Warbird Information Exchange

The Mouse was named by Don Vogler's dad, Charles. Those are interesting. Hadn't seen all on the list. Thanks... JR

PS We are pleased to report that Randy R and wife Karen arrived safely today to see K. We had a grand time looking her over. He will be back this weekend so if you want to talk to an original "gunplumber" who loaded for Red Kittinger, come out on Saturday and meet him. He drove all the way out from Virginia so you know he is a dedicated troop!!

The brake housing came out clean and the Bendix trademark was nice to finally see. The guys at Aviall are doing a magnificent job on the overhaul. They report it should start going together tomorrow. Sweeeeeeet..... JR

So what goes on the inside of the brake assembly? This is all the new stuff all sorted and ready for the install tomorrow. Can hardly wait as this looks like a piece of art work that we will hate to have to cover up in the wheel, but a pilot gotta do what a pilot gotta do.... make the airplane behave and brakes are a big player in that. JR

Man, that's a lot of stuff. I sure liked the brake setup on Spirit of Waco. About as easy as it gets.

Wonder why they didn't change the K models to something like that? Maybe the single discs couldn't handle the heavier weights...?

Actually, the set up on the Texas Special nee Spirit of Waco is much better than the WWII version. The Spirit predates On Mark but Robert Denny was at Grand Central which converted the airplane to the executive version with the new DC-6 brakes and then he moved to start On Mark. When the AF was talking about super sizing the weights carried on the K, they needed more brake than what the DC-6 had in order to handle relatively short fields. The K's brakes were much beefier and had anti-skid which was a very important feature on PSP or unprepared dirt strips especially with the higher landing speeds. Recall they were originally built to go anywhere in the world and did.. besides NKP. The also had reversing props to really help get stopped in a hurry. Anyway, the antiskid etc make for more parts to go into the assembly. Lots of progress on them today. Hope to have the assembly back from the shop next week. One more part from plating is still out on the left gear and then it can all go back together. Yay!! JR

Work on the oil cooler actuators and other things topside was just a blurr of activity yesterday. The real JR came up with another landing light for the right wing so we are anxious for our electrical genius's to try it out next weekend. We had lots of visitors over the weekend, in part, due to the FAAST TEAM holding three days of classes along with the high altitude training chamber. The museum was pleased to be able to host this event. The CAMI folks from Oklahoma City put on a fine show and it appears some pilots got some very good lessons on the effects of hypoxia first hand. We saw some pretty woosey looking people in there really enjoying themselves until the instructor had to put the oxygen mask back on them. There are times when being a HE-MAN just isn't wise like when trying to show everybody else how long you can go on low oxygen!! I don't think our guys up on the wing were in danger of hypoxia though. We had baked taters and chili for lunch so maybe there were other dangers involved. Maybe I shouldn't have put beans in the chili?? Anyway, we were also pleased to have the O2 Lady drop by to join us for chili and another special guest which we have been anticipating for several weeks. More in the next post about that. The other JR

Our special guest, Randy, got his picture taken with his picture.....we had posted it on the nose under the gun bay from back in the day when he was a gunplumber at NKP, England and Hurlburt AFB's. He kids about that was him 65 lbs ago, but we took him and wife Karen out to Ponder to the steakhouse last night and made sure they were fed good on steak, grilled cactus and homemade coconut pie. Oh yum... makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Anyway, we want to welcome Randy and Karen to Ft Worth and we hope the rest of their drive from VA to NM's Carlsbad Caverns goes smoothly. My dad installed the first telephone in the Caverns for a live broadcast of Ripley's Believe it or Not radio show. He also installed most of the lines and phones at Carlsbad Army Air Field when it was opened. So I hope the Caverns are still the great place to visit that I remember from the 90's. JR

PS.. anybody else having trouble with Photobucket? My edit function only works half the time. The photo above was in the normal position but now is rotated to the right?? any fixes?? anyone?? So I removed it to try and fix. JR

My granddog, JJ, is modeling the latest A-26 shirt for us. Who says we don't like animals? We just don't like pigs. Heck, we have a momma fox and her kits living under the hangar next door. Then there is the bar... well, I won't go there. Anyway, we are pleased with the way Don redid the logo on the back to our very own K. Thanks! JR

Some of our electrical genius's designed and built a tester for all of our circuit breakers. When they told me about it, I said, "Breaker, Breaker one nine". They all looked at me in disgust. Guess CB lingo was before their time. Anyway, they are making great progess checking out the circuitry. Seems we do have a little problem getting power out to one of the oil cooler door actuators, but nothing our guys can't fix with time and money, right?? JR

Here is another try for Randy's picture to be right side up. We enjoyed the visit with him and wife. We put him to work in the bomb bay checking and oiling up all of the bomb release mechanisms. He reported that all were now free and working. Look out pigs!!! Randy was very pleased to have A-26 grit under his nails again. He thought he might not wash them out for awhile!! JR

Got some good news and bad news today. The good news is that Randy and Karen made it to Carlsbad Caverns in time to see the bats fly last night and then visit the caverns today. Report back was that they were both awesome. The bad news is that our DC-3 has an engine problem that will cost about $25 K to fix. Donations are accepted very kindly at http://www.gga1.org. Just earmark it for the the Southern Cross please. The in between news.... it was noticed in the Federal Register that a hearing will be held soon by the FAA in Washington to discuss the Ride Exemption program. Limited Category aircraft from WWII have long participated in the Exemption program which allows them to offer Living History rides to the public. Normally, Limited Category aircraft can't fly for hire, but can with some restrictions if they have this Exemption to the rule from the FAA. The advent of jets wanting to do the same has prompted the FAA Administrator to raise the question about the safety of doing that. Comments must be made by the deadline of June 18th I think it said. If you are interested at all, please research the facts and make your opinions known. Gettting a ride in a warbird could come to a screeching halt if it cannot be done safely or found to be not in the public's interest. JR

Had to get a pic of the wife helping out Saturday. She had to get into some of that A-26 hand lotion!

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Randy... good man... getting shot of the little woman helping you out in the bomb bay. I sorta doubt she would have liked doing it for real back in the day though with the steaming hot climate at NKP not to mention those little snakes roaming around that could drop you in two steps if they bit you. What did you call those, btw?? JR PS I see you made it to White Sands. What do you think?

For all of the warbird lovers out there, the Federal Register has published a notice regarding the LHFE (Living History Flight Experience) policy review coming up this summer. There are a lot of issues to be discussed. The FAA is accepting comments on these up until June 18th. A lot is riding on the policy to continue to allow warbird rides for hire in order to keep these airplanes flying. If it means anything to you, get the facts and express your opinion to the address given in the Fed Reg notice. You can find it here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/article ... ducted-for

Thanks, JR

In late June, the FAA will hold a 3 day hearing on the LHFE (Living History Flight Experience) policy and proposed new rules. The NPRM needs your input by June 18 if this is important to you. Selling rides is fundamental to the purpose of keeping the warbirds flying... to share their history. They are also vitally important to providing the funding to keeping them maintained safely. Comments are due by 18 June. They may be submitted by mail or electronically. For more information, go to the Federal Register at this address. You can also find the link to the email address to send your comments.

https://www.federalregister.gov/article ... ducted-for