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

[NImrodA26]

............What colors would the ordnance be before yall painted them black? Napes and GP's we talking. I have seen pictures of some painted and some not. Seems like Napes were silver and GP's OD mostly. What do you recall? Thanks, JR
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Well, we (The Big Eagle Detachment) can't take credit for painting the napes black to stop the reflections or what ever. The napes were just mill finished aluminum. The GP,s were OD, with yellow rings indicating the filler (explosive cotent): one yellow ring=TNT, two yellow rings=Comp B, three yellow rings= Tritonal. Of the three, according to what we were taught, Comp B was the most unstable.
We did for a time fly White Phosphorus bombs, about 100 pounders as I recall. they were painted a light greenish color, as were the white phosphorus ignitors that were used in the napes. That's about it. The Lau-3 and 32 rocket launchers were white or OD. I think by 67 when I was at Udorn they were all coming in pretty much OD color.

[rdennard]

As a note to our "paint jobs"... we painted anything that had a shiny bottom, or any thing that would glisten at night and expose our guys to the bad guys. We used a big paint brush and one-gallon cans of paint. The brush would just fit into the opening of the can. We dipped it in and just slathered the paint on. Usually it was flat black or flat O.D. paint. We only painted the bottom half of stuff... just enough so that it wouldn' be easily seen from the ground.


It was really messy job. We didn't worry much about anything dripping all over the place. Just dunk the paint brush and lay it on thick. You could tell the rookies. They always had paint all over... on their boots, on their uniforms and on themselves. After a while you learned how to let the stuff fly and slather it on thick without getting much on yourself.

We loved hanging "wall-to-wall" iron bombs because they came O.D and we didn't have to paint them. But that didn't happen very often. Almost every mission had Nape on the two inboard stations of each wing so we had to paint them. The two outboards were a mix-n-match of lighter stuff; mostly CBUs but sometimes 500/250 lb iron bombs. By the time I got there we weren't carrying our own flairs... the Nimrods were "working the trail" with "Candlesticks" (C-123 flair ships) most of the time or sometimes the "Blind-Bats" (C-130 flair ships).

Bob
Memories of Naked Fanny

[A26 Special K]

Bob, Randy, thanks for the info. I found a picture of some of the more elaborate paint jobs on the ordnance. Will post later. Anyway, so what does this lil ol spring have to do with ordnance? Well, it goes inside the hydraulic actuator for the bomb bay doors. It was our missing piece, but the real JR requisitioned one somehow and got the system ready to re-install. In other news, our practice A-26 ground school class went well today. Look for us to start offering it later in the year. Our dance card is getting pretty full between Topeka in Aug, two B-25 classes in Sept, and the AOPA convention here in Oct. We hope to place K out on the exhibit ramp at Meacham so everybody can see how she is coming along. There will be two hangar dances in Oct so we need to have the airplane out anyway. The other JR

[A26 Special K]

Ray and Miguel worked on the repairs to the structure forward of the bomb bay bulkhead and hit a good lick on it today. Hopefully it will be done soon and we can then swing the nose gear followed by a full system check and all three gear swung at the same time. That will be exciting to see. We used the mule that Arnold built to swing the gear this week on the B-25 so we know it works. BTW, the fuel tank is expected back the latter part of next week so we hope to have her flying again soon. While it was very hot and humid in the hangar today, the rest of the team plowed into the rest of the items that needed to be worked in preparation for the instrument panel install and the gear swings. Overall, a good day! Thanks guys! JR

[K5DH]

So... Jim... when are we going to see YOU doing some actual work?

[A26 Special K]

Hey Dean... good to hear from you. Haven't seen you out at the hangar in awhile. How is the F-86 coming? Have you figured out if you have all the right parts in that latest batch to make it fly? That would be awesome. There is no other fighter jet prettier in flight than a Sabre, at least in my opinion. I would think that VFM could get it airworthy, sell it and make more than enough to buy and support another airplane that could earn its keep. Good luck. JR

[A26 Special K]

Now that's what I call an interesting paint job on the ordnance. Not quite what I had in mind for our replica bombs. I wanted a little color, but not quite like this. Team Shortt and Counts seem to be happy with it though. Had the opportunity to meet Mr. Shortt at the last Nimrod reunion I was able to make at Hurlburt. Wished I had seen this picture before that and had gotten him to talk about it on the videos that Hawkeye was making. I'm sure that would have been an interesting story. Bob... Randy... ever see anything like this back in the day? Did you ever put anything on besides black or OD just for grins if nothing else? JR

[rdennard]

That would have been for Easter.

