Warbird Information Exchange

Kay’s home base, the Vintage Flying Museum, is offering an IA renewal class on Feb 8-9. It will be mainly about warbirds and the A-26 in particular. Both the B and K models will be presented. The course will be taught by an A&P/IA. See either the VFM Facebook page or Kay’s FB page for more info. Can also make reservations on the VFM website. www:vintageflyingmuseum.org
For the latest updates on Kay, see http://www.facebook.com/a26specialkay

Work continues on the restoration projects we had to postpone to make last year’s shows. The clock is ticking to get done in time for this year. We have not been very aggressive in scheduling much in the pre-summer season, but will after the summer. We still are looking for local mechanics who might be willing to volunteer to help us and become part of the team. Come out to visit at VFM on weekends.

We are looking for information for a solid state static inverter to replace the two old rotary types which are a source of weight we are trying to eliminate. The inverters convert 28v DC to 115 v AC and 26 v AC. Any suggestions?

The trade off is going to be $$$$ to lose the weight. The 26VAC is fairly cheap, at several hundred bucks. 115 VAC/400cy, depending on 1p or 3p, is going to be well over $5K.


Much bummer about Mark and Bill yesterday. I worked with Mark for about 10 years. Thoughts and prayers to all....

We are in shock still. They were the retired Navy guys who maintained the A-3 at VFM. They were bringing back some parts rom Corpus Christi when an 18 wheeler crossed the median and hit them head on. It was instantly fatal. The truck driver was injured but not badly. While they didn’t work on Kay, we considered them part of our hangar family and they will be missed. They put in a lot of time and effort getting the A-3 here and painted. Douglas built the A-3 and B-66 as replacements for the A-26. It was a tragic accident that didn’t have to happen, but they are leaving a legacy for their unit and for future generations. Salute!

The Vintage Flying Museum presented its first A-26 Maintenance Familiarization Course this weekend. Bill Gorin, aka Crew Dawg did the instructing. It is a two day course for those who want to work on warbirds and A-26’s in particular. A drawing will be held of participants to win a ride in the CAF Invader Squadron A-26, “Night Mission.” Stay tuned for an announcement for future classes. The next VFM event is a “Ride Day” on 21 March. Perhaps up to six warbirds will be available for rides and three will be relatively inexpensive. Be sure to check back for more info closer to that date.

We attended NWOC, National Warbird Operators Conference, in Mobile last weekend. Had a great experience visiting with other operators and maintainers. There were several speakers such as George Hardy who was a Tuskegee Airman in WW2 who went on to fly C-119 gunships in VN. Of course, our favorite was Joe Kittinger who flew Kay during his transition to the B-26K for VN. He told several stories about his combat missions including getting shot down in an F-4 on his third tour and ending up as a POW in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. He also told about his record setting hi altitude jumps from helium balloons back in the ‘60’s. He was the first man to see the curvature of our planet. After retiring from the AF, he took on the project to fly solo across the Atlantic and completed it successfully. Now at 91 years old, he still drives his own vehicles and not much slows him down. We urge all those with an interest in warbirds to attend NWOC next February. Rumor has it that Corpus Christi will be the host city. Warm temps and seafood go well with warbirds, don’t you think?

The C virus has forced VFM to temporarily suspend guest visitation for a couple of weeks. But work continues on all the aircraft in winter maintenance. Kay is in D check as everything is getting inspected from top to bottom. The T-33 has the tail off and engine pulled out. It looks like a model airplane ready for building. Lots to do on both. The other A-26 from the Invader Squadron is close to being ready to go and we have lent them some help. The B-29 is going back together nicely so it is expected to be out of the hangar next. The B-24 is still waiting on some landing gear parts, but it will probably be number 3 to go out. The VFM Ride day on 21 March is postponed and an announcement will be made when that is rescheduled.

