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Classic Wings Magazine WWII Naval Aviation Research Pacific Luftwaffe Resource Center
When Hollywood Ruled The Skies - Volumes 1 through 4 by Bruce Oriss


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:22 am 
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Then, after a very careful walk-around (you only get one chance when you lock the wings open -- one chance to do it right) I climbed in (which is like squeezing your whole aging and increasingly arthritic body into a shoe that's 2 sizes too small). She started up well, and idled beautifully.

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The Campbell helmet is a wonderful thing in an open-cockpit aeroplane.

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And off we went.

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PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:37 am 
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The airspace around that airport has been invaded by windmills and tall power-lines. That, combined with the extremely poor visibility in a Fox Moth once the nose comes up, means the pilot should be cautious and observant. I flew overhead for :15 minutes evaluating the Gipsy's settings (all very good), wing trim (not bad at all) and directional stability (atrocious, as normal for the type), then came down and did several approaches and go-arounds to "get my eye in".

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But all went well. The Fox is a long aircraft, and has a high-drag hockey-puck tailwheel which brakes you from astern, so it's not squirrely on the ground. Blind, yes (worse than a fighter), but not squirelly. And that's a good thing considering the brakes (poor, as normal for the type).

And that was it -- a lovely task to have to perform.

Then back into the Fairchild...

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... and away.

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PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:47 am 
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Image

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All photos from outside the aircraft by Dan Hillinger.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 6:23 pm 
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Good news about the compressions on the Fairchild Dave.
I've flown my Tiger in to Stans a couple of times. I only go in if I really like what the wind is doing.
The windmills and wires.... ......well, 'nough said.

You've got me curious about "one chance" with the wings on the Fox.
What's up with that?
Where will the Fox be wintering Dave?

Andy


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:24 am 
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Hi Andy,

Yes, at one point I actually found myself flying between the windmills, and estimating the arc-diameter of their blades. Not a pleasant novelty.

I wouldn't mind, you know, if they were useful for the common good. But here in S. Ont the only time the winds blow strongly is Spring and Fall, when we don't need the extra electricity. In summer, when the air-conditioners turn on, and we need the electricity, the winds don't blow. And in winter we tend to heat our home with natural gas. So, the whole windmill thing is a useless boondoggle, as I see it. Pure optics for politicians. (Rant now complete!)

As for the Fox wings, all I meant is that you had better get the bolts into their sockets properly after unfolding. If one of them jams and doesn't quite get in, the wing would fold in flight. (It's like tying a canoe onto a floatplane -- you only get one chance to do it right.)

I still hope to get it ferried to YND this Fall. Perhaps on Friday. But if it has to stay at Stan's for the winter I guess it's not the end of the world.

Dave


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 16, 2016 1:03 pm 
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Landed after the day featured above, then after shutdown ran my hand across the cylinders (which I do by habit) and #4 was cooler than the others.

And that usually means something!

Cleaned the plugs -- which were totally oily -- ran it up, shut down, used a laser-pointer heat indicator, and sure enough, #4 wasn't running. Rats.

Had another very close look. The intake pipe to the cylinder was in good shape. Did a compression check -- 78 psi (they should all be so good!) So I took the valve cover off (which is awkward because it's part of the oil-scavenge manifold at the bottom of the engine) and looked at the intake spring. Didn't see anything cracked or broken. Cycled OK when I turned the prop. But it seemed to push too easy when I applied pressure from a screwdriver.

So I pulled a different valve cover off, for spring comparison. Sure enough, that spring was hard to deflect. Much harder than #4 intake spring. Ah hah! Smoking gun maybe?

There are 2 coil springs in use on these valves, and inner and an outer, one inside the other. This gives more strength and prevents valve bounce through sympathetic vibration. I think the inner one may be broken...

Grounded for now!

Dave


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 10:26 am 
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Well not quite grounded...

What do you do when your airplane is broken? Take someone else's, of course.

