Warbird Information Exchange

Hmmmm, what would be the ideal thing to get the grandkids for Xmas assuming you have put off shopping because it would be a total nightmare and you didn't order anything online because of all the shipping snafu's?? Perfect cover... you can now order your Special Kay T-shirt and blame it on FEDEX or UPS. The grandkids will understand. Oh, and how about picking one up for you at the same time? Grandpa or Grandma would be really cool with the same T shirt as the kids. Right? PM me for sizes and costs. Help support our return to flight of the world's only flying A-26A. Thanks!! Come see us at our hangar at Meacham for even quicker pick up of shirts and see how the project is doing. JR in Ft Worth, the aviation center of the Republic.

This is T, our Third Asst Wiper on the crew. He is patiently waiting for the go signal to start ripping open the presents. Santa was very nice to him so we have to assume he has been a good boy!! JR can be proud! The other JR

The GGA DC-3 is flying every night over Ft Worth and Arlington to see the Xmas lights thru New Year's eve. Ck out the website for more info. Contact Dana to reserve a spot. http://www.gga1.org She is running a special longer flight for NY's eve for those so inclined to take the champagne flight!

Rand, JR, David B and Tim finished up the horizontals today and got the elevators/trim tabs rigged. Tim decided we needed a new shop vac since the old one was on its last legs so a lot of old crud, loose hardware and even a tool or two was removed from this area. Then he did a number on the cockpit since it is getting close to having the panel installed. We had hoped to get that done this w/e, but two of our avionics guys couldn't be there today. Guess we should allow a few holidays! It turned out to be beautiful weather after the Sun finally got overhead, but cold front tomorrow will whip up the wind and drop temps back into the 40's. That cold hangar is not much fun when that is going on. Several other detail projects were just about completed by Ray on the sheetmetal stuff. He also obtained a stencil machine so we can paint on the placards when the time comes. The other JR

The DC-3 had a flight today at 1 pm so part of the crew helped to service and get it ready. Others continued their projects, but when it came time for chow, BBQ proved to be popular and brought most of them running. At the end of the day, everybody pitched in to help clean the area and cover up the cockpit and doghouse so the dust that will be blowing into the hangar tomorrow with the gusty winds won't mess up all the good work. The hydraulic actuator that was leaking on the right gear was fixed and reinstalled so we hope that can be tested out next weekend. Still working on the aux hyd pump leak. JR spent a lot of time organizing our materials today and inspecting the work that was accomplished. He will have a lot of 337's to fill out before long and a new maintenance plan to submit to the FSDO. I don't know why we can't just say if it's broke, we will fix it, otherwise we will look at it every 500 miles or 3 months whichever comes first and maybe change the oil. Hey, it works for cars. How hard can it be?? The other JR

Ray scored us a Universal Prop Protractor on eBay so we are very happy. Can double check the rigging on all the flight controls plus the prop blade angles. Old technology is still a good thang! On another note, like to send a shout out to the UT folks who lost to the Ducks tonight in the Alamo Bowl/San Antonio. Coach Brown is a class act and he was a gentleman to the end since this was his retirement game. In spite of the fact that TU is an arch rival of Texas A & M, I have to say that I truly miss the traditional Turkey Day game between the Aggies and the Longhorns. Hope it can be resumed one of these days. I would love to see K flying over the stadium for the National Anthem. Wow! It would make all this time and effort more than worthwhile beyond our first intention of telling the story of the Nimrods and honoring those vets. Just plum exciting to think about.... Wishing I was in College Station, JR

On the bottom of the nose area, we are eyeballing a spot to place the probe for the KLR-10 AOA system. There is an existing transponder area on the right side so we have to consider whether it might interfere with that or not. Our avionics guys are studying the situation. Now is the time to get it done as the instrument panel is ready to go back in and this position, if it works, would make it easier to plumb the KLR-10 to the cockpit. If this goes as planned, this will test whether the system will work on larger aircraft. We are betting it does. Happy to be in the Republic! JR

