PV-2D Harpoon 84062 (Tanker 101) comes back to life

[daveymac82c]

That's some great work guys! It's so nice to see an airplane like this saved from the chopping block.

Good on ya!

-David M

[the330thbg]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

So now what do you have planned for her?

KUDOS!!!!!!!!!

[Taigh Ramey]

Thanks for all of the kind words. It was a great adventure. For me, and the guys, the most rewarding and exciting part of messing with Warbirds is bringing these great old aircraft back from the dead and saving them from the scrapper. Some of them are sleeping pretty hard and need a lot of coaxing to wake up. Others, like this Harpoon, don't want to fight you much at all and really seem to want to get going. She is a great aircraft and it would have been tragic to see her get cut up. The attorney said that she needed to be out by the 6th and we made it.

She is ours and not a customers aircraft. We intend to put her back into her WWII original configuration and paint. I owe her survival to the fact that she was a Tanker and I want to collect as much information about her history. I have already talked to several folks who have flown her and they have sent me some great photos. I hope to talk to more people that may have worked on Tanker 101. She was also Tanker 39 earlier in life.

84062 didn't see much service, if any at all, as she was sold out of Litchfield Park with a grand total of 7 hours total time on her airframe and a little more on the engines. She now has 800+ hours so she is practically new!

It's kind of silly to be thinking about what paint scheme she will wear but I can't help imagining what she is going to look like as a Warbird once again. For a long time I have wanted a tri color Navy bird with the red bordered star and bar. I thought the red bordered star and bar wouldn't be appropriate for such a late built airplane but I sure liked the tri color scheme. I collected photos of the flat tri color PV-2's and had been excited about how she was going to look but there was this nagging thing going on in my head about authenticity. This late bird, and certainly none of the D models, ever had the tri color paint but I sure didn't like the thought of overall glossy sea blue. The late war SR2B showed me that Patrol aircraft weren't glossy but Non Specular Sea Blue. So the original paint scheme of overall flat sea blue with the darker insignia blue star and bar grew on me real quick and the whole nagging authenticity thing won me over so now I am excited about the factory paint scheme. Like I said kind of silly to be stewing over paint when there are so many other things to work on. The tri color/red bordered star and bar will have to wait for our PV-1 or GH-2 project.

Rick65,

We had opened up the airframe enough to see what she was like inside so there weren't any big concerns about the airframe. The engines are another story as you can only do so much ground testing and checking. They ran great on the ground especially after the carb overhaul and the screens never showed unusual metal just carbon. The oil analysis looked normal for engines that had been sitting for a long time. The engines are factory new engines from the can installed not long (hours wise) before her last flight to California and have around 20 hours since they were built...65 years ago! They are Ford built engines and are 25 serial numbers apart. Having said that there is still a big concern as whether they were and are going to hold up after all these years. They ran great except for the high oil temps which was a huge concern. Both temps were too high but the pressure remained steady and solid. We had packed the coolers with weeds and dirt on the takeoff roll. After we remove and clean the coolers we will try again to see how the temps are. We will also continue to do oil analysis to keep an eye on them. Ray Anderson, who is a good friend, has been a great source of help and support. He is the number one radial engine guru in my book. He used to be here at Stockton and my hangar was next to his. I got to see up close what kind of a guy he is and what kind of work he does. Ray is the best and he was invaluable on this project too. Anderson Airmotive is awesome.

As for flying the Harpoon she was a dream. When I ran her down the runway at 52 inches of power she felt good and as I mentioned earlier the Twin Beech experience is a wonderful trainer for the Harpoon. Everything felt right so the only real apprehension was over the engines holding together. They did and the flight was wonderful.

Thanks again for the positive words and support. I will post some of the cool tanker 101 pictures I have been collection. If any of you have any Tanker 101 shots or Litchfield PV-2D photos please let me know. I am building a web page for 84062 and her colorful tanker history so any and all information is welcome.

I also found Connie Hirth's signature in three different places in the nose dated 1994. I am hoping she might be able to shed some light on the history of tanker 101 right before she came to California.

Thanks,
Taigh

[the330thbg]

So, she is going to look like this?

[IndyJen]

I've got plenty of pictures of wartime Harpoons in the 3-color scheme (land-based Pacific scheme), and one or two in the Atlantic "white" patrol scheme, but I don't know that I have a single wartime photo of a D-model Harpoon.

PJ has accumulated a fairly enormous collection of PV photos, and she's shared most of them with me. Maybe she will turn up the pic that lets you use the scheme you want, Taigh!

(But I think you're out of luck with that red-bordered star-n-bar. What can you do?)

Apart from your idea that you got your oil cooler vanes clogged with bugs, weeds, and dirt, I wonder if those things might be sludged up? Pacific Oil Coolers power-flushed ours last time we had to change an engine, and it didn't cost a fortune.

