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

[A26 Special K]

Thanks for the good wishes, ya'll!! Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to everybody from the A26 restoration team. May this coming new year see her back in the air!! Hurlburt or Bust OCT '13!! Many thanks for the support and well wishes. Let's make it happen! Mah Best from the AZ Territory tonight, JR

[A26 Special K]

Greetings from Seattle!! The sun finally came out this morning!! Fog, I am told, has invaded the DFW area. Guess it just our turn to be in the dark for awhile. But we do some of our best work in the dark!! The DC3 flights are continuing to have success each night showing our passengers the beauty of the city and all of the Xmas lights that are still up. The season will conclude on Monday night, New Year's Eve, with a special one hour midnight flight that departs at 11:30 pm. Contact Dana at greatestgeneration@yahoo.com if you would like to be on the "Champagne Special"! Saturday, work continues on the A26. Drop by and see us. We are very proud of the work our volunteers are doing. They have produced some real miracles this past year and continue to perform at a very high level. Many of them assist with the evening flights as well. We look forward to the new year and getting K back where she belongs... in the air..... to represent all of her sisters and the folks who flew and maintained them. Hats off to all of them. Happy New Year!! Jim R

[A26 Special K]

JR, the Master Mechanic, took this shot of our DC3 right before one of the evening Xmas Lights Flights we have been doing since Thanksgiving. We are coming to the end though with New Year's Eve Monday night. Looks like rain moving in so we may have to cancel the "Champagne Flight", but we will have a make up flight on Tuesday evening. We are also taking our volunteers who have worked so hard on crewing and ground handling these flights for special rides Tuesday night in appreciation of all of their hard work. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Then we will start work on heavy maintenance of the B25 while the work continues on the A26. The DC3 has been getting a lot of attention from our mechanics so hopefully she won't need a lot of heavy winter maintenance. It should be ready for Valentines Day special flights so guys, if you want to impress your gal friends, better call or email Dana on our website to book your ride. http://www.gga1.org BTW, we are 6 for 6 on marriage proposals that have been made during the Xmas flights. Since I have just returned from the Oregon Territory tonight, I will have to get some updates and pictures together and post some updates on the A26 tomorrow night. Stay tuned..... and everybody, please have a safe New Year's Eve. Come back and see us!! Happy to be back in the Republic, JR, the pilot.

[A26 Special K]

We are very lucky to have our electric cart which not only hauls our tools and parts out to the ramp, but it will also convert to a ground power unit to start those cranky ol Wrights when it is a mite coolish here in the Republic. Thanks, Arnold, for building this fine piece of equipment!! It has come in so handy to support our operation over at the main terminal at Meacham as well. Unfortunately tonight, the ceiling and vis are too low to fly so that "Champagne Flight" had to be postponed. These flights are very significant fund raisers for our organization to help restore the B25 and A26 so we hope we can do a make up flight soon. Most of our efforts have been focused on crewing and ground handling the DC3 the last few weeks and the guys have done a wonderful job even though at times they looked like they were frozen ice cubes! Way to hang in there, guys! Proud of yall and the work accomplished. JR

[A26 Special K]

The other JR took this shot yesterday afternoon of the city of Foat Wurth. If you think it is pretty in the daytime, you should see it at night! We are taking our volunteers who have helped thru the year for rides tomorrow night weather permitting. It is just part of the fun we have besides working on the airplanes, going to airshows and giving rides to the most appreciative of people who recognize what it means to strap into one of our warbirds and experience what our veterans felt, saw and did with them. Can't wait to add the A26 to the mix of available rides!! Thanks JR for all you have done for the program! The other JR, Proud to be in TX for New Year's Eve!! Yall enjoy, now hear!

[A26 Special K]

A man and his son that flew on the Xmas Lights flight last night almost didn't need a flash to make this picture. Their smiles lit up everything around them! Whoa, talk about being excited going for a ride in that big ol airplane..... Do you remember what it was like to be that young and love airplanes and the freedom of flight? We need to make that dream and that love continue! Keep up the good work, Dad! Cheers, JR, the pilot.