I used pretty much the last summer-y day of the year to ferry the Fox Moth to Vintage Wings, at Gatineau. But first, I was surprised and amazed at what Stan had done to the clock -- which had never worked, to my knowledge.

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Stan recognized that it was a 1931 version of a Hobbs Meter. He took it out and cleaned and serviced it.

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How it works: there is a plunger that stick out the back of the unit about 1/8". In this photo it is depressed by weight of the clock as it sits on the shelf. The plunger is an interrupter, which stops the clock ticking. When the plunger is pushed in, the clock ticks. When it's extended, the clock stops.

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But in use, the clock is in a receptacle in the panel which has an aneroid capsule in the back. This is hooked up to the pitot air source. The aneroid is lined up with the plunger. So, when the airspeed gets to about 50 mph, the aneroid expands, forces the plunger in, and the clock starts ticking. It records elapsed-time. And then of course after landing, when you slow down, the aneroid shrinks, the plunger extends, and the clock stops, recording the hours and minutes of your flight.

When you turn the knob counter-clockwise to zero the reading, you have rewound the clock.

Ingenious mechanical device!


Last edited by Dave Hadfield on Tue Nov 22, 2016 10:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 10:52 am 
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Lovely smooth flight, 2.6 hours, with a 20 kt tailwind.

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Mat Watson

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Dan Hillinger

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Dan Hillinger

Mind you, 2.6 hours is a long time to sit in that seat, which is totally upright and un-ergonomic. And you can never take your feet off the rudder bar.

A friend saw me off.

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Matt Watson


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 4:45 pm 
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I thought the Fox Moth had a soft #4 spring. Must be the Fairchild.
No doubt the owner is glad to have the Fox back in Gatineau.
Too bad we didn't have a chance of a photo with CF-MAD.
Matt sent me that shot he took of you on your way.
He has scored himself a sweet little ride with that Acro Sport.

The only thing nicer than a cross country in a Moth, is a cross country with a tail wind!

Andy


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:20 pm 
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That's for sure, Andy. During the Yellow Wings program at VWoC a few years ago they were considering flying the Tiger to YVR to start the program. Flying it westbound. In the Spring. Against the wind. A Tiger Moth. With a climb-pitch prop.

I said, "Not me", and suggested they ship it by train. This got their attention and they came up with an alternate program.

Anyway, Stan came to the hangar and we started in on the Annual of the Fairchild. I had it all prepped for him, but had not detected the "smoking gun". I'd thought it might be the inner valve spring, but as we lifted the rocker-cover next to the one in question, a large piece fell onto the floor.

OLD AIRPLANE RULE: When large pieces of the engine fall onto the floor it is disheartening to the Owner, but make diagnosis easier.

This is what came loose: Image

And there was no nick or ding. No damage. It just old-metal-broke.

Image

But fortunately I did buy all the spare from the Old Spitfire Pilot who used to own this machine, among which was this:

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:31 pm 
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It is not, as the devoted Readers of this thread will know, the first time one of these has broken, and the appropriate Tool was fabricated some years ago. But first, to make sure we don't make a wrong move and drop the valve inside the cylinder, offending the Universe and causing great anguish and labour to remove the whole thing to retrieve it again, we moved the piston up to TDC, and packed the cylinder with clean rope. (It sure ain't clean now.)

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Here is the Tool being put to use. The rocker pivot bolt is put back through the holes where it normally goes, as a fulcrum, and then the we channel Archimedes, and move the Spring down towards the cylinder.

Image

Image


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:59 pm 
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The Earth didn't move, but the spring sure did, and while I held it down Stan slipped the collars into place, and the New Retaining Washer was set to do it's job again. Ta Dah!!! (Easy fix, and more to the point, cheap.)

But that wasn't the Big Event of the day. I suspect that the magnetos and the carb have not been off this engine since 1972. The right one was at its limit of adjustment and needed to be moved one tooth on the drive gear, and the left one was occasionally running rough. Stan had tested the ignition harness -- all was good, not the problem -- so I bit the bullet and said let's overhaul them.

