Warbird Information Exchange

Our very own Nimrod pilot, Joe M, comes out nearly every Saturday to work on the airplane. Here he is working on the elevator getting it ready to hang. We lack part of the gap seal having it ready to hang. Joe has some of the best stories of flying the A-26 over the Pacific to Thailand and having to hand pump oil out to the engines enroute because the oil tanks wouldn't last long enough for the long distance. It is not hard to imagine sitting on a hard cushion with a bulky old parachute on your back getting old in about 30 minutes. They did it for 7 or 8 hrs at a time, sometimes more, in the various legs island hopping to NKP. Joe is very anxious to see the airplane flying again as we all are!! JR

The bushings in the right nose gear door were all bad so JR pulled some new ones out of his magic hat and Ray and Brandon got them installed. The door will be ready to hang again soon. We have a little work left to do on the nose gear linkage. We are also waiting for news as to whether our nose tire can be recapped. We sent it off to Virginia for evaluation and service if possible. The alternative may be to buy a diamond tread and have it recapped to SC in order for it to be right for the period. We sent our spare nose wheel off to be overhauled and the preliminary report is that it may be in better shape than the first one we sent. So this may become our primary and the other our spare. Would work out nicely if we get the recapped tire back about the same time and could have it mounted on the better nose wheel. Works for me, anyway! The other JR

While our avionics guys are waiting for the wiring harness to come back from the shop, they have been chasing down the existing wiring and cleaning up the CB panel. Rand has put in a lot of effort to clean up the wiring while Larry and Stan are engineering the instrument panel installation and trying to get the engines instruments to talk to the engines. Our latest overhauled instrument, the OAT gauge, came back from Century looking brand new. Those folks have done some nice work for us. It appears though that we will have to find another vac powered turn and bank indicator for the co-pilot's side. The ball works but the needle does not. Also need a new vac gauge. It's always something, huh?? Jr

Ray was putting some of the finishing touches on the escape hatch for the doghouse canopy today. The glass is installed now in the hatch. He left the protective covers on so they wouldn't get scratched for those with keen eyes who are wondering why the glass looks opaque. He cut the seals out for the long glass installation in the canopy as well. Looks like these glass panels will be ready to go in place next weekend. There are a few blemishes that need to be polished out so maybe somebody will get a chance to do that soon as well. Moving right along now that Jaime has removed the radios from the doghouse area and just about has it ready for the gray paint we talked about last week. That will be good to finish out an area so that it looks new. Just need to come up with seats for back there now. Pipe in some stereo tunes and it could make for a very nice, comfortable ride. I think Larry is working that in as part of the intercom system!! Ok, so maybe that isn't period. We promise not to play it while on the ground at a display!! OK? JR

GGA is holding a charity auction on Friday, Oct 11 at the Vintage Flying Museum Hangar on Meacham Field, Ft Worth. Items can be previewed from 11 am to 6 pm with the auction starting at 7 pm. One of our A26 troops has this '37 flatbed that was nicely restored that we will use for the auctioneer's platform most likely. There will be many vintage aircraft parts and pieces along with aviation related artwork involved. There are some B25 prop blades that have been refinished and have three very special autographs on them. There is even a WWII aircraft tiedown kit for everything up thru T-6's in NOS condition on the block. Lots of neat stuff. Put it on your calendar and if you are coming for the AOPA Summit that week, just drop right on by for some auction fun. Who knows what treasures you might go home with! Cheers, JR

Randy: An AN3160-5 circuit breaker is a 5 amp, combination switch and breaker. It has long toggle with a ball end. They were used in lots of aircraft. Here is a link to a -10 on evilbay with nutso pricing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AN3160-10-WWII- ... ca&vxp=mtr

Thanks for that info on the switch/breaker. At least now I know what I have. I opened one of them up years ago to see what it was, and the one on Ebay is like the ones I have, except mine are still in the original sealed pouches and in a box.
Randy

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Randy: I don't recall seeing any CB's like that on K. Rand and Arnold have pretty much gone thru most of the breakers and replaced those that needed it. BTW, as the guys install the avionics stuff, they have thoughts of putting in a master avionics switch for the new radios. It may end up looking like it is part of the CB panel to disguise it from being something not period. Will see what they come up with. We are still waiting on the harness to come back from the shop before they can get really serious about it. Has Fall finally fell out your way? Must be here in the Republic because instead of the usual 104, it is only going to be in the 90's this week. JR

Has Fall finally fell out your way,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Oh no, summer has finally arrived now that it's September. Been in the 90's the last couple days, with one more coming, then a cool down. This is the first 90's we've seen since the first of July.
I may get to the Fantasy of Flight Museum in the next week or so. They have a 8 gun nose on display that I want to get some pictures of. Think it's only got guns on one side, but appears to be complete. Anything special you need a picture of?