I'm just completely thrilled for you, Taigh. You and your crew deserve all the accolades you're getting, and then some. What a heck of a job!

[Second Air Force]

Great save, Taigh and crew! I'm really glad to hear of your feelings on the paint scheme, too.

I'll try to find a fellow who retired from my company a number of years ago to see if he can help with your airplane's time at Litchfield. He was on the recieving/parking/servicing crew that moved the airplanes into storage after they were ferried in. His memory was always very sharp and he had some photos of the machines as they arrived and were "pickled" for storage. It's a long shot, but I'll try.

Smis,

Here's a link to a photo of the factory paint scheme I believe Taigh has in mind: http://www.wwiivehicles.com/usa/aircraf ... arpoon.asp

Scott

[C VEICH]

What a fantastic thread and some really great pictures too! Thanks for sharing the experience with the rest of us WIXers. Can't wait to see here in a military paint job but, I have to say, the tanker paint job looks very nice on the Harpoon as well. I think it would look real good in it's current scheme if you touched it up a bit. Just until you're ready to put the military markings back on of course!

[ChrisDNT]

Beautiful aircraft and what an amazing story (very nice pics too, congrats to the photographer).

For this Harpoon, PLEASE, matte colors and an historical finish !

I'm sure with a little research, it's possible to find a sexy and true finish, like this one for instance :



P.S. Look how this WWII pin-pup is so much more sexy and graphically interesting and better drawn than all the modern designed nose arts which spoil so many warbirds.

[Taigh Ramey]

That's the paint scheme Scott. Here is another shot, although not a D model, it carries the paint that our D did from the factory.



I think it will look great but I just have to match the color as accurately as possible. I picked up several original Harpoon parts with the factory original non specular sea blue paint still on them so I am trying to get several sources to be sure it hasn't faded too much to use as a reference.

Hello Jen,

I want to thank you all for your support and help with this project. I can't tell you how invaluable your whole Hot Stuff thread was to me. What great information; thank you for putting in all of the time to keep that going. I have found an original decal for the Martin Turret and my daughter just about has the graphic work done for a dead on accurate reproduction. I will send you some soon as a small thanks for all of your help.

Our 'new' Harpoon had a brush with greatness the other day. Paul Allen stopped by at Stockton Airport to check on the Jumo engines for his ME-262 which are at Aero Turbine. Doug Clayton is rebuilding the engines using modern materials to make them reliable. Here is a shot of Paul Allen's Jet parked right next to the Harpoon:



She's rubbing elbows with the rich and famous already! I hope she didn't get any oil on the nice shiny airplane

[ChrisDNT]

Second PS : I just posted the above pics as an example of what can be found, as this unidentified aircraft can perhaps be a PV-1 too.

[ChrisDNT]

double post, sorry !

[Taigh Ramey]

Beautiful aircraft and what an amazing story (very nice pics too, congrats to the photographer).

For this Harpoon, PLEASE, matte colors and an historical finish !

I'm sure with a little research, it's possible to find a sexy and true finish, like this one for instance :

P.S. Look how this WWII pin-pup is so much more sexy and graphically interesting and better drawn than all the modern designed nose arts which spoil so many warbirds.

Don't worry Chris, Accurate paint is the rule. She will be matte, flat and non specular just like she was out of the factory. I don't think she will have any personal artwork as she likely never did with only 7 hours before she went to storage. A plain paint scheme but correct none the less.

Rick Turner is an avid aviation historian whose family has a long history in Warbirds. His Father owned many Warbirds including PV-2D 84059. He was kind enough to send me a photo taken shortly after they bought the aircraft. Rick was the one who told me about the last three digits of the bureau number being painted on the nose.

[img]http://www.twinbeech.com/images/Aircraft/manufacturers/lockheed/PV-2/n230z_oh_4A[1]web.jpg[/img]

Our Harpoon will have 062 on the nose along with a white radome just like Rick's Harpoon did.

Cool photos Chris. I like the pile of drop tanks which brings up another subject: parts. I am looking for all of the gear to turn her back into a Warbird. One of the hard parts so far has been the wing pylons for the drop tanks. Does anyone have or know where I can buy a set of pylons? I think they are the very same as the ones for the PV-1, P-38, P-61 and maybe some early jets. Any leads? I also would like to find a set of drop tanks too. Pretty much anything Harpoon to make her more stock and original would be appreciated.

[Malo83]

BZ to you and the crew Taigh. maybe you can rescue this PV-1 Ventura, found on PacificWrecks.org
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7350086

[Dan Johnson II]

OK this one gonna be stickied so we can follow along?

[maxum96]

Awesome thread Taigh! Great job by you and your crew. Thanks for sharing that with us. I look forward to future updates on your Harpoon.