Removing the right one meant I had to take out the oil tank. GIANT PITA. Not enough space. I'd like to go back in time, meet the engineer who designed the mounts for the Warner, kick him in the slats, and say, "WHY DIDN'T YOU SET THIS UP LIKE A CESSNA 195! IF I COULD PIVOT THE ENGINE AWAY FROM THE FIREWALL THIS WHOLE THING WOULD BE A BREEZE!" (And should a time-machine become cheap and available I may do that very thing.) But in the meantime I busted my knuckles getting the bloody thing out through the maze of tubing and pipes.

Eventually, we liberated 2 of these, the Bendix Scintilla VMN-7DF. Fortunately the drives look in good shape.

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The carb came off easy. Here it is with the air box attached.

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It's a Holley 419.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:16 pm 
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So the mags are en route to Al Savage in California for overhaul. I haven't found a place to do the carb yet.

But I DID find, when I examined the air box, that the controls and linkage regarding the Carb Heat were puzzling. There are 2 butterfly valves in the air-box, before the one in the carb throat. When you select Carb Heat to HOT, a large valve in the main air intake to the carburetor closes as the hot one from the exhaust exciter tube opens. That would be good. If it worked. Which is does NOT appear to. Instead there are small springs and some brazed-on arms which allow that large valve in the main air intake to wiggle, and move around, and from what Stan and I can see, partially block off the main cold air flow to the carb during normal operation.

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These valve controls should be positive and controllable, the arms should not over-center, and should not depend on little coil springs. I think we are getting partial blockage of the main air intake due to a lack of positive control of this valve, and thus limited RPM. Stan and I are going to change it back to the way it should be.

On the good side, the internal carb fuel screen was spotlessly clean, which indicates that the main screen is good, and that my general fuel cleanliness discipline is good, even though I often use jerrycans.

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:35 am 
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The magnetos and the carb are away to California, the mags to Savage, and the carb to Antique Aero. The carb shipped OK, but the mags were refused at the border. No one seems to know what a magneto is. The person at Purolator who was the "expert" and in charge of trans-border shipping said, "Magneto -- does that have a computer screen attached?" So it was returned, I had to re-ship the box, and this time labeled it "Alternators", and it got through. (...sigh...)

At least I made a proper box.

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VFR flying weather has been rare this winter. Grey skies and wind and rain and snow most of the time. But we did have a recent flying day. My parents came up in the C-170. I took them to lunch...

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... and then got a checkout in the 170 with Dad.

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:56 am 
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Lovely airplane. This one still has the 0-300 six-banger, which of course runs so smooth. It's quiet too -- you don't need an intercom in that cabin.

It's performance is very good with 2 men, half tanks and a cold winter day -- gets off the runway quickly and climbs well. Handling is very solid, with little wing-drop at the stall, and it is reliable and predictable at slow-speed. Visibility from the right seat over-the-nose was superb for a taildragger -- I think in this case because the upholstery in the right seat has been little used, and I sat up high. Anyway, I had no trouble seeing over the front during flare -- quite a luxury in a 1955 conventional-gear machine.

The elevator becomes stiff and heavy during the flare -- I'd forgotten that -- and it took me 3 tries to get a good 3-point. But there was no tailwheel shimmy and it tracks well for spring-steel gear.

I enjoyed the flight very much. It's been a long time since my Dad checked me out in an aircraft. The last time was probably in a DC-9 in 1980...

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Later we walked into a hangar and he stopped in surprise. "CF-LAL!!!"

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He knew the aircraft when he was a young man. He did his multi-engine training in that very Apache, and then his first charters and sched flying for Sarnia Airways. He had no idea the aircraft still existed! He remarked, "The last time I was in that thing it still had that "new-airplane" smell!"

Later I looked in his logbook:

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