Warbird Information Exchange

Greetings from Virginia! I snuck by U-Hazy Museum late yesterday afternoon & ran quickly thru before their closing at 5:30 pm. Saw lots of great stuff except .... EXCEPT for a Douglas A-26!! How could the nation's premiere air museum have an oversight like this?? It is a travesty. Saw some TLC going into their Martin B-26. Do you suppose they don't know the difference & think the A/B-26 slot is filled?? I can't imagine that being the case. I wanted to shout "Where's the A-26, show me the Douglas A-26"!! Maybe there is one in storage somewhere. Not listed in collections on display on the NASM website. That's what I get for thinking the most important airplane to the K team would be there. We have been thinking about a future home for K when she finally has to be grounded. Was considering NASM or the Museum of Flight in Seattle. I am visiting MoF in Dec as some interest has been expressed there. While it is way too early to start making any firm plans, we would like to know just what accommodations might be given to our gal so that the most people can see what the team has accomplished in the restoration & the history of the military folks involved during her & sister's service. Heading back to the Republic, the Other JR

Many years ago when our flying club took a tour of the Paul Garber Restoration Facility in Suitland, Md. (long before it was moved to Chantilly) I did see what appeared to be a Wind Tunnel Model of an A-26 tucked back in under some shelving in one of their many warehouses. It appeared to have about a 10ft. wingspan as I remember. Had no props but I think it had spinners. The Udvar-Hazy Museum is definitely worth the stop if you're in the area.

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

Saturday was a busy day at the hangar. BUBA departed early (well 8:30 is early for them) for the Corsicana, Texas air show. The other JR, our fearless leader was looking sharp in his CAF flight suit. Even better he was in the left seat! Getting closer to flight, its critical Kay has a flight crew all checked out. Rand, another of our Kay crew was also on board. Not to be outdone, the GGA1.org DC3 "Southern Cross" had a SIC training with two hours of air work. Great to hear these round motors!

That left a smaller crew working on Kay. Big Tim and Dave fought the No 2 cowl flap supports. Almost done, getting closer. Late in the morning we received the good news that Paige, Dave's better half was awarded a red ribbon at the State Fair of Texas. Yup, that carrot cake is officially award winning! Great job Paige! Your faithful team of taste testers are always willing & able to assist!

Larry was at it all day getting the cockpit buttoned up. I thought he was laying out a new hangar floor for the dance. No, it was the roll of quilted material used to close up the cockpit. How good is the cockpit is looking? Holy cow!

Yours truly spent most of the day updating paperwork, chasing parts, replacing nut plates and all that other stuff that comes up. Big VFM hangar dance is this Saturday evening - come out and enjoy the sights and sounds. DC3 will be selling rides, an all important part of keeping her flying. Rumor is the Kay crew will be out there too!

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The real JR

Yes indeedy, we went flying in BUBA!! Rand caught some great video of a simulated rocket attack from the cockpit during the Corsicana airshow last Saturday. The all gal pyro team did such a nice job! The video is posted on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/a26specialkay

The Other JR

Well here it is, the perfect day for the VFM Hangar Dance!! Everything is in readiness for the arrival of visitors & dancers. The Big Band is all set to start cranking out the Glen Miller tunes at 8 pm. Dinner is at 6 pm. The Kay team spent the morning working on the cockpit & sprucing up our area for the night. Our tables & snacks are set up so the guys can enjoy the fun. Please stop by to meet some of the people who are doing all the great restoration work. The B-29 will be giving tours as will the A-3D & Kay. The GGA DC-3 will be selling rides over downtown Ft Worth & it should be a beautiful night for it. Our latest cockpit pictures can be seen on http://www.facebook.com/a26specialkay
It has turned out to be the closest to the original K cockpit since the airplanes came out of conversion at OnMark Engineering!! Even the Air Force Museum hasn't gone this far in their example. Be sure to check out the pictures.

Oh boy what a night we had at the VFM hangar dance. Kay was looking great. Larry & crew did a magnificent job on the cockpit. Looked like it just rolled out of VNY. We lit it up using one battery during the dance along with nav & beacon light.

We cleaned up the entire area and it sure looked nice. Rand spent all day Friday wiping Kay down. Boy was she dusty! Bomb bay was decorated with two strings of Christmas lights. The third wiper and Ava, (Chuckie's granddaughter, his "date") had a big time and took a turn on the dance floor! If those two only knew how special it is to have the access... We had two tables set up by the nose which made a ring side seat for the festivities. Plenty of food and drink, our better halves, wow! And we spotted a certain stick actuator cutting a rug on the hangar, er "dance" floor. If you've never done it you oew it to yourself to attend the VFM hangar dance!

