These next few posts are out of order as I was unable to get them up at the time. Excuses like I was at an air show, folding laundry or working in the vegetable garden come to mind...
After we got back from Reno Bernie made the big mistake of asking "What do you want me to do now old pal?" I replied how about making the tail wheel go up and down? Bernie had that look on his face that said 'Dude! I am leaving in a few days and you want me to start that?!' Why not as we get our best work done when we are under a deadline.
First Ricky and Bernie jacked up the tail
Then Bernie opened up the tail gear doors
Then Bernie cussed at the tail gear doors. Poor Bernie
Did I mention that Bernie was a proctologist before he started working on Warbirds?
While Bernie was getting some tail, Ricky was making the missing hydraulic lines to plumb the tail back into the main gear system. He even painted them to match the old interior. Ricky also rebuilt the tail gear actuator for Bernie
Hey old buddy how many tools does it take to fix the tail gear? ALL OF THEM!!
Not an easy place to work in as you only have a couple of small inspection openings that let you near the tail gear
With the tail gear actuator, up and down lock removed, crusty roller bearings replaced, system/mechanism cleaned lubed and reinstalled it was time to see if we could make it work. We plumbed in a hydraulic pack or mule to the tail gear so we could test it independently from the main gear. Here is a video of the first test
http://www.twinbeech.com/images/Aircraft/manufacturers/lockheed/PV-2/PV-2D84062/mx/tailgear/firsttailgearretract.wmvAfter adjusting and rigging it was time to connect it to the rest of the aircraft and cycle it with the main gear.
We needed to jack the rest of the aircraft but ran into a small problem...
What do you do when your 20 ton aircraft jack decides it doesn't want to support anything but its own weight and you still need to do a landing gear swing and weigh the aircraft? Fire up the WWII wrecker truck of course.
The wrecker truck is a 1945 Federal C2 Army Air Forces wrecker that was used to retrieve crashed aircraft at the airfield. These were at every airfield both in the states and in theatre. There are many cool shots of these trucks in action. Here is a link for those who are interested in more wrecker info:
http://www.twinbeech.com/federalc2wrecker.htmWe used the factory lift fittings on the Harpoon main beam to pick up the one side of the aircraft so the jack could be positioned under the jack pad on the spar. The jack has locking collars so we could use it as a fixed support and raised the rest of the aircraft by conventional jacking methods under the right wing and the tail.
Cool to use a WWII truck to lift a WWII aircraft just like it was meant to do. Gotta be an inter-service conflict in there somewhere though having an Army vehicle lifting a Navy aircraft but neither seemed to mind too much.
The Wrecker's engine didn't even slow down when picking up the weight of the Harpoon estimated to be around 11,000 pounds. The old gal did great!
Here is Bernie working the controls on the crane
While the mule was hooked up we also cycled the flaps. Here is a video of the flaps in motion. Some of Robert Fowlers best work!
http://www.twinbeech.com/images/Aircraft/manufacturers/lockheed/PV-2/PV-2D84062/mx/flaps/flapcycle.wmvMore to come...
_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here
http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htmWe brought her from:
to this in 3 months:
Help us get her all the way back
All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.
Thank you!
Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'
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