Warbird Information Exchange

Hi Dan, greeting from not-so sunny England!-amazing project- never heard of the Seawolf myself, but having looked it up, all that glazing would've put me off building one, even if i knew what the heck i was doing!

Thanks Ox, and greetings from snow-and-ice-encrusted Wisconsin.

Without a doubt, the biggest key to the success of this project is that I obviously don't know what the heck I'm doing.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Hi Dan,

Just wondered if there had been any update on your amazing project? What you are doing is totally brilliant and a bit mad ( in a good way ) All the best.

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If the first casualty of war is innocence, the second is sobriety - Hawkeye.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato.
Lies get halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get it's pants on - Churchill
If you are going through he11 - keep going - Churchill

Yeah, I'm mad. I don't even try explaining anymore. A few visitors get it and smile. Most shake their heads and wander off.

I did promise everyone progress reports once summer got here (and technically it's still spring ), but I've been spending the last week helping friends and community sandbag our little burg against unusually high water. My home and project are all high and dry, but a couple of homes closer to the river are in danger of being washed away.

The daunting part of this project (can't avoid any longer) is creating the four forward truss/longerons. The drawings call for creating these channels out of .125" aluminum plate...particularly stubborn stuff to work with. As she'll be static, I'll be improvising a bit here. Material has been ordered--hope to have a thumbs up on the process in a couple of weeks.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Thanks very much for the reply. I hope the waters recede before they do any more damage. Take care.

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If the first casualty of war is innocence, the second is sobriety - Hawkeye.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato.
Lies get halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get it's pants on - Churchill
If you are going through he11 - keep going - Churchill

Dan, dont worry, we here on WIX get it

I think its an awsome project.

Hope the water dosent get any higher and you can get back to your project.

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

Dan,
I've found a strange part that's marked ET VS2 550891 that I don't see in the parts manual you sent me for the TBY's turret. It's made of steel, not aluminum and it slides from a short piece into a long hinged cover of some type. ET just stands for Emerson Turret and I assume that any VS2 p/n is for the Seawolf right? Any ideas?

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Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

Thanks Al,

Here's a quick (but incomplete) answer for you.

I didn't find the part in the turret manual either, but I did find it listed in the TBY engineering drawings index for the turret installation. Strange. Here's the nomenclature for part #VS2-550891:

"Slide Assem.-Case Eject.-G.T."

It is listed as a subpart of:

"Chute Install.-Case Eject.-G.T."


A microfilm index number is listed, so the next time I can get near a projector I'll try to find out where this little bugger actually fits.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Dan,
Just thought I would update you on the search for TBY turret parts down here at Creve Coeur. Over the holiday weekend I had to make room for some new arrivlas at the museum's restoration shop, two Stinson SR-5 projects, a PA-11 project, four UPF-7 wings on a wing trailer, a Ranger engine, and a Jabobs engine. In order to fit it all in, I had to put up some more pallet rack so I can keep sorting parts. I did turn up some interesting TBY turret parts in the process inlcuding three more control yokes and for the first time, a gun interrupter profile drum. It's the first time I've seen the a/c type on a TBY turret part. The interrupter drum is stamped TBY-2B. I've got enough parts to nearly fill a second pallet so I'll start working on that next week. Enjoy

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Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

More pieces to the puzzle! Keep it up guys!

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

It's looking really good. I have a couple of thoughts. One, I had a chance to recently view the all wood Heinkel 100 replica at Chino this summer and it was awesome. Have you considered a joint effort with that guy on the east coast that is building those full scale replicas of extinct warbirds?
It could be pretty neat because it could also house all the items and work you have already completed.
Second thought, I am restoring a navy jeep called a V-35. It is part WWII MB, part Korean War M-38 and part civilian CJ-3A . I made a list of all the parts that go on the jeep that come from those three categories.
I am now about 75% done and the jeep when finished will be about 75-85% authentic. If any of those rare to nonexistent parts come along then great, I can buy those later.
So my point is can you give a list that has parts that were used on other aircraft of the time? Propellor blades, wheels and tires, instruments, seat cushions, radios, magnetos, etc. There's a lot of the common stuff laying around with people not sure what to do with it.
Good luck!

man, I hope nobody from da Navy reads this, as they might wait until it this project is finished/completed, the seize it as Property of the Navy because it looks like a plane that was in Navy Inventory at one time.....that would suck, and wouldn't put it past the Navy....but wait, maybe you could trade it to the Naval Museum for an aircraft you could actually use. na, never happen

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

Hello Dan ,
Do you have any new pics or info on your project. Would be really interested to know the stage you are at just now. All the best.

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If the first casualty of war is innocence, the second is sobriety - Hawkeye.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato.
Lies get halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get it's pants on - Churchill
If you are going through he11 - keep going - Churchill

I truly appreciate everyone's interest in this project.

Being involved in both the administrative and instructional ends of education, as well as chasing my kids around to various and sundry activities, doesn't leave much free time during the school year to work on this project.

I've also reached a bit of a "fork" as well. My original plan was to recreate the cockpit & crew area of the TBY, using as much original material as I could get my hands on and recreating the rest in metal--basically learning metal forming skills as needed as the project progressed. The biggest obstacles to progress are the price for aluminum sheet/plate, lack of complete structural drawings, and my personal limitations in certain metal-forming techniques (oh yeah, and the free time thing ).

Because progress has been slow, I've been considering more and more going the route of creating a TBY mock-up in wood--much in the same way the manufacturers developed proof-of-concept designs in the 1930's & '40's. Pics like the TBF mock-up below make much more sense to me in a financial sense than working exclusively in metal (as well as maintaining personal sanity). Since serious gaps exist in my collection of engineering drawings, I would think working extensively with wood might give me a more cost-effective means of getting the whole dimension headache resolved as well.



Always open to suggestions (and monetary donation! ).

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

I think that is an excellent idea, considering you are going for a static display piece. It makes perfect sense.