Warbird Information Exchange

I'm interested for sure! It's just the getting from New Zealand to you that's the hard part!

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Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22

The "Makasi" emblem posted earlier was from the Cuban pilots hired by the CIA to fly K's in theCongo during that uprising. Many of them were also involved with A-26's in the Bay of Pigs invasion. The Congo was the first use of the K in combat.

To confirm what Bob said, the CBU-14 was what we flew in 66. It was the "newest" munition that we had. Six tubes with 19 bomb lets per tube I believe.

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

Thanks again Randy & & Bob. We will have look at some replica ordnance later. The Kay crew will be working right thru the holidays. We are fitting the Congo mod airscoops for the carbs and checking the cowlings for fit. The engine fire extinguisher system is coming along thanks to Ray. It is about ready for Larry and company to wire up and test the circuits. New video is posted on our FB page of the T-33 run up & taxi test. No login required. http://www.Facebook.com/a26specialkay

Hope everybody who participated is recovering from the holiday feast today. The Cowboys outlasted those other guys from DC, so it was a grand day. The T-33 got a newly serviced battery, an engine run up and a fast taxi to check the brakes. They are still good so the steering is greatly improved. Actually there is a good deal of similarity in the way it is handled on the ground as compared to the A-26. What is missing is the prop blast which helps with rudder effectiveness and differential power from having two engines. The free castering nosewheel and the use of brakes for steering is common to many aircraft of that era. It taxied like a heavy T-34B which was built as a lead in to the T-28/T-33 so I would have to give high points to the designers for getting it right. Anyway, its back to work on Kay tomorrow afternoon thru the weekend. The cowlings and carb air scoops will get a lot of attention. Perhaps the wiring crew on the engine fire extinguishers will be back to start that part of the project. There are lines that need to be installed as well. Work continues on a couple of repairs on the left nacelle. The gear doors can be hung and tested after that. The emergency air brake system remains as one of our hurdles to finish before we can taxi the airplane. The T-33 was weighed yesterday, but we will have to do Kay when we get all the big pieces on and some room to maneuver. The B-29 is in for winter maintenance so things are a bit tight in the hangar right now. Come see us if you are in Ft Worth at the Vintage Flying Museum. JR

Would these serial numbers be from a B-26 prop?

DWG NO 814-303-18

SER NO 105160

SER NO 106411

Those numbers don't come close to either our K blades or the B's in our hangar. Drawing # and serial numbers are way off. Sorry, not much help,

Remembering Jimmy Neill, unsung hero and a long time member of the B24/B29 Squadron. A volunteer's volunteer. Jimmy passed away on November 18th. Jimmy was always serious busy taking care of the odds and ends logistics that are the essence of a volunteer organization. These are oftentimes not glamorous tasks, but they are the mundane things that a maintenance organization relies upon.

I got to know Jimmy well before FIFI housed at the VFM. Wherever we met he always had a smile along with a kind word, then he was off to get something done.

Rest in peace Jimmy, you have certainly earned it.

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The real JR

Geeze Loueez, we had one heck of a Friday.

Twelve, yes 12 crew showed up to check compression, set valves, work on cowling and fire extinguisher system. I can report that Miss Mona, our No 1. is as healthy as a racehorse. Next was setting her valves. We did four complete rounds using the "wizz wheel" and she's very happy now. We found her No 4 intake with a broken valve spring. Thanks to twenty four feet of rope and our Sun Air tools she's all happy now. While all that was going on the guys cleaned and lapped all the valve covers. We'll install them tomorrow. In the back shop Larry was building the fire bottle electrical harness. Tomorrow we install the nacelle so Ray can fabricate the "hard lines" to the aircraft manifold. Jim and the guys were over on Lisa making some noise so that tomorrow, if all goes as planned we should be able to final fit her cowlings.

Saturday is forecast to be rainy in the forties. Glad we have a good roof over Kay. Cold rain, just like Puget Sound where they build the 737 NextGen.

all we lack is finishing up...come see us.

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The real JR

I don't understand it... how does an engine that has recently been overhauled have a broken valve spring with so little time on the engine? Is this a common thing that has to be checked all the time?... or a fluke?... or ?????

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Bob
Memories of Naked Fanny
More Memories of Naked Fanny (Nov 2013)
609th Nimrod, Bomb loader, Gun Plumber, '68 - '69

Bob, it was the other engine, "Lisa" that was just overhauled. "Mona" is the left engine and we will wait a bit longer to overhaul it. Conventional wisdom says to avoid putting two newly overhauled engines on the airplane at the same time if it can be avoided. As we found out with "Lisa", new overhauls need to be proven out because problems or mistakes can pop up right away.

Thanks for the info. Since I never worked on the engines or paid attention to what went on with them I don't know how much maintenance they took. To me it seemed like we flew most airplanes every day so I now wonder how much work there was on the engines each day.

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Bob
Memories of Naked Fanny
More Memories of Naked Fanny (Nov 2013)
609th Nimrod, Bomb loader, Gun Plumber, '68 - '69

Bob, in answer to your maintenance question I'll share some info from A-26 reports for October, 1967. At that time we had 9 aircraft and for the month each airplane flew an average of 57.6 hours. One aircraft.#64-17667, logged 111.2 hours. there were 239 sorties flown in October, the average duration being 2.7 hours. The greatest number of hours, for maintenance, were for: engines, 269 hrs.,flight controls, 244 hrs.,and electrical problems at 131 hours.When you look at the overall averages, for October, it works out that each sortie required about 116 hours on some type of maintenance.

Frank Nelson
Nimrod 1967/68

Thanks Frank... all very interesting. I never realized the engines and flight controls required that much work.

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Bob
Memories of Naked Fanny
More Memories of Naked Fanny (Nov 2013)
609th Nimrod, Bomb loader, Gun Plumber, '68 - '69

What dia. rope did you use, nylon or hemp? I had heard of this method to support the valves, I've used compressed air on automotive engines to support valves on spring change. Is this the preferred method to use rope? Maybe more solid and less chance to drop a valve?