Sheesh, who saw this coming...we may lose all airshows for the rest of the year. Very sad times, indeed. Work has slowed down on Kay with the stay at home order and social distancing. A few of the guys are working individually on some key projects though. The T-33 is waiting on parts to reassemble the engine, but the inspection phase is pretty well done and ready to go back together. Sorry the updates have slowed, but you can understand why. The shelter in place edict was just extended to April 20, but it is expected to be changed to the end of May. That will not be the end of it though, either in Texas or nationally.

The Vintage Flying Museum is now open again on Fr, Sat and Sunday on a limited capacity basis. Visitors should wear masks to help avoid infecting others from the C19 virus. Hand sanitizers are furnished at various places around the facility. Our T-33 is going back together and might be ready to fly before the end of May. But it’s kinda like getting dressed up for the prom and no place to go. That said, we need to get a lot of training done so it all works out. Kay is making slow progress with the main effort being sheet metal repairs. After those are done, the pace should pick up. We just don’t want to risk our high risk team members. The C-47 had some bad luck. It was parked outside one night last week when an expected hail storm hit. The hail measured around 2 inches in size and it put holes in all the fabric covered control surfaces. The airplane will be down for a couple of months. Finally, the news indicates that the Navy Blue Angels will conduct a flyover of the Dallas and Ft Worth areas to show appreciation for our front line of medical defense and other first responders. They will start about 11 am Central, Wed.

The Vintage Flying Museum is open on Fri, Sat and Sun now. The hangar is still full of big iron. B-29, B-24, two A-26’s, two Beech 18’s, two T-6’s, one Stearman, one T-33 and a lil ol Yak 52 that snuck in somehow. All are normally flyable. The B-29 is expected to be ready by July 1: but looks like the T-33 will come out first now. There is going to be a flyin at New Braunfels on July 4th sponsored by the Texas Aviation Academy. We are trying to get the T-33 there. Also on the 4th, Randy Ball has organized the Cedar Creek Lake Airshow for performers to get the opportunity to get current. It may continue on the 5th in which case, we might do a pass or two in the T-33. The arrangement around the lake allows the dispersal of folks so distancing can be maintained. Stay tuned!

We are pleased to report that the pace of work on Kay has picked up this weekend. It had come to a standstill with the Covid outbreak. Many of our volunteers are older and at a higher risk if infected so we have been very cautious about cranking up again and trying to maintain social distances. In other good news, the T33 had a successful first post Maintenance Flight last Saturday. No squawks reported which is highly unusual. We will do our annual ejection seat training next Sunday. Training flights will resume shortly after. We would also like to acknowledge the passing of the 500,000 views mark on WIX. It has been a long but wonderful experience sharing our progress with Warbird enthusiasts like ourselves! Thank you!

Three more successful flights of our T-33. The work on Kay picked up more steam this week. Our hopes are to be airworthy again by November for what airshows may be remaining. We have decided to change the left engine if we can raise the shekels to do it. Thinking of signing Kay up for unemployment!

Our T-Bird decided it wanted a new fuel pump so that operation is on hold until the pump comes back from the shop. The sheetmetal work on Kay progresses but slowly with the C virus restrictions. The B-29 FiFi departed Meacham this morning for DC. You can follow her track on http://www.flightaware.com. Just plug in N529B. Right now is about 7500 ft and 209 knots. That’s about what Kay would do there at our usual low cruise power setting. We will continue to work on Kay primarily on Fridays and Saturdays for now. Drop by the Vintage Flying Museum and see many restorations in progress including Jackie Cochran’s Beech 18. It was later owned by Merv Griffin. He took many celebrities for rides in it and their names are in the log. Pretty cool to see. The museum is open Fri, Sat and Sun.

10 July 1942 saw the first flight of the new Douglas XA-26 from Mines Field, now LAX, by test pilot Benny Howard. Hard to believe the type is 78 years old or that Kay is 75 years old. She looks pretty good for an ol’ lady. Unfortunately, the Corona virus is once again bringing our work on her to a stop. The Vintage Flying Museum has decided to temporarily close to the public until further notice. The surge in Texas and the DFW area in particular is taking up nearly all of the available hospital staff to take care of the rising cases. When museum operations resume, we will let you know.