[A26 Special K]

Like father, like son.... our maintenance magician JR's son T, is flipping thru the latest edition of Kiwi Flyer checking out the airplane pictures and news of the Mosquito restoration for Jerry Yagen. It was a labor of love that we all can relate to since we hope our Special Kay joins the ranks of flyers this year. I can remember when my oldest daughter was about two and looked at my Flying magazines. She loved to sit in my lap and point to the various airplanes for me to name. Then she would try to pronounce them. Somehow Piper Cherokee kept coming out as Turkey. Don't know why but out of the mouths of babes is all I can say. Today, she works for an aerospace manufacturer in Seattle that machines titanium parts for jet engines and components for airframes as the Director of Training so guess she must have learned something along the way! Hope I am still around to see T take his first flight in the A26!! That would be so cool!! JR, the old pilot!

[A26 Special K]

I don't think I was this creative or mature at this age, but T has arranged his own drive in theatre for the evening movie. He is waiting for the Ball to drop at Times Square while mom and dad are just waiting for him to drop eyelids so they can put him to bed and enjoy the festivities!!! I am not sure which job is harder, raising kids or restoring old airplanes. I see a lot of similarities!!! JR, the pilot

[A26 Special K]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, David A shows what multi tasking is all about. While crewing the DC3 getting it ready to fly again for the evening, he exchanges pictures and ideas for our hydraulic mule with Arnold and JR. Engineering know how runs rampant among our most experienced guys!! They back themselves up in so many ways to make sure everything is ready to fly and done right! That's teamwork. Hmmm, maybe we should invite the Cowboys to hold their next training camp at the airport?? We could make Jerry J a heck of a deal!!! Well, as long as he brings the cheerleaders with the team, that is. JR, the old guy who wishes he was 30 again!! LOL

[A26 Special K]

Meanwhile back at the A26, it was a mite cool in the hangar last Saturday morning so the avionics guys moved into our heated area which we call the "Mancave" to peruse the illustration of the instrument panel. They have completely removed the panel now and are starting work on the wiring, lights, instrument lines and doing some cosmetic work on the panel itself. We have located some of the original style instruments that were replaced by odd things from Cessnas somewhere back in the day. When these come back from the shop, we will get them all mounted and working before finalizing the panel installation. Still have to figure out the radio configuration. One good piece of news is that my three daughters all chipped in to get me a new IPad for XMAS that will be fitted out with ForeFlight and hardware to make it talk to the GPS world. Wouldn't the Nimods have loved to have had that back over the dark jungles and mountains of Laos while searching for those truck convoys on the HCM Trail!!!! Still don't know how they managed to navigate in the dark like that.

[A26 Special K]

And here are our esteemed avionics "Sparkies" consulting over the actual panel. Rand and Larry have about got it figured out looks like. Next issue to be resolved is lunch. The real JR took the gang over to the Dixie House for fun and merriment with the gals there. See, they have all the good stuff when I am out of town. Not sure why that is! I like a good time like anybody else. Speakin of, time to go watch the Dick Clark countdown and Times Square. Who knows if this ol guy can make it late enough to see the Ball fall, but will sure give it a try. I can remember as a kid, my family staying up to see that. I think it is a grand way to start the new year. May everybody have a terrific year and come see us when you can at Meacham. Happy New Year!! From all of us at GGA, JR the pilot.

[SKYDREAM]

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

Work continues on the right gear. These springs are part of the "bear claw" in the downlock system. We suspect they may be part of the reason the downlocks sometimes failed back in the day. They are too long and over-compressed which could lead to fatigue and failure. We are replacing them with new, but will have it on our maintenance plan to change these out every 100 or 150 hours.

Hi, Happy new year 2013 to all your team .
Very amazing job.
We are rebuilding in flying conditions our A26 Invader s/n 44-34172 : https://sites.google.com/site/a26invaderavignon/
We have same problems with these nose and main gears springs. We are looking for dealers to buy or remanufactured news ones. Could you have an adress to find them, it would be very appreciated.

Best regards
Christophe Bruneliere
French A26 project manager

[A26 Special K]

Skydream, I have sent a PM reply about the springs and the source so please check for messages. Good luck with your project!! Regards, JR

[SKYDREAM]

Hi Jim, I found it and reply. Many thanks for your help. It's very appreciated.

Kind regards, Christophe.

[drhornii]

Just found this thread, Special K coming along!

Have you got a clear cover for the model I donated yet? I still need to work on the next model. been too busy with work, have not touched a kit in 2 months.