PV-2D Harpoon 84062 (Tanker 101) comes back to life

[Taigh Ramey]

Off we went to Topeka. Here is Russ flying across the Mississippi River.



After we landed and parked next to Attu Warrior we quickly commingled with our fellow Harpoon buddies. It was great to Meet Auby for the first time and to see our old friends Dave Hansen and Gary Hilton. We also got to meet Gary's and the extended Attu Warrior family too. Good folks!





They look pretty good together!



Hey, anybody seen Ricky lately?



The next day we met Bill Borst who was a radio operator on PV-1's and PV-2's. Bill was almost as excited to see us as we were to see him. He brought about a dozen of his family members and they camped out with us. It was great.







The plan was to get Bill up in his radio operators seat once again and do this along with an air to air photo flight so we could get shots of Bill and also the Two Harpoons together. The idea was to fly within an hour of sunset to get the best lighting. Tyson was the photographer in an AT-6 (sorry I forgot the pilots name) and we all briefed for the flight with both PV-2's and the two C-60's. Auby was going to fly Attu Warrior and then us and the C-60's as a group and then as pairs. We set up a flight on the way home with the CAF's C-60 so we could get some individual shots of 062 some of which have been posted already.

Time to get ready for the flight:

Ricky is ready:



Bill is ready:



Russ is ready:



And of course Ken is ready:



It was a nice flight but since it was taking longer that we planned we bailed out and followed the C-60 back to Forbes Field and were able to get some great single shots of 062

Here are two of my favorite shots that John McCullagh of http://checksixphotography.com took from the C-60. Thanks so much for the great pictures John!





Tyson says he is going to send us the photos of the two Harpoons together soon and we all eagerly await those pictures.

We also took along Bills son and thanks to the wonderful Attu Warrior crew Bill's grand son was able to watch Bill fly from their Harpoon. Here is a shot taken from a video of Bill at the radio ops seat



Here is a video shot by Gregor of 062 from the CAF's C-60 on the way back to Forbes Field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGF2lSYTKnE&feature=c4-overview&list=UU5pHtVVXR92YVKilLLVJK9g

Here is a news report on Bill and his flight. Typical news media screw ups like "this is the exact aircraft that Bill flew in". "This is the exact same seat that he sat in". Well you try but what can we say?

http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/Navy-Veteran-Is-Reunited-With-Old-War-Plane-218238031.html

I think this was Gary Hilton's grand daughter (sorry I forgot her name) who was pretty darn proud of her Attu Warrior. I think in this shot she is saying 'hey you all have lots more oil on everything than we do!'. Corrosion protection program my dear. Nothing aft of the engines will ever see any corrosion in the next 100 years guaranteed!



Our visit to Topeka was a good one and maybe we can come back next year and get all three PV-2's together.

Last edited by Taigh Ramey on Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

[wingman1]

Just in case you missed it:

i do not feel so bad about posting from a strip club anymore! ( No i will not post pic's i don't want to get banned! )


all jokes aside folks, Good job with the Harpoon, keep up the good work! have a drink on me.

[RV8er]

Great trip reports Taigh!

I hate to clutter things up here, but I had a point-n-shoot camera with me in the cockpit of the C-60 and snapped a few shots... they're not quite as nice as the pros shooting from the back, but they're still kinda cool.

Run-up, waiting to launch...


Looks like Ken is being shy, hiding in the astrodome bubble.


Lining up.


Trying to catch up...




Vapor trails from 062s props.


The two 'poons ganging up on a poor, defenseless SNJ, the rear gunner armed with a nothing but a big ass camera...




The Lodestar wing kinda got in the way, but I still like the result.


Man, what a fun evening that was to be out flying in a herd of Lockheeds!

[Russ Matthews]

Taigh, I'll forgive you because you took me to Oshkosh in the Harpoon and made me look like an absolute badass flying across the Mississippi, but just to set the record straight ...

Russ is ready:

After all that, is it any wonder I needed a nap in the lobby of our Denver hotel during the trip home?

[Taigh Ramey]

Wingman,

That wasn't a strip club. It was the Tilted Kilt in Oshkosh. It is a family oriented sports bar with awesome food. It is a must visit place if you are ever in OSH. They are a chain too so check your local listings. Even though it is not on the menu ask for a basket of the onion strings as an appetizer. They are awesome.


