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

[rwdfresno]

Really neat Taigh. I was talking to my dad tonight and he was excited about the work you were doing. I wish we had the resources to do more with ours but operating a WWII airfield is a beast all it's own. I'm glad you saved this one and I'm sure Doug would be proud. I miss seeing him and his BT and later the PV.

[Taigh Ramey]

Really neat Taigh. I was talking to my dad tonight and he was excited about the work you were doing. I wish we had the resources to do more with ours but operating a WWII airfield is a beast all it's own. I'm glad you saved this one and I'm sure Doug would be proud. I miss seeing him and his BT and later the PV.

It is an expensive proposition for sure to fix up one of these old birds let alone a whole WWII airfield. You guys are doing a lot of great things with Eagle Field.

I wish we had more resources for the Harpoon. We're working with mostly man power and materials at hand. It is nice to have a stocked shop next door. A lot of the old equipment and radio gear was also in stock which is a great help.

Thanks for the comments about Doug. I sure miss him and I have a few thousand Harpoon questions for him. Would have been cool to see the two Harpoon sister ships in formation together. A shame for sure.

I do have to ask though, have y'all been able to locate a top turret for her?

As a matter of fact we do have a Martin turret slated for the Harpoon. The turret goes with the rest of the aircraft in that it is in original condition and is still operational. We still need to make the adapter ring to mount it. I have a new old stock high profile dome for it but I will not bring the perfect original dome out in the sun. I have a reproduction low profile dome which will have to suffice until I can reproduce the correct high profile dome. Here is a shot of turret being lifted by the old 1945 Federal Wrecker truck at our museum. We will use this truck to install the turret in the Harpoon when we are ready but there has to be some conflict by using an Army truck to do Navy work!





If anyone is interested there is more on the wrecker truck here:

http://www.twinbeech.com/SFAMc2.htm

[CAPFlyer]

Great to see such excellent progress on the Harpoon.

The only time I have ever advocated "stripping out" a radio was when we had one of the AM sets for Ol'927 that had been already modified by post-war HAM radio operators (converted to operate on household 120V, internals changed out to more "modern" parts, etc). The idea was to take out the internals and change it into an AM/FM radio and MP3 player to allow for the internal overhead speakers to be used for ambient sound while on display or while working on the plane with it hooked up to external power. I don't think it ever came to fruition, but it was a cool idea and the weight wasn't really the reason for modifying it, it was to give a functional use in the airplane beyond being a placeholder or having to spend more money to source the right parts to restore it or another radio that did work right.

[N3Njeff]

Thanks from us mv junkies for the link on the wrecker.

[gschwartz]

Taigh,

The radio gear looks great. You guys have really accomplished alot in what seems like a short time to one on the outside. Impressed you found a base rack for the DY-11, we had to make one. If you need new rubber blocks for the MT-284 for the T-47, I have some.

I just got an R65/APN 9 in reasonably good shape for the C-47. Still looking for an AT-1 A for the APN 2, and a C-166 control box for the AIC 3.

Grant

[Taigh Ramey]

CAPflyer,

I think ham modified radios are fair game for restoration or using just as you intended. Taking unmolested radios and modifying them is a hard one for me.

Thanks from us mv junkies for the link on the wrecker.

Gotta love the old military vehicles. I am partial to the ones used on airfields and we mostly have US Army ones. Now I need a Navy GTB for the Harpoon like the cool one Gary Norville picked up.

Here is an old WIX thread showing our wrecker:

viewtopic.php?p=381711

Grant,

I'm glad you found an APN-9 for your C-47. Turns out our Harpoon had an APN-4 loran but it does not show up in the tech manuals. Surprising that an aircraft made right at the end of the war had an APN-4 instead of an APN-9.

Yes please on the foam blocks for the ART-13 mount as ours are shot.

Speaking of ART-13 I recently did a revision to our set. The control head I had originally installed was early ATC
and was not in the best shape. At the flymart at OSH last year I found a new in the box late war control head for the ATC transmitter (ART-13). Here is a shot of the old one removed on the left and the newer one on the right



You can see the older control box's data plate and the stamps from post war mods. The mods in this case are simple stampings since the control box's are identical electrically and in function.



This is the late contract control head which matches our ATC transmitter (not the one presently installed but the one that will go in. This head also has the same stamps as the earlier head identifying it with the joint Army/Navy designation system namely C-87/ART-13



Ooooh, Navy anchor stamps!

I guess I am a rivet counter and I will post the serial numbers of the carbs later as sadly, I do not have them memorized



Here is the new head installed in place of the older one. As we come across better gear we will continue to upgrade. To the left is the ART-13 soon to be replaced with...



this ATC transmitter which is slated for our PV-2D. As soon as I dig it out of the storage hangar that is. It isn't NOS but looks to be an overhaul for Trans Ocean Airlines in 1955. Pretty good shape as it came in its shipping crate. I picked up two of these on eBay and one was an ART-13 and this one was the more rare ATC. It should be perfectly operational too.



This is the data plate on the ATC transmitter which is a close match to the control head. Same exact contract and only 276 serial numbers away. Pretty lucky to find components so close together. Now all I need is to find the same vintage dynamotor.

Its nice to be able to find the correct gear for the aircraft/project which isn't always possible. With time, patience and perseverance it can be done. The ultimate puzzle.



This shot shows an early production PV-2 where you can see the earlier ATC data plate



Here is a shot of what I believe is a mid production PV-2 showing the ATC with the later data plate which I think is correct for our PV-2.



Check out the Plexiglas protective cover over the face of the ATC. I think it was for protection of the crew member as a crew station with a seat belt was on that floorboard against the spar. My second guess is it was to protect the radio from getting bashed as people were transiting through.

