Warbird Information Exchange

Okee-dokee...time to address some questions...........

BDK, we're working on it. I've had a couple of meetings with the "important people" here at HQ about this and they are working on the website issues as we speak and I am going to be writing an article for the newsletter in my "free time."

Alan.L, I don't want to go too far back and bore y'all with childhood stuff, but I officially started in the Warbird scene while running my own shop. I maintained several acro mounts, Stearmans, & T-6's for a while and then had the opportunity to build a T-6, with all new (surplus) parts, from scratch. It was the first airplane I ever built and as the "proud father" of it, I'm happy to say it won Best T-6 at Sun-N-Fun in 1996. It is N66WP, belonging to North American Restorations out of Memphis, TN. After that, I was extremely fortunate that Nelson Ezell took me in to work at his place in Breckenridge. That is where I really got my training. Future lawyers go to Harvard, future engineers go to MIT, I went to Ezell Aviation. I will always feel fortunate to have been part of his team and regret leaving there quite often. I feel like I've let Nelson down sometimes.

jpeters, I wish I had 1/10th the talent y'all think I have. I struggle everyday with most of what you see posted on this message board. It's the guys that work with Nelson Ezell, Gerry Beck, Pioneer Aero, and the like that are the talented ones. They just keep a lower profile than I do.

Gary

Oh, by the way...

I was just informed that the people who were going to donate their time and talent to recover our control surfaces for the Liberator have had some issues arise to where they will no longer be able to offer their services to us. I am very appreciative of their willingness to take on the project originally, and understand their situation.

However, that leaves me in yet another bind. I need to find someone else that would be willing to donate [/i]their time and talent to recover our control surfaces for the Liberator. If you don't wish to "announce" yourself, please just PM me.

Thanks,
Gary

It's too bad we can't transport Lil and you and your equipment back to Tulsa for the winter program Gary. There are 5 or 6 of us watching WIX from T town who live 15 minutes from RL Jones and could be there to assist almost everynight. We are with you in spirit. Keep on keepin on!

Just thinking outloud (and probably out of place) ...but how about Gary ships the control surfaces to you all and that way you can contribute from afar....

John

I wish that was my specialty! I am a 20+ year metals fabrication man. If it is made out of metal from carbon to stainless, aluminum to Hastaloy, I have had my hands on it. If you gave me the control surfaces, the first flight might be the last

Good idea John, but the Tulsa bunch is who was going to do them in the first place. They've done a buttload of great work to this airplane in the past. I think it would have been awesome if they would have been able to pitch in with these control surfaces too, but I completely understand their situation. We'll find someone to do them, or I'll just do them myself.

Gary

I would just like to commend you Gary for your ability to document the process as you go. I always have good intentions, but then realize that I am done with my project and didn't take any pictures. Doh!

It's been tough to remember to take those pictures. When I get going on a project, it's usually best for me to keep going without stopping. That's why I get here so early every day...so there's no distractions. One problem with that though, regarding the picture taking, is that there are sometimes where I'd like for y'all to see how a certain piece of machinery or equipment works while doing it's function. But I can't do that when there is nobody here to snap a photo for me. It's difficult (and sometimes unsafe) for me to take a picture while working with some of this equipment at the same time. But overall, I think y'all are probably getting the general idea with the photos I've taken so far.

Gary

Gary,

Just me thinking out loud (again), but for your aileron recovering project, what about enlisting the help of a local EAA chapter? Those guys are constantly playing with fabric and chemicals. If you supply the goods, I'll bet they could finish the project at one of their hangar sessions.

I even included the handy "chapter locater" link for you.

http://www.eaa.org/chapter/chapter_locator.html

_________________
It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Wow!!! Finally a job for a extra large person!

Dan K, that's an excellent idea! I know some of those guys and didn't even think about them. Sometimes you just can't see the forest due to the termites in the trees.....or something like that. I'll try to contact them today.

Thanks!
Gary

Diamond Lil... the plane was an LB-30 at one time... when I first viewed her in 1965, she had a unique nose which I had presumed was 'the LB-30'... as I studied more, I had found the B-24A short nose like in this photo:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m170 ... 579-Oa.jpg

What nose did the LB-30 have? Did Diamond Lil have that 1965 nose in 1941? OR did she have a B-24A nose?

Was Diamond Lil the sole Consairways "B-24" in 1941?
TIA,
David Aiken

Gary,

My name is Michael Clinton and I have been following this thread for awhile and live in Midland. (Before everyone throws stones at me for not helping Lil, I am working on clearing my weekends in order to try to help). Anyway, I am will be the incoming secretary of the local EAA Chapter 123 in January and my father is the President. We have been trying to get our chapter more involved in local aviation events, however, we met resistance from our members and the CAF. I don't know all the details but this something my father and I are actively trying to repair. I have no idea how much help we can lend to Lil but I am willing to do whatever I can. PM me if you would like to get in touch about what myself and/or Chapter 123 can help with. Keep up the tremendous work.

David, the original nose on AM927 was a short nose with glass panels. The first solid nose was put on after it was converted to a transport. Later on (I am too lazy to look up the exact dates right now), they put a completely different nose section on the aircraft, from behind the cockpit, forward. This is the current nose section that we have on the airplane now, with the exception of the fact that we obviously have glass panels in the front now. We will NOT be putting the short nose back on the airplane. Everyone will just have to use their imagination. Just think of it as slightly uglier than it is now.......if that's possible.


smclinton, there is a PM on it's way to you right now!!!

Gary

I got here reeeeeaaaaly early this morning, so here's an early update now that I'm taking a little breather.

I continued with trying to refine the hinges for the new entry door. The A-26 gear door hinges didn't work out, but I hit the motherload when I found two more hinges out on the 'pile-o-stuff' that we have out here. They even had some structure with them that I can use and will save me design and fabrication time.....


Before I got too far along, I tried the hinge out to see if it would end up with the correct travel that is needed for this door. It worked well......



Once I knew those hinges would work, I started to mount them to the door frame. Some modification was required, and I will build additional structure to beef the frame back up once all of the fitting is done. In this photo, you can see that one hinge is already in place, and I am just about to cut the slot out for the second one.........


Here they are, clecoed to the door frame and the hinge pivots bolted to them. The pivots will be riveted to the piece of skin that is where the lower portion of the door used to be.......


I screwed up some measurements, because I'm dumb as a box of rocks, and will have to remake that lower section of skin, but it did work out as a nice pattern for me to do it right the next time I build it. At least the holes are in the right spots now. Anyway, here is the door closed and latched.......


And here it is in the open position, hanging on the hinges........


I will get another update out when I get more done. One thing I did forget to mention though, is that I have got a couple of our Squadron members here helping for the next couple of days. It's great to see them pitching in. Maybe all of my incessant whining somehow worked.

Gary