RV8r,

Great photos, thanks for posting them. I agree it was a great evening. What was the pilots name? Please thank him for us.


Russ,

Yes, I jumped ahead and used the photo of you in Denver. I think we all were desperately in need of a nap even before we departed Stockton. I am surprised you didn't get a shot of me dozing off in the left seat when you were flying...or when I was flying...

I was picking on Kenny so much I had to go after someone else even if it wasn't warranted!

Cool shot of you manning the original TCAS system. Much more badass than the Mississippi thing in my book. The Martin 250CE is one of the better seats in the house for sure.

We love you Russ! Thank you thank you THANK YOU for making so much of this possible.

Ok Russ, I'll go back to picking on Kenny again.

Kenny is ready:

[Rod Schneider]

Taigh, it was good to meet you in Oshkosh. I'm a friend of John Hess and was with him when he talked to you after your Warbirds in Review session. You guys (and gals) have done a fantastic job on the plane--it looks great!

[Taigh Ramey]

Hello Rod,

It was nice to meet you too. John is a good guy and anyone with an AT-11 is ok by me.

Thanks for the kind words Rod. We appreciate it all the encouragement we can get.

[OZFURYFAN]

Hi Taigh,really like the latest pics of your bird,it looks awesome. You said in a previous post that the drop tanks fitted had some dents in them but they had been removed,are you able to explain how this was done,I have a few tanks here for a -5 Corsair which need some attention,best regards,Pete

[Taigh Ramey]

We took the tanks to James Paulk Autobody in Stockton who worked his magic on them. James was a savior to us since we had so much to do on the rest of the aircraft to hang and plumb the tanks and tons of other stuff too.

He actually pulled the dents and fixed them instead of covering them with bondo. I am a bit vague on the details but he used an electric device to pull the dents. Not sure if it attached a rod for pulling or just what but ill ask him when I see him.

He is fixing up some of our 1000 pound bombs too.

The tanks sure worked out beautifully and gave us two additional hours of range plus the fact that they look amazing on the wings if I do say so myself. Proud papa.

The fuselage tank also worked out nicely. One more hour of fuel there and it makes the cabin look more like its supposed to. Slow but sure.

Our next show is going to be at the Reno Air Races from September 10th through the 15th.

Then the California International Air Show at Salinas on September 20th through the 22nd. Sadly I can't stay with the Harpoon that weekend but I have a good excuse. I have the great honor to fly the Lockheed 10E Electra from Reno Stead on her last flight to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Way cool!

4th through the 6th of October 062 is going to the California Capitol Airshow at Mather Field in Sacramento.

Don't forget Kenny's secret WIX code phrase to get a special complimentary tour of 062.

It's a small way for us to say thanks for the support that you all have given us over the last few years.

Please come on out and say hello.

[Taigh Ramey]

We were able to get into the Santa Rosa Wings Over Wine Country air show last weekend. The Harpoon was pretty dirty from our OSH trip so we gave her a bath and off we went. My family came along as did Daniel, Jess and Ricky.

After we arrived we noticed that we had sprung a leak in the flap cylinder so we were not able to fly for the show. They parked us close to the entrance so we had a lot of people come by and ask the usual questions from the general public:

Does this fly?

How did you get it here? We have a really big trailer out back

Is this a B-25?... B-52?... B-17?...B-24 because of the twin tails... or substitute any other aircraft type real or made up.

From the aviation types we usually get the 'Wow, I have never heard of a Harpoon or a Ventura before'. I suppose that's why we are here.

No WWII vets this time but a son of a PV-1 radioman who died a few years previous stopped by. He said his Dad was real sharp with all of his radio knowledge and troubleshooting skills right up until he died. He also said he would have loved to have been our radio/radar crew chief. Sniff, sniff...

He went home and picked up his Dad's notebooks for radio and his wartime diary and brought them back for us to look at. I took photos of it all and it was wonderful for sure. Procedures for setting up the radios, frequencies, codenames you name it from training through his whole tour in the Pacific.

He started in VB-137 in the Pacific flying PV-1's all over including one I had not heard of before, Funafuti. I just like saying Funafuti. Its became our word for the weekend.