The APN-4 loran receiver/power supply can be seen in the above photo at the bottom middle with the indicator located above and to the right and out of focus. The indicator was mounted on the front side of the radar rack and was pointed toward the navigator. The APN-4 indicator in our Harpoon and other late harpoons was on the other side of the fuselage closer to the Navigator. I am still trying to find out exactly how it mounted as photos and information of this has been very elusive. I know that it was supported from the floor but how the rest was mounted is still a mystery. More fun puzzle stuff!

Last edited by Taigh Ramey on Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Dan Johnson II]

I wish I could explain what it is about this particular thread and the restoration of this bird that is so much fun to watch. Maybe is the 'ugly duckling' aspect of it, or that it's not a big name type of WW2 bird.

Whatever it is, thanks for sharing all this Taigh.

Is there any way to contribute to the cause, if even only a little bit now and then? if nothing else it's a long distance way of feeling like a participant.

[Travisd80elcam]

Taigh, Thanks for the reply. Now I am a little more jealous, because not only do you and others here get to work on and fly such amazing aircraft, y'all have a sweet make shift crane. Love the wrecker. Maybe one day you will be here on the east coast for a warbirds over the beach. Just a thought. Thanks again.

[slinky]

Taigh, this is one of the best threads going. So interesting watching all the little details coming together!!! Excellent documentation!!!!!
I did have a question though.....what type of wrinkle paint are you using and the heat helps it to a deeper wrinkle pattern? Way cool! It's little details and info that makes this thread so vital to all of us. Thanks for all your hard work on this grand old bird!!!!
Tailwinds my friend!!!!!

[Taigh Ramey]

Is there any way to contribute to the cause, if even only a little bit now and then? if nothing else it's a long distance way of feeling like a participant.

Thanks for the offer Dan. Yes we can use all of the help we can get. I can promise that your donations will be well spent keeping her flying and getting her back into her fighting trim. Anything and everything is appreciated. We are a 501c3 nonprofit so the donations are tax deductible too. We will get a paypal account set up soon but donations can be made to the Stockton Field Aviation Museum at 7430 CE Dixon St. Stockton, CA 95206. Thanks again Dan.

I did have a question though.....what type of wrinkle paint are you using and the heat helps it to a deeper wrinkle pattern?

I can't remember what the brand is and I don't have a favorite. I asked Ricky and he handed me a rattle can and I used what we had on the shelf. The heat helps get the deep wrinkle. I build up the coats slowly letting each flash before applying the next then I start working it with the heat gun. If you get the light at the right angle you can work the heat and achieve the wrinkle desired. Its pretty easy to do. If I can do it anyone can!

I have an early Norden Bombsight manual that tells how the Norden factory achieved the beautiful wrinkle seen on those works of art. They paint the part and place it in a sealed box with a lit candle. The candle burns out all of the oxygen and that produces the deep wrinkle. I have always wanted to try it to see if it works with wrinkle paints today but I haven't tried it yet.

Thanks for all of the kind words and support. The gang here working hard on the harpoon appreciates it, as do I.

More work photos coming soon

[slinky]

Thanks Taigh!!!!! It's info like that passed on the adds to the restoraton and to everyones information stash!!!!

Tailwinds!!!!

[Taigh Ramey]

Gun ports

With so much to do on this project if you get tired of working one think like radios or radar (is this possible?) then you can simply pick another subject and work on that.

The gun ports were removed along with the rest of the military gear when she was converted to an air tanker. We were lucky enough to acquire four out of eight of the unique original gun ports we need for our D models gun nose. The nose structure where the gun ports are is made from stainless steel as are the ports themselves. Stainless was needed for the strength to withstand the gun blast and the corrosive effects of the 8 50 cal guns blazing away at about 10 rounds per second per gun.

The ports were covered with aluminum and riveted in place. first step is to drill out the rivets to remove the plate. Notice the concave dent on the left or aft side of the port. I thought this was interesting as there is a matching one on the other side. More on this later.



Look at the original paint and primer under the plates





Next the area is cleaned with Roloc wheels. Lots of extra holes from the rivets most of which will be covered by the gun ports. I think these can be tig welded by someone with better welding skills than I possess.





The gun port back in place with some metal massaging being needed first. The matching dents on the aft side of these upper ports was originally convex as it was contoured to fit the aft end of the tube. When they removed the ports back in 1958 they simply hammered the convex form into a concave shape and riveted the plate over it. A sheet metal hammer was able to pop it back out and the gun port slid right over it and fit just like it was supposed to.



And of course I couldn't help but slide a 50 cal cooling jacket in place boys and their toys (I was channeling my wife just then)





2 out of 8 gun ports help turn old Tanker 101 back into a Warbird. One step at a time and now we have additional air conditioning for the pilots just in time for winter!



Now all we need are a few other items to finish out the nose...



Anyone want to donate a 50 or two? One of the problems with this project. We have a good collection of the solenoids, chargers, feed chutes etc but this beast has 8 of each in the gun nose alone and we certainly don't have that many. Its gonna take a while before we can outfit the whole nose but imagine when we do. What a display with the nose down at an air show where you can walk right up to 8 50 cal guns and ammo boxes, feed chutes and all of the bells and whistles...okay stop daydreaming and get back to work

[Chappie]

Taigh,

Oh yeah! Guns! Being a weapons loader, I love seeing some gun stuff.


Chappie

[peter]

Wow, the warhorse gets her bite back.. nice job Taigh!

[avenger2504]

Woah EIGHT 50 cals? man I would not have liked to have been on the receiving end of those!