Warbird Information Exchange

Gary, that is a serious offer. I can see what plays out. The airline industry has raised its ugly head again. Our company announced last night that they were closing our maintenance base here in VT. So I may have the time on my hands. Just now waiting to see what happens and where the company offers us locations to go to.

Anyone need a mech who hates Jet A and loves oil and 100LL???????

_________________
Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

Jeff, you sound like me! I of course got out of the airline game a long time ago and now hang out in the ranks of the Corporate aviation world. I sure do miss the the days of leaky jugs and 100LL. But this pays the bills and my bad habits at the moment. I hope things work out for you out that way. I heard the guys at the Fighter Factory were looking for mechs.
Scott.....

Head on down to TYS and set Big Gay Nate, Conrad, Danny, and Curtis straight!!

_________________
If God had wanted man to fly behind a flat motor, Pratt Whitney would've built one.

I hear ya scott. Well at 35 I missed the boom of the round engines. Though I have been lucky cause at my age or younger, there are not too many mechanics that have had fabric, round engine exp. and a love for old airplanes. In my 13 yrs of turning wrenches for a living, I have done a bit of everything.

Some of the younger guys ask me how come I dont have my run qual's for the jet (EMB-145's). I tell them, been there and done that. Done my fair share of running beech 1900's with the last company I was with. Starting a PT-6 in -15 deg in UPSTATE Ny can be a bit interesting.........But selecting a knob once and watching.........ZZZZZZZZ.

So Gary, if you want to paint LIL...........and I got the time! My offer still stands............just gimme a A/C office to put my feet up at night and a CD player so I can bring my Glen Miller. Maybe a couple of dust cutters too............my painting can always use some fine tuning.

_________________
Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

LOL................forgot you were on here...............Already talked to Andy and Jesse and BGN on the phone for an hr 2 days ago.......

Send me a e mail

vtdeucedriver@yahoo.com

_________________
Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

Gary, who's twin mustang is that in the background of some of the photos?

Didn't know the CAF had more than one.

That's the only one we have. The same one that is always in the rumor mill.
Gary

It's back in Midland now? When did they move it back from So Cal?

Jeff,

Heritage Aero in Rockford IL does my T-33 maintenance, but they do a lot of round engine warbirds such as: T-28, T-6, A-26, HU-16, DC-3, Yak, Wildcat, Avenger etc. They do some general aviation but the majority of their work is warbirds. It's always fun to go down there and see what's in the hangar. They do a lot of contract maintenance for Courtesy Aircraft (their next door neighbors) and their clients. Don't know if they're hiring or if you'd be willing to relocate, but it seems they're always looking for experienced mechanics. One mechanic that used to be full time for them works on a contract basis for them part-time/on and off so maybe that's an option. They're always busy, but they are rrreally busy at peak times such as the few weeks just before Oshkosh. Give them a call if you're interested and ask for Cliff or Kurt: 815-395-0500.

http://www.heritageaero.com/

Thanks for the tip. I am trying to stay on the east coast though. I will say this............I drool over American Aero Services web site all the time. There in a good area of fla that I like. Wanted to peek in the door the last time I was in fla..........drove by the airport but did not stop. My wife had her fill of airport stops for the day. Anyways I collect military Vehicles and love warbirds so I would fit in. I just wish my sheet metal work was up to there quality that they would expect or I would ask about employment. I can scab one together pretty good to get it out the door but after finally seeing the corsair and all the pics of the metal work they have done on the mustang has made me think twice......there really good!!!

_________________
Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

What's gives Gary? You decide to take the day off?

Just kidding, I'm really enjoying following you progress on "Diamond Lil"

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

My progress the last two days have been frustratingly slow. So there's not too much to report. After shuffling airplanes around in the hangar and getting the B-24 it's semi-permanent spot for the winter, I started back on fabricating structure for the tailgunner's section and didn't get far before I broke my shrinker. So after a few choice words, I moved on to fabricating the tunnel gun position. The pictures below show how I went about starting this. I'm sure that there are just about as many different ways to do this as there are different sheet metal guys out there. I am by far, not a sheet metal expert. I learn something every time I do sheet metal work and with every piece of scrap I make. So, without anymore excuses, here is my description of today's work...

The first step for me was to take the old piece that I removed and place it on a new sheet of aluminum. I back drilled a couple of pilot holes and used clecos to hold the old sheet in place on the new sheet. I then traced the outline of the old sheet so that I could cut out the new piece.


Since we don't have a sheet metal shear large enough to cut this out the easy way, I had to resort to cutting it out by hand...sort of. I used a pnuematic shear to cut this piece out. This is .040 thickness, so cutting it with hand shears (which I prefer on thinner aluminum for accuracy) just would have been too time consuming. I'm sort of sloppy with this gadget, so I'll have to just even it out with a file later in the process.......


The next step for me was to transfer the holes from the original piece to the new piece. I just used those previous pilot holes to realign the two pieces together and started drilling. The reason I use the original piece is because I know for a fact that it fits the airplane. After all, I just took it off. The new piece's holes should be virtually perfect when putting it in place. I only transferred the outboard holes, however, as I will be cutting the hole out of the center of the new piece (tomorrow morning) to duplicate the tunnel gun port.


And after making lots of little metal shavings, the new piece has all of the rivet holes (that I will be using) duplicated.


I hope to have another update for y'all tomorrow. You real sheet metal guys out there please take it easy on me. I know there are better ways to do this, but I'm just trying to shed a little light on how a dummy like me gets things done to "inquiring minds that want to know."

Gary

If you take any more metal off of that plane, you'll have to start thinking about some "cribbing and shoring"

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Looking great!!!

Well, things have gone smoothly so far this morning, and the hole for the tunnel gun port has been cut out of the new piece of skin.

It all started by simply laying out the area I needed to cut out. I cheated on the circle by making a template strip and drawing it out with that...


The next step was to cut the center out. The radius of this circle was large enough to where I could do a fairly clean job with a cut-off wheel. It's better to be lucky than good...



And here it is clecoed back on the airplane. You can start to see how it should eventually look here...


The next step is the monotonous part. Deburring the rivet holes, refining the overal fit, and eliminating any sharp edges or corners. I don't think I'll bother y'all with pictures of all of that.

Gary