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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: Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:57 pm 
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Dan,
It was a pleasure meeting you his weekend. We look forward having you aboard!

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Sikorsky S-60
Bill Fickes and Charles Andrewson pose with the freshly straightened nose cover. The starboard side of the door was crushed.

The S-60 Crew has been hard at work remaking ribs and angles to rebuild the port side cabin

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:12 am 
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Just in case anyone was curious how this "beast" sounded in flight, I dug this video of a Ch-37 (s-56) up on youtube. SOunds like parts of the video at the beginning are dubbed, since the blades sound slower. But the last few seconds sounds like the "real deal."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKVPSxLMoYs

Enjoy!


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:40 pm 
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Any updates on this please? I love this restoration :)

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:44 pm 
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Fouga23 wrote:
Any updates on this please? I love this restoration :)

Good call. Don't think we don't care about this one .... :supz:

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:03 am 
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Hey guys. Bill and Charlie have been plugging away for awhile now and are making some serious progress for two retired Sikorsky workers! I don't have pictures but I'll see if Drew does. Anyways they've repaired practically all the damage on the underside of the crew cabin and doors. The entire crew cab is now on its side as they've removed all the wiring & plumbing from the underside panels. I believe there getting ready to reinstall these pieces and reinstall all the underside panels. The swivel seat that was in the cab has been removed and will be completely restored. The overall goal is to see the cab finished since its a high profile piece of the aircraft and will be put on display for various shows. Then continue with the rest of the airframe.

We don't have an instrument panel yet for this bird. If anyone has a Ch-37 Mojave parts, talk to us. We could possibly need them.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:09 pm 
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From our 2011 Year End Report:
Although we are just getting started on this huge restoration,
the S-60 team is very pleased with the progress
made in 2011.
• The structure at the aft cockpit door was repaired. (1)
Image
S-60 Repairs by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr
• The structure on the right side of the nose door was
rebuilt. (2)
Image
S-60 Repairs by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr
• Milford Fabrication has supplied us with four 3-1/2’ of
cross frames made to our blueprints. They have also cut
eight (8) blank end caps to be spliced to the frames. We
were able to make the tooling and form the end caps. (3)
Image
S-60 Repairs by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr
• Thanks to Bill Fickes with a little help from the rest of
us, the entire port side of the cockpit has been remanufactured.
(4)
Image
S-60 Repairs by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr
• Parts for the right side of the cockpit have been tooled
and manufactured by us and are ready to rivet.
Image
S-60 Repairs by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr


We are getting ready to make a fixture to ensure that all
these parts fit together. Also, in 2011 much work was
done on the center section of the aircraft. The cross wing
is being readied for removal. The forward side is ready for
removal. The aft side is in the fuel cell compartment. We
are trying to get another crew started to remove the fuel
cell and complete the removal of the cross wing.
The biggest accomplishment of 2011 was the knowledge
we gained from the project. A lot of research and engineering
took place. Al Dobyns, our engineer, has been
very busy behind the scene pulling blueprints, planning
and calculating the strength of our repairs.
After a lot of running around trying to get help with the
manufacturing of parts, we wound up doing most of the
work ourselves. Learning the toolmaking and making the
frames wasn’t the rocket science that it first appeared to
be.
At this time, a little over a year, the S-60 hasn’t cost the
museum anything. We will try to keep it that way as long
as we can. We have been using the material we have on
hand. Small items, paint, hand tools and even more
expensive items like brazing rod has been paid for by the
crew.

In 2012, we look forward to an even more productive
year. We now have a better picture of were we are going
and how to get there. We hope to add another crew or
possibly two in the coming year.

Currently the cockpit is on its side and has been gutted of all controls. Components are being cleaned and rebuilt and the underside has been resprayed to prevent corrosion after alot of cleaning
Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

Image
IMG_6609 by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:02 pm 
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Thanks for the superb update! Love it :D

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:23 pm 
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You have come a long long way since the first pictures you posted of a big smashed beer can covered in Blackberry vines!!!!!
ATTA BOYS all around!!! :supz: :supz: :heart: :heart: :prayer: :prayer:

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:00 am 
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Sierra Hotel fellas. Awesome work.


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:56 am 
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THEDANIMAL wrote:
Just in case anyone was curious how this "beast" sounded in flight, I dug this video of a Ch-37 (s-56) up on youtube. SOunds like parts of the video at the beginning are dubbed, since the blades sound slower. But the last few seconds sounds like the "real deal."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKVPSxLMoYs

Enjoy!



Still sounds like a Bell 47 through the whole thing.

A radial powered helicopter is like no other. A pair of R2800s with that stack system will not have that sound.
Think about this with many more cylinders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYqE6EqU ... re=related

Would be cool to see the S-60 run.

