Warbird Information Exchange

I can't give you the last date that TR did a one wheel landing, but we still have the capability to raise and lower each main gear individually. However, I think the current view of the wing staff is that the potential for mishap outweighs the reward.

The one wheel pilot is Van Skiles, who still puts in an occasional appearance at the hangar. There is a really nice article about him in the last issue of the CAF Dispatch magazine.

-DC

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B-17 Texas Raiders --- Maintenance Officer

The one wheel landing was a regular feature of TRs participation in Tora. I'll venture the TR has more one wheel landings than all of the other flying B17s, combined !

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Concerning the fields of fire charts: Are there any sort of "stops" on the guns to keep them hitting their own plane? For example could the top turret guns hit the tail, or the waist guns hit the wings. It would seem that in the heat of combat the gunners firing at an enemy plane could lose track where they are aiming and hit their own plane, of even other planes in their formation.
When I was in Vietnam we had an unwriiten rule that if a crewchief or doorgunner put rounds thru the rotor blades, they had to help maintenance change them.

Today the TR maintenance team reached another milestone as we fired up all four engines and taxied off into the "sunset" (taxiway golf). Today's test was made possible by the heroic efforts of our crew over the last few weeks, who labored endlessly to wrangle our systems into submission. In that spirit, I'm going to start a mini-series of posts introducing various members of our crew and highlighting their recent contributions.

And now a few taxi test photos until we get the rest online:
[All photos courtesy of the Fortress Fixer]

The hose crew make one last check of #4


Staging the fire guard


Prestart briefing


"First smoke"


Number four blew out a ton of oil on start, so we shut down to investigate

We ultimately determined the the scavenger pump must not have primed and thus oil was accumulating in the case and blowing out the breather.

Making the decision to go for a second start


Anxious moments for the fire guard as we gave number four a second try


All four mills turning


Down the ramp she goes!


And of course, Spanner's glorious eyewear


More to come...
-DC

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B-17 Texas Raiders --- Maintenance Officer

What an amazing site!! Welldone to everyone that has made her return to the air possible!!

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Cheers,
Peter

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Be EXTREMELY careful taxiing that airplane without the outer wing panels installed! They add a significant amount of weight to the aircraft, more specifically, to the tail, in the three-point attitude. It will be quite easy to put the airplane on it's nose if emergency braking is required.

Gary

Gary:
We had some CG concerns as well, and loaded 300lbs of ballast in the back of the tail cone. You can sort of see it in the second to last picture.

Scfan:
The ball turret does have stops that prevent the guns from firing at certain angles. However, thats the only position I'm aware of with that feature.

-DC

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B-17 Texas Raiders --- Maintenance Officer

The top turret has stops as well.

Thanks for the replies.

It has been SO busy down here!

David posted about last Sunday's successful taxi.
WE are all still buzzed about that.
The left flap is now dangling from the airplane and being hooked up as I type.
The wing extensions are coming along nicely. There was the obligatory intergranular corrosion in spots.

I have been working on the top turret cuppola and was wondering IF anybody knows if Lexan (tm) can be shaped in an oven like plexi-glass?
Are the temperatures similar?
Will the fumes kill me and the kitties?
My reasons for asking is it would be stronger than the plexi-glass and seems to be more available.

(I still have the article some nice WIXite posted about the old CAF B-23 rear gunner's plexi project they did. GCW has a set of steel molds for the top turret cuppola. I just need a BIG oven and some gumption and voila!)
Thanks for any info if someone can illuminate,elucidate or try and educate.

SPANNER

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Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

Lexan is stronger but will craze much quicker. That's what happened on the B-24 stuff.

Lexan (generic is polycarbonate) scratches a lot easier and is more difficult to polish out.

Be careful when heating it to form, if I remember correctly the flashpoint is much lower than plexiglass.

Sully

Don't use Lexan, it doesn't break. If you have an emergency and need to get out you can't break the window like you can with Plexiglas.

Gary, Sully and B29,

You have convinced me. Plexi is the way to go.
Although kicking it out in an emergency is NOT a consideration through the top turret frame because the guns would be mounted and in the way, we do not want to use something that will craze prematurely or more importantly set on fire easier.

Thanks,

SPANNER

I love me WIX

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Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

It's rude, it's crude, but it is footage from a handheld camera from inside the plane of the first slow TAXI test of TEXAS RAIDERS taken on May 25th.

If the person with the video from outside the plane ever turns it over I will do a Version 2.0 and incorporate it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeACb-WfC_o

We had a false start because Engine #4 had a scavange pump "burp" and that is what the gents are talking about at the first of the video.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

SPANNER

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Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.