, what was the Geico Caveman doing there??

Congratulations on getting the pig safely moved, ole buddy!! I think I have an idea for a new reality show for us, "Dead Plane Truckers!" To bad we didn't tape THIS! (and I'm not even showing the "bad" part..to bad you missed it in person! )

_________________
~Trevor McIntyre
http://www.TrevorMcIntyre.com