TEXAS RAIDERS- First Flight in Seven Years- Oct. 14, 2009

[Eric Friedebach]

Glamorous Wing Leader's Position?
Yeah... I'm in it for the Babes!

LOL, and being a PIO, Airshow Coordinator or Operations Officer gets you almost as many babes!

[DryMartini]

I wonder if the B-29 was the first production airplane to use .020 sheet instead of .016 and .025. I looked at the B-17 SRM again today, and the .025 was used in the area I'm working in.
Scott

Scott, the vertical stabilizer skin on the B-17 is .020, and
so is much of the horizontal stabilizer skin.

[Second Air Force]

Thanks for the information, Bill.

I have only been studying the wing and forward fuselage portions of the SRM so far in the areas I've been working. The construction of the B-17 is definitely interesting, especially the wing truss structure. It's no wonder that airplane brought back so many men after being shot all to pieces.

Scott

[Second Air Force]

I found the Arizona Wing booklet that Matt and I talked about earlier, so I decided to post some pictures of all the work that they put into Sentimental Journey twenty-some years ago. I scanned this copy courtesy of Shirley Johnson, whose husband Milt was in training at the end of the war and stayed in the service to serve as a crewman and mechanic on the B-29.




Spanner, notice the stanchions on that top turret? Your turret troops did the right thing on your A2B by fabbing the aluminum struts--they look just like these!



A LOT of work went into that refurbishment, and I salute the people who performed the many nasty jobs.

And there, on the "Operation Milwaukie" page, is the story of the poor Texas Raiders crew being aced out by the Arizona Wing folks!

You snooze, you lose, right Matt!
Scott

[Matt Gunsch]

It was not a matter of you snooze you loose, it was more a matter of attitude. Numerous people had tried to buy the turrets off the Milwakee B-17, but all it took was the offer to replace the turrets with replicas, new glass and fake gun barrels. As far as I know, the turret was not purchased, but donated for doing the above items. Kindness can accomplish more than money can buy.

[Second Air Force]

I was just funnin' ya Matt!

You are exactly right about attitude and being willing to work with people. It's great that the Az Wing was able to make a deal that had everyone concerned smiling at the end. Courtesy nearly always pays off in the end.

Scott

[Second Air Force]

Since the last thing we talked about on this thread was installing turrets, I thought it would be nice to discuss getting rid of a turret. In doing maintenance manual research I found a Second Air Force Flight Engineer Training Curriculum booklet. One of the procedures taught in the FE school was jettisoning the ball turret in flight. I've read accounts of men dumping the ball over the North Sea or the Channel on the way back to England, and the procedure matches up pretty closely with the training guide. First, here are a couple of photos of one reason to jettison the turret prior to a belly landing:

Notice how the stanchion and support structure are jammed up through the fuselage? This, along with the damage to the ball opening, was usually not repaired. The aft fuselage was replaced or the aircraft sent to hangar queen status.

Here is the stanchion and mount in TR:

I figured to drop the turret you would cut the safety wire and unbolt the support here, but that isn't how it was taught. Here is the page from the 2AF training document with the full procedure and time required to complete the task:


The text refers to removing the azimuth case, shown here on the right of the turret next to the foam sponge thingy:


Next you break off the safety hooks, but I didn't get a picture of them or they're not installed on TR. The next step is to remove the nuts on the hangars. You can see the front six fasteners, three on either side of the turret in this picture:


And the aft fasteners are shown here and two photos above:


That's all there is to it--and if it doesn't fall out, "a pull up may be required to break the turret loose."

Scott

[SPANNERmkV]

I have been "on vacation" for a few days and hadn't noticed the posts piling up.
Very Interesting on jettisoning a ball turret.
I hope we never have to use THAT information!

Gulf Coast Wing now has an Engine Test Stand.
I have spent the past few days dis-assembling, grinding, sanding, dodging wasps, and generally trying to beautify the beast.

We still need a test club, but we know where an expensive option is.

The stand was originally designed for an R-985, so we are having to beef it up a little and add some instruments that the original cell didn't have.
The idea is to run the engine(s) for about 5-6 hrs and make certain that the main and rod bearings haven't decided to discombobulate due to electrolysis while sitting.
The engines have all been turned with an oil pump on an external cart lubricating the bearings and marvel mystery oil (tm) shot down the cylinders to keep the rings happy, but there was a time after the initlal shut down of the airplane that they sat.
And sitting is BAD!

Some folks associated with YELLOW ROSE came out this week and helped IMMENSELY with the engine program. Thanks Ron and Curtis!

And believe it or not, we are up to THREE fabulous babes working on the airplane. Photos to follow.

It's been a noisy week at Lake Woe-be-Hobby with afternoon T-storms flooding the hangar floor ALMOST up to the airplane...
But the Women have all been strong, the Men have been drinking ALL the beer and the Volunteers have been ABOVE average.

SPANNER

[retroaviation]

...We still need a test club, but we know where an expensive option is.
SPANNER

Why don't y'all just use the props that go on the airplane? That's what we're going to be doing with the B-29 engines on Testiclese.

Just curious.

Gary

[SPANNERmkV]

Because...
The four props are zero timed rebuilds.

If we use them on the test stand the clock starts on re-inspection.
WE are possibly 9 mos to a year out on flight and we don't want to use up that "time between overhauls" with the props just sitting.

Conversely, we want to know if we have engine probs. sooner, rather than later, so if we do, they can be addressed while we finish out the airframe and sub-systems.

And LASTLY... our stand isn't as high as Testicleese... it will not accomodate a full size prop., but it will accomodate a test club with a smaller diameter.

This is all necessary because a certain wanker in Midland wouldn't loan us Testicleese!

[RNDMTRS4EVR]

I don't know how the tracking of time works for you guys and your B-17 and related components, but us unlucky maintenance guys here in the corporate aviation world track only flight time and cycles. So maintenance runs do not count toward your hours or cycles. Now I know that some A.D.'s and some manufactures have track time both hourly and calendar from the time that you put the component into service. Just my 2 cents.

Scott.............

[SPANNERmkV]

Fortunately it was only 98 degrees last Sat.
perfect weather for... A respirator, earplugs, headphones, face shield, hat, gloves, flannel shirt and a WHOLE LOTTA grinder LOVE.

[skymstr02]

Test clubs are better for engine cooling than propellers too.

[Second Air Force]

This is all necessary because a certain wanker in Midland wouldn't loan us Testicleese!

Don, it's probably just as well that you can't "borrow" Testiclese--it would cost thousands in fuel to transport him to Houston and back at todays diesel price! He is one massive piece of '50s engineering.

Scott

[Alan Brooks]

Yep, it's a big mass of metal.... looks even bigger with the 3350 and prop..... Alan