Warbird Information Exchange

I'm talking to restorers building a static DH Mosquito in airworthy and original standards, and we should all be aware of Glynn Powell's work in NZ building new-wood Mosquitoes to fly. (I'm also supporting a project to build a 1914 biplane trainer - of wood, but that's another story.)

Not to get too far off topic, JDK, but how many Mossie's is Glynn planning on making? I'm familiar with the well publicized Jerry Yagen plane, but I haven't heard of any other plans after that one. Are you at liberty to elaborate?

Also from down-under, a flying replica of Kingsford Smith's Fokker Trimotor, with tube fuselage and wood wing, built in the 1980s (?), 65 ft. span, with three Jacobs engines. I believe that it no longer flies after an undercarriage collapse, but is on static display somewhere?

'Old Bus' In HARS Care

The well-known Fokker F.VIIB-3m 'Southern Cross' replica which was built at Murray Bridge in South Australia as a bicentenial project in 1988 is to be gifted by the South Australian Government to HARS, after a gruelling 'expression of interest' period starting June 2003 in which our Society competed with three other organisations for the privelege and responsibility.
...
Repairs will be extensive, involving two new engines (one of which is being donated), Two new props, new strengthened undercarriage, three metres of wing (wood already being sourced) and crack testing for the steel tube fuselage. But three important factors render the task less onerous than first appears:
1) A substantial insurance payout is included with the arrangements.
2) The proposed base at Murray Bridge provides with a hangar and a house at no charge, for the aircraft and our members.
3)Murray Bridge boasts fourteen new HARS members who were associated with the original construction of the replica in 1988 (including the man who founded and managed the project) - together with a further five new members of from RAAF Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) at Edinburgh, South Australia who were involved with the first test flights.

The project promises to bring enormous satisfaction to many members and to increase our influence further afield in Australia and around the World. Once airworthy, the SA based Southern Cross will tour airshows and events around Australia, often joining (and being joined by) other aircraft of the HARS fleet.
...

gary
25 Feb 2004

Not to get too far off topic, JDK, but how many Mossie's is Glynn planning on making? I'm familiar with the well publicized Jerry Yagen plane, but I haven't heard of any other plans after that one.

I've been following Glynn's project of at least the past 10 years, for the past 5 or 6.

So, who's plane is going next into the moulds after Yagen's, do you know?

The plywood in particular is of concern. There are all sorts of thickness used in that design. Waco used 3 ply 1/64" (that's .005" per veneer sheet! ), 5 ply 3/64" and on and on. Some of these sheets were special length/width combinations....12' long sheets or 6' widths. While this poses no issue for a static display, an airworthy version would be forced to step up the thicknesses and add many scarf splices. All adding weight, compromising the original design, and adding labor. You simply cannot special order plywood...especially mahogany.

A 120 mph snatch sounds foreboding, but due to the flexibility of the DuPont towline the pull force was reduced to 7G...basically a bungee cord which would eventually springback smoothly toward the towbird.

Weight is required in the glider. When you are flying with pilot and co-pilot, you need ballast just aft of the cockpit worth 4 men with equipment, or it don't quite fly right... According to the manual any way. Best load was 75 MM howitzer and ammo. It sat low to the deck and was just the right combo of weight density to make the glider fly well.

Snatching requires the use of a special C47 (or suitable towplane) and some special winching/braking equipment......
http://www.silentwingsmuseum.com/images/Web%20Content/WWII%20USAAF%20Glider%20Aerial%20Retrieval%20System.pdf

Perhaps this stuff still exists from C119(and others) snatching days. But who's going to modify their C47?
The above link is interesting...I hadn't realized they snatched two at a time!

The ballast carried within the glider was not secured and slid causing a weight shift in the glider. The glider began to "porpoise" and the pilot was unable to gain control. The glider was released from the tow plane and began a flat spin downward. The order was given to jump, but the glider had gotten to low for a safe jump. The passengers jumped with several surviving. Richard Chichester du Pont, Special Assistant for the Glider Program, was killed when his parachute failed to completely open