Just aquired L-18

[The Inspector]

Sure you can resharpen them (cobalts) until there's nothing left, but you need to bring the point back to 135 degrees for optimum cutting and straightness. See if you can locate a shop that does industrial sharpening and inquire about them doing small lots work. Carbide bits are another story, the tip of carbide is furnace welded onto the bit shank so they are, for all practical purposes not capable of being re sharpened-
DONOT attempt to use double margin bits! They have a tendency to wander off the point and will destroy a hole, however they will give you a new hole that, with practice, you can do by hand to .0015 using a drill guide-

[GARY HILTON]

Got to work on the L-18 yesterday....We removed the left flap and aileron, and found that all the tires will still hold air!

[GARY HILTON]

My son Mike, gets his first chance to tow an aircraft.

[GARY HILTON]

You can tell the aircraft has been sitting in one place for some time.
Today it is raining....hope it will stop soon...tomorrow is supposed to be a better day.

[GARY HILTON]

A lot of regret goes into this posting....It has been some time since my last post here, and was really hoping to have a different ending for this bird's saga. I thought I had the time that I was told to remove the airframe, but the airport authority changed their time frame on me...could be due to Homeland Security???

I had to end up killing the old girl, at least crippling her...My choice was to do this, or the airport was calling in the scrap yard down the street, to cut her up in tiny pieces....and they were keeping a close eye on me. I ended up cutting the wings off, on the centersection side, as I didn't have any more time to invest in trying to remove the wing pins...

A friend and fellow WIX'er wanted the fuselage, so I am in the process of moving her to Montana....He says it's for a mountain cabin/hunting lodge, but I believe he is going to really open up a high capacity tobogan ride. Mrmoto, have fun with her!

So far , I have had some interest in the wings from all over the globe, but, I still have them at this time....
The wheels will be going (so I've been told) on a Ford....Trimotor....The horizontal stab sustained some damage, so a local A&P school is going to repair her as a classs project...I will keep an eye on this, and if they do it right, they will get some Harpoon parts to repair as well.

If you're a glutton for punishment, I can add some pictures later on how she was disected.

G

[TAdan]

Sorry you had to do it Gary. Atleast you managed to save what you did. Glad to hear that many of the parts will be used.

If you had not stepped in everything could have been written off.

[GARY HILTON]

The really sad part was, AFTER we had cut the first wing off,..... the official at the airport came over and told us what a fine job we were doing of getting the aircraft processed, but we really didn't need to get in a big hurry, they had sat there for such a long time, and it wasn't going to hurt anything if they sat there a little longer.........The rest of that day was spent cooling off...I felt like the dentist who just yanked the wrong tooth....It was good that my son was with me, he saved that guy's butt.

[Sully]

Gary,

You did what had to be done. Who know's how long a "little longer....." is?
Might have been until the scrapper had time to get there.

Hurt as it must, it was the right thing to do.

Sully

[airnutz]

Ouch! What a pity...at least you saved more than they would've if she had stayed there.
Is a Beech 18 package hauler outfit still working out of there?

[GARY HILTON]

airnutz..........of all the time in the last two years spent at Texarkana, I've never seen or heard a Beech 18 operating there...The only 18's I've seen there are at the A&P school....

[Obergrafeter]

You should have decked the airport manager just for principal. Hurrah I finally made it to Air Lord after the site dumped about 100 of my entries a few months ago when I was up to 2488 posts.

[Fouga23]

Sorry you had to do it But you can be proud of what you achieved! It might not fly again, but al least it will be preserved in some way instead of being scrapped!

[Roger Cain]

Hi Gary,

My buddy saw your bird in Oak Grove, Missouri, Sunday May 29th and asked me if I had any id on it, found this thread and now see the story on it.

[Rajay]

Hi all, wife and I just got home this week end from signing all the paperwork for possession of this L-18/Lodestar in Texarkana, Ar..

There are no visible markings to identify this aircraft...the N numbers have been removed , and no data plates are, or have not been found as of yet. Anyone have a clue as to the Identity of this aircraft? I am on the road as of now, and haven't had much of a chance to do any research on her.... This is one of two L-18's at the airport...I will be helping to disassemble and move both aircraft...Anyone in WIX-land feel like getting involved or just want to come out and watch lunitics at work, contact me!

I hadn't been following this thread until reading it all today. I passed it over thinking it was about just another little L-bird (I admit that it was both snobbish and stupid of me!) Once I took the plunge and realized that it was really about a Lockheed model 18, it really had me excited for a while - until that gut-wrenching climax! What a travesty!

My feeling is that aviation is a religion and airports should be treated like churches. All should be welcome and once within, sanctuary should be granted! It really burns me up when "bureaucrats" are allowed to be in charge! It's not like it was still sitting derelict; you were obviously working hard to get it disassembled and moved. I hate to admit it, but a "good" lawyer (*if there is such a thing) probably could have protected your right to work on your own aircraft and could have filed an injunction against any formal effort by the airport to evict you or have the airplane scrapped.

*Definition of a "good" lawyer in this case: an aviation-qualified lawyer (i.e. pilot/lawyer) who is devoted enough to aviation to donate some of his professional time (pro bono) to serving important aviation causes like protecting and helping to preserve historic aircraft.

Finally, even though it's moot now...just out of curiousity, in regard to "all of the paperwork" that you signed and mentioned in the very first post, how was the "property" that you bought identified or described on the bill of sale? Without such identification, it would not have officially qualified as an "aircraft" and been acceptable documentation to the FAA, would it?

I know I said "finally" above, but consider this a "PS" it just occured to me to ask - what became of the second L-18 at Texarkana?

[GARY HILTON]

Roger, Yep, the old girl is sitting at The Petro Truckstop in Oak Grove, Mo. She will be there for a few weeks at the most. Waiting for the waters to subside in Montana, and the Dakotas, and parts of Nebraska. My son Mike works at the shop there, and he and the guys there are keeping an eye on her. Petro has been most gracious in letting me park my trailer there, wheather loaded with airplanes, or empty. I leave my Dodge there too while out on the road. I let them use the trailer and pick-up when they all go trail riding...Mike says they have had 6 4-wheelers and 4 dirt bikes on it.

Rajay,
I feel the same about aircraft as well....The paperwork I have is from the city of Texarkana and their city attorney, where they have transfered me the ownership of said following property :
Make: Lockheed
Model: Lodestar L-18
N-number: removed/unknown
Serial Number: Data Plate Missing
Color: Grey/Bare Aluminum
This property has been declared abandoned under Ark. law. Ownership of this property is transfered effective Nov. 5, 2009 Mr Hilton shall have sole rights to the property free and clear.

Of course since, I have found the identity of the aircraft as N339 18-2548

The other L-18 there..which is a rare Gulfstar, is still there. I am waiting on it's owner to get a crew together, so we can haul it to.....!

G.