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:45 pm 
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This is the damaged centersection. The engine pods were snapped off and the cockpit and tail snapped apart. SO the question presents it self how do you fix a one off special project built 70 years ago?
Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

By luck, Igor used a CH-37 Mojave centersection spar to create the S-60, We were very lucky to get this 37 engine spar from NEAM as part of the deal when we took the 60. The plan is to drop it in to the center housing when the cockpit is finished.
Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

The Sikorsky S-60 "Pinhead"
Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

The area we refer to as the dog house was torn off and now must be rebuilt. The section attaches the centersection to the cockpit.
Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

This should give you a good perspective of all the control rods and linkages. This area has been gutted, cleaned of what was a surprising amount of corrosion, and repainted. They are reassembling the belly currently. A local metal fabrication shop, Milford Fabrication, will be helping us recreate the 2 panels that cover this area.
Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

I thought these things smelled bad on the outside! Charlie Vesterman spent a day removing the fuel bladder from the centersection. at 72 it was a pretty darn amazing feat since I couldn't even fit in the bladder to begin with!
Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

The S-60 Restoration team Volunteer Tony Recine, His son Antonio (who has since left and went through Bootcamp for the Air Force!), Sikorsky Retirees Charlie Vesterman and Bill Fickes
Image
Sikorsky S-60 Restoration by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:54 pm 
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Drew, You can NEVER have too many Clecos-darned amazing progress from a pretty dedicated band of folks :mrgreen:

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 5:36 am 
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So 2 years down the line, how is the restoration going?

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 11:42 am 
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Well... the S-60 crew has been plugging away. For a small team of only six maybe, they get a lot done! If you guys would like to stay more current of the restoration (and your on Facebook) check them out here:

https://www.facebook.com/SikorskyS60

But in the meantime, we've seen some great progress since the last update on this thread.

Rear fuselage / tail section becoming more whole everyday. It's amazing to see all the longhorns and ribs clecoed in, only to have them taken out again for a different piece.
Image


We're constantly in need of sheetmetal guys, tin knickers, and Rosie the Riveters. This is a great example of what we are working with in some cases. We have a lot to rebuild on the S-60 and need volunteers especially with metal working experience. Please message us If you want to help out!
Image

Refinished tail gear.
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Assembled! Now if only we had a tail...
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Cockpit Cab on it's side for easier access and repair.
Image

Spar Teardown
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Many of the parts of the 60 are unique and have have to be transferred into the S-56 Wingspar we are using as a replacement.
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Students working from the Stratford School for Aviation Maintenance Technicians
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Additional Structural rib finally removed.
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You can see the remaining area where the rib was removed.
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Preparing to make the first large section of the tail assembly. Measure 27 times, cut once!
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We would like to send a HUGE Thank You to Gary Hurta at Garrick Machine Shop in Bridgeport Connecticut and to Volunteer Tim Benson for creating this work of art. Tim is holding a major component we have needed to begin work on the tail.
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Tim Benson spent a lot of time creating a CAD file to program the CnC
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Charlie & Tom were hard at work rebuilding the top of the Cockpit which was really damaged back in 1961.
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It's like building a puzzle with crumpled up pieces.
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Bill, Bob and the rest of the guys are making fittings and reading parts for the wing section.
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This is the tedious part of restoration.
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Construction of the aft cockpit continue to progress.
Image

Great before and after shot of the port side of the cockpit. What a difference! You can make a difference too, why not come on down to the CASC and lend a hand?
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Remains of the fuselage/tail pylon attach point. We are having to manufacture dozens of structural fittings that were damaged or lost since 1961.
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A before shot of 1 of the many pulley brackets in the S-60. Each one is being broken down, cleaned and reassembled.
Image

Throttle Quadrant and pulley assembly. The pulley assembly needs to be painted then it will be re-threaded with the cables.
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Tail Stabilizer - Playing with scaling the plans up to 1:1 any forms to make just to hammer out single pieces. Next step, leading edge.
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The S-60 Cockpit section is making more progress. Check out the Throttle controls reassembled and reinstalled.
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Work continues on the top of the cockpit, compare last week to this week! It's slowly coming together!
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Center frame formed and being tweaked.
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Now we're getting somewhere. All the stringer are cleco'd in and the center frame is heat treated and painted.
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Recent progress on the S-60 - Forward Center-section Frame fitted and ready to be Hy-Locked- Control Stick being refinished.
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This is the overhead circuit breaker panel from the S-60 heading into the chute to be refinished.
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More progress on the S-60. Tom has finished up the roof of the cabin, it looks like new!
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Frank, Bob and Charlie have been busy adding the rear control stick and throttle controls.
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Charlie & Bob were working on the spotlight mounts today. They have to be remolded from fiberglass since the originals were smashed in 1961.
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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis

Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:39 am 
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Awesome, I love this restoration :) Thanks for the update!

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