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Randy: our IPC does not clearly show the installation of the barrels thru the gun ports or the attachment of blast tubes. If they have these, that would be super if you can get some shots of them. The gun ports also have canvas sleeves with micarta rings that go around the blast tube as it comes out the gun port. We don't have a good pattern for those canvas sleeves or a really good picture of how they looked when installed. Of course, if they have the ammo boxes, ammo chutes and air tubing for the chargers, that would be even be a bigger help..... especially if you can find out a source for this stuff!! Good luck with that! Thanks so much for the help! We deeply appreciate your efforts to get K flying again. Cheers, JR

Hey Randy... one other thought. If you can get the back side of the gun nose so we can see what it looks like detached from the fuselage, that would be helpful. We will be taking the nose off for the installation of the curtain that separates the cockpit from the nose. Can't be replaced without doing this. All of the OnMark K's were produced with the gun and glass noses so that they could do recon work with cameras as well. The glass noses cut drag and made about a 10-15 knot difference in speed. Kinda wish we had one to display. But anyway, appreciate it if you can add some pics of the back side of the gun nose. Thanks, JR

In one of your posts, it was mentioned that the crew ladder was going to be operational and it was operated from the co-pilot's seat. Does he just pull up and push down on the end of the ladder? If so, how far does the end of it stick up into the cockpit? While I was stationed at Edwards AFB, CA I was able to climb around the On Mark K's that were being tested there while they were still in the beautiful green and white paint scheme. I remember one On Mark fellow mentioning that a co-pilot who was climbing up to get into the cockpit fell off and broke his arm.

Woodie: the ladder can be released from the cockpit. It actually has a box like structure that it retracts into and does not protrude into the cockpit. It is quite a chore to climb up the ladder, put your feet and hands in the right spots, grab the canopy at the top and swing up on the wing, then walk on the back of the fuselage to slide into the seat. Don't quite know why Douglas designed it that way, but there is no room between the nose wheel well and the bomb bay to put an entry hatch on the belly with a ladder like in the B-25. Too much structure and the hydraulic system would be in the way as well. The length of the bomb bay, of course, was due to a Navy requirement to be able to carry torpedoes although none was ever dropped in WWII. Us old guys aren't going to risk climbing up that ladder for sure. We are designing a bomb bay ladder and will enter in a sort of civilized fashion. One that will reduce our risk anyway. You can see the external ladder in the picture in the extended position. Lou is working on one of the steps. The larger cut out area that he has been working on exposed a knicked and kinked fuel pressure gauge line that will have to be repaired before we can install the patch. Lou spotted the damage that was done presumably when shrapnel from the crash landing came thru the fuselage as shown in previous shots. Another Easter egg found! BTW, speaking of Edwards, aircraft 640 was tested there. Here is a youtube video of the report. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKw9ZEdI6Yg Probably made while you were there?? JR

JR.
Thanks for the information. Almost 50 years clouds the memory but I do recall 640 being at Edwards and they had at least one more K there also. Woodie

Woodie: there is no telling what other K model you saw at Edwards, but it could have been the prototype K conversion of 44-35684. It was not given a new 64- number apparently and was later scrapped. No reason for either action that I have found so far. Incidentally, 640 is on gate guard duty at Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, SD, in her original green and white paint scheme. The first time I saw it there, I thought it was just an OnMark executive conversion until I looked closer at it. I'm told that the paint scheme was selected so that that the stars and bars could be painted over and the K's look like a civilian go anywhere, anytime executive transport. And they did... to the Congo for the CIA and down south to map a lot of Central and S America. Wow, what a difference! The story of the prototype is documented with pictures on the ultimate in A-26 information websites if you are interested. http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id407.html
I have been tempted to paint 679 green and white, but ..... SEA camo is just too appealing. Thanks for your Edwards story. Do you remember anything else about the K's? Regards, JR