Here is one of the diary entries of Donald Bowman, Aviation Radioman 3/c. Good stuff:





He then went on to serve in VB-117 flying PB4Y-2's







Thank you for your service Mr. Bowman

Here are some shots of 062 at Santa Rosa







What is real cool about this show is they tow a lot of the museum's aircraft out on the line and they have them opened up for the public to look into or they get to sit in the cockpits. Its a great thing.

Here is the museum's A-26 that was on display with about all of their other aircraft. Check out the early A-26 flat canopy. You are doing a great job Ron!









It was a good show and we limped back home with our leaky flap cylinder making a mess. She still did real well for the 20+ hours of seriously stretching her legs around the country for the first time since 1994. You go girl!

[A26 Special K]

Taigh, congratulations to you and your team for making this miracle happen. Isn't it a lot like having a new family member arrive when she finally makes it to the first air display? But to go to OSH and win there and then have the great schedule of shows yet to attend... wow... Hope you guys win the restoration competition at Reno as well. Your work certainly deserves the recognition. We can only hope the A-26 comes out next year and we can meet up with ya'll in Topeka or some place. Good 2800 noise!!
Our best regards, JR and Special Kay team

[Chappie]

Godspeed Mr Bowman.

Funafuti!!

Chappie

[spookythecat]

I haven't shared much from Oshkosh since i'm shooting for the EAA Warbirds magazine now but I did "night stalk" 062.

And I have to add she's a real beauty!

[Taigh Ramey]

Taigh, congratulations to you and your team for making this miracle happen. Isn't it a lot like having a new family member arrive when she finally makes it to the first air display? But to go to OSH and win there and then have the great schedule of shows yet to attend... wow... Hope you guys win the restoration competition at Reno as well. Your work certainly deserves the recognition. We can only hope the A-26 comes out next year and we can meet up with ya'll in Topeka or some place. Good 2800 noise!!
Our best regards, JR and Special Kay team

Thanks JR, for the kind words about 062. I am sure a big fan of your project and all of the wonderful work you have done on her. I can't wait to see her flying and I hope we do meet at one of the shows sometime. I'd more than love to trade rides as the A-26 is one of the sexiest aircraft around in my book and I have a deep desire to fly one. Keep up the great work!

Great photo Spooky. Your shot reminds me of all of the work we need to do to fix things. We were hoping to get the gun ports finished and painted before OSH but just plain ran out of time. Some people were asking if the green paint was a special paint for the gun blast thinking it was a some new level of authenticity of something...yeah, that's it...it a rare anti fouling paint used only in the South Pacific to prevent the cordite from building up around the gun ports thus causing a small deflection of the bullets passing over said build up which alters the trajectory and... sorry I ran out of BS...

Cool shot! Can I get a hi res copy? Is the background really that color? Halogen lights or something?

[spookythecat]

Taigh, congratulations to you and your team for making this miracle happen. Isn't it a lot like having a new family member arrive when she finally makes it to the first air display? But to go to OSH and win there and then have the great schedule of shows yet to attend... wow... Hope you guys win the restoration competition at Reno as well. Your work certainly deserves the recognition. We can only hope the A-26 comes out next year and we can meet up with ya'll in Topeka or some place. Good 2800 noise!!
Our best regards, JR and Special Kay team

Thanks JR, for the kind words about 062. I am sure a big fan of your project and all of the wonderful work you have done on her. I can't wait to see her flying and I hope we do meet at one of the shows sometime. I'd more than love to trade rides as the A-26 is one of the sexiest aircraft around in my book and I have a deep desire to fly one. Keep up the great work!

Great photo Spooky. Your shot reminds me of all of the work we need to do to fix things. We were hoping to get the gun ports finished and painted before OSH but just plain ran out of time. Some people were asking if the green paint was a special paint for the gun blast thinking it was a some new level of authenticity of something...yeah, that's it...it a rare anti fouling paint used only in the South Pacific to prevent the cordite from building up around the gun ports thus causing a small deflection of the bullets passing over said build up which alters the trajectory and... sorry I ran out of BS...

Cool shot! Can I get a hi res copy? Is the background really that color? Halogen lights or something?

Hi res is on it's way.

It's just my usual light painting except that the low overcast sky picks up airport/city lights more and causes the sky to look like that.