Warbird Information Exchange

I had a helmet-cam on for some of it, but hadn't had a chance to set it up properly. Most of the video is an outstanding view of Curtiss canopy-framing, with valuable images of several perfectly formed rivets. But I squeezed these images out of the film.












Jean-Pierre Bonin

Need a "like" button for the forum

_________________
Cessna 195

The biggest news on the Home Front is that ROBIN WENT SOLO IN THE RV-6A!!!!!!



She got her license in 1980, but then we got married, bought a house, got a mortgage, had kids.... the whole program, and Robin let her license slide.

That's why last year she said it was now or never if she was ever to get it back, and thus we bought the RV. The original plan was to use the Fairchild, but she can't push it in and out of the hangar, and it's by no means a simple airplane to get started, and care for the radial, and so on. Hence a smaller, simpler machine.

It took longer than we thought for her to get checked out on it, but it wasn't her fault. There were engine cooling troubles and a number of other fixer-upper issues with the airplane that consumed most of last summer. Plus we had a lot of fun going places in it, like OSH. And of course Life always intervenes -- fortunately for us, with good stuff.



The process was for her to write the ground school exam again (P-star), and then fly with me to regain competency. For some folks this might be difficult, but it wasn't the acrimonious divorce-generating event that it might have been -- quite. (She says I'm picky.) But she did get the thing well in hand.

In the meantime I checked out a local instructor on it, and he rode with her earlier this month -- and she passed.

I met her with roses in the hangar -- and then threw the traditional bucket of water over her head.



Dave

Happy Lady!







And the other day I happened to fly over Edenvale in the Fairchild while she was practising circuits. I was wearing a helmet cam, and caught this,



Pretty much on center-line!

Dave

YAY!
Congratulations

Enjoy the great feeling of this accomplishment.

Andy

Had a wonderful day with airplanes recently. It didn't involve the Fairchild, but it was too cool not to mention.

The Hurricane had had it's oil changed to the anti-corrosion 2F fluid and required a flight to work it all in. The regular guys couldn't get the time free on a weekday when the weather was OK, so I volunteered.

It was a lovely late-Fall day, with that misty far-away look to the sky that happens then. I left the house at dawn and drove to Edenvale, and pre-heated Robin's RV6a. (Nice of her to lend it.)

This is simply a cheap blow-dryer mounted on a vertical slotted board using a bolt and a wing-nut. It dead-simple and works great.



Then I had a quick tailwind-assisted flight to Gatineau, only 1.6 airborne. The Hurri was ready to go.



I met up with Mike Potter there, who had a similar mission in the Spitfire, and we briefed for an air-exercise flight, rejoin, and formation flying practise and return.

There weren't too many people around, thus very few photos. But I did wear my helmet-cam, which I forgot to turn on until halfway through the flight. The trouble is, I thought it would be cold up there since the OAT was about 0C, so I wore a leather jacket, and got hotter and hotter. Thus I flew with the canopy partly open, and this put some of its framing right in the camera viewfinder. Oh well, it's very clear I need to keep my day job...



Had lots of fun, rolling and cavorting and boring holes in the sky...



Then found the Spit -- here forming up...



Did a number of formation and lead-changes, then returned..

So that's what you were doing when we saw you taxi in that day.
We were in the final throes of putting CF-MAD to bed for the season.
The boys took her for a final flight, we changed the oil, ran her for a while and put her to bed.

Looks like you had more fun though Dave

Andy

Then after a de-brief we had a look at the clock, figured that there was just enough daylight left, and Mike threw me into the Extra 330LT.



Wow. We had tried once before and aborted due to a low fuel pressure reading, so I had been waiting for this. What a lovely airplane! Talk about precision control! The contrast between the Hurricane and the Extra took me a minute or two -- fist off the stick and revert back to fingertips. I didn't really do it justice. I think I explored about 10% of the envelope of the airplane. Time was short. But I did my standard Sportsman-Intermediate-level aerobatics, and enjoyed myself immensely.

Landing was interesting. I've never flown an airplane that had that level of control authority before. I came in and did my standard 3-point, and as the airplane flared and settled into the landing attitude, I continued to bring the stick back into my gut as I have been trained and as I train others. Well, the tailwheel touched the pavement smoothly, mains still in the air, and we rolled along like that for about 100 ft. Never done that before! Then the wings stalled and the mains dropped on with a little plop. (I guess at least I was going straight.) Very powerful tail feathers!

Anyway, it was very nice of Mike to do that.



Than a quick flight prep, jump back into the RV6a, and I made it back to Edenvale just as the sun went down (it's not night equipped).

Why can't all days be like that!?!?

Dave

Yes, I saw you guys there, Andy. I drove by later but you'd gone home.

All done, eh? Too bad you can't put the Moth on skiis....

There is a set at VWoC. Never been used to my knowledge.

Dave

I took these photos in about 1977, at Wat Martin's old place. I was there in a Citabria. Dad was there in the Stampe.

Never seen it happen since.







Dave

So one day last fall I arrived at the hangar and the tailwheel looked a little low. When I pulled off the inspection plate I saw the valve stem had crept hard up against one end of the opening.

This is a problem with these and similar tailwheels. If the pressure gets low the whole tire and tube can move on the rim when you touch down, with the shock of instant rotation, and sheer-off the stem. Instant flat tire. This case wasn't that bad, but it had moved so that I couldn't get a valve-stem extender to thread onto it. I had to take the tire off.

To jack up the back I've built a jig that spreads the load evenly along the main lower fuselage tubes.



It's padded with soft styrofoam.



Up she goes...

Now that is cool! Thanks for posting, Dave!

_________________
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

PIC, Ford 6600 pulling Rhino batwing up and down the runway

Kurt, thanks. It works well. I will post a couple more photos about taking the tire apart to change the tube -- for my own notes if nothing else. The Manual is not clear. I guess this was common knowledge in it's day.

Removing the tire as a unit from the fork is easy, just one bolt. But be careful, because there is nothing holding the bearings in, and if you tilt the thing sideways they will fall onto the floor along with the dust seals. It's best to have a clean work surface prepared.

At first glance there seems to be no way to take the rim apart. No bolts. What you have to do is deflate the tube, then push the face plate in until the split-ring is exposed. This is easily pried out with a screwdriver. Then the face plate slides off the rim and removing the tire and tube is easy.





Then of course you clean all the parts, clean and check the bearings, pack them with grease, and reassemble the unit, being careful to get the dust-seals back in place. Inflate to 45 psi. Putting the tire back into the fork and tightening up the bolt to squeeze the bearings is of course done with the standard technique -- over-tighten a bit, spin it both ways, then back off until it just turns freely. Don't forget the cotter pin.

With Fairchilds, the valve stem is either too short or has an awkward 90-degree bend (two types). I am using the too-short type, and have a couple of auto-parts store valve-extenders in the airplane tool kit for whenever re-inflating is necessary. That way when you take the extender off, the stem easily fits into the compartment and the cover screws on without any fuss.

Dave

Other flights and fancies....

My Dad got all his old tractors and cars out of the buildings for an event-day last August. I thought this was a nice pairing -- The Stampe SV4B, and Chris' 1955 T-Bird. A big crowd of their car-club friends showed up -- about 50 cars and 25 tractors in the pasture.