This step has been rebuilt by Lou and JR is inspecting it in this shot. Ray has made a new door, hinge and springs to return it a spring loaded floppy door that can be pushed in, release the ladder, and use it to climb up the side. JR

Ray, our magic metal man, fashioned this new hinge and made the springs to make it operational for the door in the step of the previous shot. Just another one of those hundreds of details we are trying to finish. With the installation of the instrument panel coming up, then we will be closer to 80% done with our list. We want to wish everybody a Happy New Year. 2014 will see us flying again. JR

K got a new shop vac for Xmas among some other new toys! Thanks JR, Tim and Ray! Now that we are getting closer to finishing the airplane, it is time to start getting rid of all the dust and FOD that collects when its been worked on this long. Wouldn't want loose hardware getting into some place it can cause problems. Also need to paint the cockpit floor and other portions around it soon if the temps ever get back up. Looks like it will be a good day Saturday here, but the poor folks back in the NE may be digging out from deep snow. Another good reason to come see us down here in the Republic. Some good BBQ or Tx Mex food will warm you right up! Happy New Year to you! The Other JR

Another view of the nose section shows the area for the AOA probe we are planning to install. The white transponder antenna is to the left in the picture. Also notice the door on the bottom with the number 53 on the corner. When opened, there is a ladder that extends. The C model A-26 had a door there for the bombardier to enter the nose, but this door looks awfully small to use as an entry door. Randy, or maybe Bob, do you remember ever using it perhaps to empty shell casings or something? Perhaps maintenance folks used it for access to the nose compartment? JR

That looks like the brass dump door to me, if it's located under the gun bay.

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

That must be what it is, but do you recall a small ladder that extends from inside of it? Also, when you opened it, did ya'll put a box or something under it to catch hulls before they spilled on the ramp. With those mean lil vipers you mentioned out there at NKP, wouldn't be good to be reaching down on the ground for something, I'd think. There is a canvas divider that separates the nose gun bay area from the cockpit so normally one couldn't access the gun bay from the cockpit, but I'm told these rotted out shortly after reaching Thailand. Then all the smoke and smell from the guns came right back into the cockpit. Betcha those flight suits would set off all the TSA alarms now!! Good thing they weren't around back in the day.... or necessary. My how times have changed... and not for the good. Whatever happened to that nice little hot and cold war we had with the Commies when they were the only bad guys? Don't you miss the good ol days? I'll take NOT for $200, Alex. JR

.......do you recall a small ladder that extends from inside of it?
===I don't recall a ladder being in there. Is is possible that the door for the glass nose had the ladder and it may have gotten changed out with one of those at one time?
.......when you opened it, did ya'll put a box or something under it to catch hulls before they spilled on the ramp.
=====We had this small 4 wheel trailer that had a big wooden box on it that we pushed up under the nose, dropped the door and all the brass and links dumped into the box. That was the way we did it in 66, don't know if they changed the method of unloading it after that. Also don't know what happened to the brass. Guess it was buried or possibly sold to the Thais for scrap.
As far as the snakes, I guess I was fortunate that I only saw one of the two-steppers while I was at NKP, and that was one night some of us were coming back from town and was walking back to the barracks and saw one going across the street in front of us. Happened to be under a street light or we probably wouldn't have even seen it. We looked at it a bit, decided it was in fact a two stepper, and we went our way and the snake went his way. After a night on the town, we were in no shape to do anything but look!! They taught us the way to identify a snake was, "Red on yellow kill a fellow, Red on Black, Friendly Jack." Don't know if that was true or not, and in my case, it didn't matter, as I am petrified of snakes!
Yep, I can imagine how the guys from the 60's Air Commandos would get along with all of todays regulations. Probably all end up in Leavenworth!!

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

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I think this is the answer to the ladder on the brass door. According to the book, its a access ladder for the recon nose.
T.O. 1B-26K-4. It must have been changed out at one time or another due to------possible damage during one of the gear collapses????????

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