To top off the night, and thanks to David & crew we all took a flight around the patch at 23:15 in our beloved Southern Cross! Check out some photos on our FB page, or maybe the other JR will post some here. Carburetors are en route to Ft Worth. Stay tuned!

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The real JR

How do you like these apples? The lights are on!! All the warning and caution lights plus the gear lights and map light that is mounted on the cockpit sill were tried out right before the VFM dance. The dance as the Real JR said, was great fun. It is always great to show family and friends how much we have accomplished since the last time. The guys have put in a lot of overtime to get the cockpit ready for viewing as well as other highlights of this work of art. It always amazes me that such a talented group of guys came together to make this happen. Being only a Stick Actuator, I only hope they let me fly their airplane. Might have to come up with some dust covers or booties for my boots. I wouldn't dare get dirt on that newly painted floor and heaven forbid that I should scuff the paint somehow. I am getting so excited about firing up those engines. The carbs are on the way back from the California attitude adjustment shop. Let's hope that this time they have learned their lessons and will behave after the stern talking to by the shop manager. We have a lot of rigging left to do on the engine controls and the cockpit glass to install before we can fire 'em up but we will be sure to let everybody know when we are ready for the big unveiling of two 2800's making oil smoke and noise once again.

The carbs are back and appear to be in great shape after the long trek from California! It will take a week or two to get them mounted on the engines. We are getting some help from Nelson E's crew on installing the new cockpit glass. We want to have that in place before engine starts. Lots of detail work and leak checks to do before any starts can be attempted. Best guess is that is still a couple of months away. The GGA C-47 had a successful paratrooper drop last Friday evening at the former Perrin AFB near Sherman. Our neighbors, the CAF A-26 participated in the "Warbirds Return to Perrin" on Saturday. Several vets who worked or trained at the base showed up. One in particular was a pilot who trained there in 1944 in a Vultee Vibrator. He was very spry for 93 years of age!! A tentative date of April 16 has been set for the next sport air race. Maybe the warbirds will have another fly-in as well! Stay tuned & be sure to check out our FB page for more pictures. http://www.facebook.com/a26specialkay

This past weekend was not our best. Several team members were out and then our Crew Chief had to report to sick call. Some paperwork was caught up and a few other small detail projects were completed, but nothing got done on the carbs. The GGA DC-3 flew a load so that took some other people away. Just got short-handed for sure. Hopefully, we will be back on track next week. The night shift is still working on the nose gear doors and they are getting close to being finished and ready to hang on the airplane. Nelson E. was in the hangar Friday and Saturday to fix a wayward Corsair and took the time to look at our canopy project that he has agreed to do. Speaking of Corsair's, there is a new one in the Republic that we are happy to see liberated from the East Coast area. And to our friend Christophe in France, we are very sorry to hear that your A-26 project is now for sale. It is one of the very few never modified from the military stock condition. Maybe next week we will have better news. JR

NOOOOOOOO which one?!

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

It is a 1943 FG-1D known as Marines Dream. Formerly based in NJ. Now safe in the Republic. JR

Quite a collection growing over there in East Texas.

Duffy sold her?! Aw man.

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

The Kay team has installed the carburetor on "Mona" and is prepared to do "Lisa's" when the hold down bolts arrive from Ca. Tim and Larry are checking out the carb installation and hoses. BTW, no fingers were harmed in the making of this picture, however, Larry did have a little boo boo at home afterwards and will have to take it easy on one hand. Hope you get well quick, Larry!!
The CB-3 engine uses a carb that is a little bit different so naturally the bolts cost $20 each. And it needs 10 of them. They are not so easy to find, but fortunately, Sun Air Parts had them in stock. We expect them by Friday. The guys have also started the install of the new canopy glass. Ray, JR and Big Ed will do the honors there. Arnold, Tim and David are still working on the right nacelle fit and checking all the engine hoses to make sure they are tightly sealed and connections torqued properly. There have been a lot of different people who have worked on the engine installations so it just pays to make sure everything is good before we attempt to start 'em up. QA is vital to the entire project and you can bet that JR will take another look at everything before we go outside. It sure is hard though to resist. Just like a fine wine, we must wait for it be ready before opening! Check out our Facebook page for more pics. http://www.facebook.com/a26specialkay. You do not have to be a FB member to view our page. The Other JR

Added some info on your facebook page about the USAF Global HF freqs for MacDill found in the cockpit.

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."