Yeah... we did stuff like that from time to time. We always wanted to send "Uncle Ho" a "gift" at special times. Some times it would be something simple like "Happy 4th of JUL - Ho Chi Minh". But most often it would be some obscenity... usually starting with F.

I never knew who came up with the colored paint... nor where it came from. I mean, how did those colors get to the war in the first place. Anyway... we didn't do stuff like that very often... mostly because we were too busy humping bombs & bullets all day and night

Bob
Memories of Naked Fanny

[A26 Special K]

Thanks Bob, for the info. I suppose it was a morale booster to send those "personalized" messages. In the picture is the aft bomb bay door actuator that has been overhauled and installed. The front actuator is ready for installation. Just waiting on the repairs to the bulkhead that it mounts on to be finished. Then we should have a fully functional set of BB doors. Yay.... JR

[A26 Special K]

Front bomb bay door actuator all ready to go. The real JR put the finishing touches on it last Saturday. The other JR

[A26 Special K]

The audio control panel has arrived. Our most excellent Sparkies are designing an installation plus the intercom system to go with it. The last piece of avionics, a new transponder, should arrive this week. EEEhawwww. Should be able to talk to the Duck Drivin Lady and the Airboss at the same time for that wall of fire pass! Can hardly wait. JR

PS That button on the audio panel about cabin audio or external speaker... they were only joking about that part. No way in this noise makin beast.

[A26 Special K]

Ah, a Pratt and Whitney R-2800 CB-3 can sure make pretty noise. Noise is what makes an airplane fly, right? Turn it off and it doesn't fly very long. Of course, what makes noise? Money. Our campaign to raise $ for the overhaul of this bad boy continues. We still can get a dollar for dollar donation from another charitable organization if we can raise the money for the overhauls of our two engines or the replacement of one. If you donate a dollar, it will be matched thus doubling your effort. Please check out this website for the contribution button. http://www.a-26legacy.org Help us return Kay to the air. The way the other projects are moving along, she will be needing those engines done soon. Thanks for your continued support. PS It sure is good to be back in the Republic. Went up to Canada to visit those folks up there. Always good to get back home even if I have to turn around and leave again! Cheers, JR

[A26 Special K]

While we have been campaigning to raise money for the engine overhauls, the next part of the plan calls for the removal of said engine(s). It seems these engines might be a bit heavy for our forklift to handle if removed with all accessories etc. still attached. So JT and Mark visited the junkyard and found a self propelled crane that can handle up to 17,000 lbs. Now we are talking... All it needs is some repairs to the fuel tank and a good clean up... should run good. Sounds like a big project for Arnold and David A. Sure would be handy around the hangar. Will see if we can manage this acquisition. JR

[A26 Special K]

We were honored to have a special visitor to K this past Saturday. Maurice Bourne is one of the few to have bailed out of an A-26 and survived. His aircraft was blowing up and coming apart when he left it. He barely had time for the chute to open before hitting the ground. The rest of his life story would fill several books and make an incredible movie. The character in the Bourne Identity has nothing on the real Bourne. Rand got the chance to show off our instrument panel restoration. Never know who will show up to see the airplane and visit with the team. We were very pleased to have the opportunity. Yall come see us next Saturday. We will have a DC-3 ground school going plus restoration work continuing on the K. JR
PS to Randy, hope that hand gets well enough you can start writing some more history here soon!

[A26 Special K]

Ray and Miguel have just about finished the bomb bay area repair. Prepare to be awed by the final product!! Almost to the point of being able to do the full gear test with all three legs at once. Might see it this Saturday if all goes well. Anyway, Happy Fourth tomorrow. Wishing everyone a great and safe time for the holiday. Celebrate our Freedom and don't let anybody ever tell you that we don't have a magnificient system. Thanks to all those who have made it so. Cheers, JR