B-26K Counter-Invader Restoration ("Special K")

[A26 Special K]

Here is another view of the sheet metal work the guys have been doing. Ray and Strat had to get this area finished up before we could hang the rudder last weekend. They did a magnificient job in a really short time. We have picked up two more new volunteers this past weekend. This has been an incredible week! We are really on a roll right now with the cooler weather. Thanks guys! JR

[A26 Special K]

FALL FLING @ MEACHAM, OCT 13 • BE THERE! • Vintage aircraft fly-in and static display & flying/offering rides, vintage car/bike show, food, other events/attractions! $5 per person for admission! Sat., Oct. 13 , 9 am - 6 pm at Meacham Airport in Fort Worth. • Contact Dana G. Wood - GREATEST GENERATION AIRCRAFT, Event Coordinator - located Fort Worth, TX USA • Telephone: 8176599249 .
We hope Special Kay will be on her own legs and able to make her first appearance at the show!! The VFM Hangar Dance will be the following weekend on Oct 20th. Our B-25 Pacific Prowler will be the backdrop behind the Big Band for the 40's dance. Our DC-3 will be available for rides on both dates. Please contact Dana to schedule your ride in advance for the best fare. Thanks and come join us in these fund raisers to help restore and maintain our aircraft. JR

[A26 Special K]

Fantastic news!! The landing gear part we have been waiting for so long was picked up today ready to go. Come by and see the team re-assemble the left main gear and perhaps get close to installing it in the left wheel well. This is another big step on the way back to flight for K. We are based at the Vintage Flying Museum hangar on Meachem Field in Ft Worth. Saturday will be our big day so feel free to drop by and visit with us any time after 8 am or so. Will post pictures of the event on Sunday. Thanks!! JR

[NImrodA26]

Wow, you guys are making real progress! I've been without a computer for a week and was starting to have Special K withdrawl!
Glad to hear you will have her back on her wheels shortly. Keep up the good work.

[A26 Special K]

Hey Randy, we been missing you, too!! Glad to see you are back online. Know what you mean, my puter was down for nearly a week. Anyway, Dave is cleaning up the left main gear parts... again.. in preparation for the assembly tomorrow. We had an encounter with the airport construction folks who decided to cut some concrete in front of the hangar and managed to send dust all over everything before we could stop them. Nasty stuff, but we think we have the worst of it cleaned off. Covered everything up as best we could. The B25 had just been polished so the guys had to start over on cleaning it, too. Duh! But, back to the plan tomorrow... assemble the gear and see if it will fit into the new trunion support. Everybody keep your fingers crossed!! JR

[CAPFlyer]

Don't you just love how the Airport guys tend not to have the common decency to let the tennants know when they're going to do work like that? I know the Flying Club I used to fly with when I was in Colorado ended up with some very expensive repairs after some smart guy at the airport though it'd be a good idea to repaint the ramp taxi lines on a windy day.

[A26 Special K]

I am not so sure it is a matter of decency, but rather no clue on the part of the contractor that concrete dust can be bad for airplanes. Once it was explained to them, they moved to another area to continue work and came back after the wind shifted. Unintended consequences frequently arise... kinda like Sen Inoff's little brush with the FAA. He screwed up and was treated very fairly by only having to do some remedial training, but then he turns around and uses his position to author a so called Bill of Rights for pilots. The results may not be what anybody intended. Guess we shall see. JR

[A26 Special K]

Today started off a little slow as many of our volunteers were out doing other things this morning, but we eventually got about 14 banging on the airplane. We had a little visitor who was thrilled to be close to K as well. The other JR fixed him up with own hand stamp of the A26 which he proudly wore the rest of the day. His dad, Brett, who is an A & P, got interested in helping us with the restoration, so we hope he gets the chance to come back. Ray brought another friend out, Lou, who wants to join us. Lou is retired AF and now works in the engine shop at AA. With this kind of help, we can sure speed things up getting her back in the air. All good news. JR, the pilot.

[A26 Special K]

The long awaited gear part got set up for primer today. As you can see by JR's grin, he is most happy to have it back from plating. There are some other things that have to be done to it before we are ready to assemble the left main so the guys will continue working on it tomorrow and Monday in the hopes of installing it in the wheel well next weekend. Although we are all anxious to "git er dun", we have to do it right. The real JR ain't having it any other way. Also, we were pleased to have a visit with Rand who is temporarily on assignment to Savannah. He is our go to guy on the cockpit restoration. He has another week in town, then back to SAV for another ten days or so. Then hopefully he will be back permanently and can jump on the instrument panel again. Great day! JR, the lowly pilot.

[A26 Special K]

Speaking of cockpits, JR overhauled the pitot tube and related plumbing today. This feeds information to three airspeed indicators. One of them is a True Airspeed Indicator on the Navigators panel. That will be interesting to see in action. Let's see now, what would 300 knots indicated be in True Airspeed?? I think we could sneak up on those feral hogs before they heard us coming. Will have to consult with some of the Nimrods about good and effective 50 cal range. JR

[A26 Special K]

As mentioned earlier, we would like to welcome Lou to our team. He brings a wealth of experience in restoring airplanes. He is a good friend of Ray and is helping him work on the gap seals for the rudder. Some adjustments had to be made. These are just the guys who can do it, too!! It is so nice to see fine workmanship especially when one realizes that many great friends will be flying in the airplane. JR

[A26 Special K]

Here is Big Mike using his PSDVS (Personal Short Duration Ventilation System) to check on the most special gear part primer coat. JR

[A26 Special K]

Here is a gin-u-wine "we don't know either" question! Notice the round spot between the guns on the nose? It appears to have been glass and painted over on both sides? It is maybe an inch and half in diameter. We are curious as to what this was. It does not appear in the Illustrated Parts Catalog for the B26K that OnMark produced for the AF. Looks too small to have been a passing light or lens opening for a camera. Any WAG's? JR

[A26 Special K]

Here is Frank Nelson, Nimrod Nav, posing beside one of the NKP airplanes. Notice the mysterious spot appears between the third row from the top down pair of 50 cals. Perhaps it was the red eye reducer that flashed right before the big flash for the bad guys, ya know, like a camera??? JR

[A26 Special K]

Felipe, Miguel and Ray successfully banged out some of the dents and made patches for the deice boot line holes in the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer. It should be ready to for the rivet shoot next weekend. Once again, our Cherry Max gun comes to the rescue!! This donation has really helped us catch up on many of our sheet metal projects that have been waiting for this. We just don't have the man hour availability to do them all by hand pullers. So this has really made a difference. Thanks! JR