Warbird Information Exchange

CAPFlyer,

I just got to the hangar after the end of the 500 (congratulations to Newman and the 12 team) and we DEFINITELY can use some help. There is quite a lot of work left before the airplane will be ready to hop to Addison, but a couple of us will be here this week to (hopefully) make some forward progress. I'm working on some cowling repairs right now that I would like to get done tonight if the sandman doesn't get to me first.

Thanks for joining the Squadron!
Scott

EAA has just published their 17 minutes Oshkosh video and towards the end, there is a great shot of Ol'429 landing !

To get the video, go to: http://www.eaa.org/spiritmovie/

I trust you will all enjoy this...

_________________
Michel C
Thousands of a/c pics at Passion-Aviation

Pictures!! We need Picutres!!!

Trying to talk the wife into letting me go to Winter Staff,

RICK

Ol' 429???

Gary

I'll see what I can do. Next couple of weeks are full with CAP training and work (vacation time for a couple of people so I get to fill in) but after that, thanks to Southwest's cheap fares, I should be able to come and help for a few days.

Hmmmm... dunno where I got that !

Jet lagged I guess, just got back from San Francisco...

_________________
Michel C
Thousands of a/c pics at Passion-Aviation

Pictures! Here are pictures! (With a long story)

When Consolidated originally designed and built the cowl rings that are on our B-24 (for the PBY, actually) they were primarily concerned with strength and durability. With that in mind, the front cowl was constructed in one assembly. When you wanted to remove the front cowl ring, you first had to remove the propeller. A number of years ago the cowls were split into two halves so that removal didn't require pulling the prop. Though it was a good idea, the cowl skins are so thin that they have cracked where the two halves bolt together due to vibration, etc. We repaired several sections last maintenance cycle, but this one on #4 decided to crack out so I could give you a blow-by-blow pictorial.

First is the damaged cowl half--you can see that the skin cracked substantially and a temporary repair was done. We'll do the permanent repair now.



Next I constructed an outer doubler and an inner reinforcement that will "sandwich" the original skin in between. The new skin sections have to be formed to fit the compound curvature of the original, or cracking will occur again due to tension between the riveted sheets. I used the English Wheel and forming tools to get the smooth curvature required. The crack had already been stop-drilled to stop further growth of the crack. The second and third photos show the new reinforcements fitted to the cowling:




The last step on this half is to rivet the repair to the original. The rivet pattern I used looks like dog poop, but there were somewhat random holes already in the original from the past. Normally, you would try to have straight, uniform rows of rivets, but not on this old girl! (And no, I didn't have that can of Coors in the P-63 thread! )


The "male" half of the cowling had some cracking too. The screw holes and nutplates on both ends had cracked and contributed to the other half failing:



This piece was made in the same way as the other half and nutplates were riveted onto it to take the screws that hold the two cowl sections together:


And here is the final product after 10 or so hours of fiddling around:


Oh, Skeeter and Shadow say "hi!"



Scott

Scott,

Thanks for the update. The pictures really help. I am trying to get the fellow that runs our flying club to buy an English Wheel and a pneumatic (heck, I can't spell tonight) planishing hammer. I'd love to be able to do the things ya'll do.

RICK

Rick,

Your spelling is impeccable, no mistakes in your last reply. As far as sheetmetal work, I wish I could do the things we do too!

Now I have to start a new thread about my friend, Wayne Allen. Godspeed, Wayne.
Scott

Your problem with the cowl rings and mention of PBY problems of such in the same breath...taxed my poor memory "bank", which is only one gray cell...lol

Admiral Bellinger was in charge of Admiral Kimmel's PBYs just prior to Dec 7, 1941. Bellinger could not get his PBYs in the air as often as he wanted due to cracks in the PBY fire walls...and had a Consolidated representative(s) doing the changes in the PBY-5 firewall.

Are the problems with the cowling like the firewall in 1941? How did Consolidated correct the firewall? Have you had similar firewall cracks, too?

TIA,
David Aiken

No firewall cracks here. The cowling issue with us is primarily due to the initial "aftermarket" installation of splitting the cowls. There simply wasn't enough doubler installed to help strengthen up the area where the two halves attach. Scott is doing a great job of beefing them up and they should do much better as time goes on. It's just going to take a while for all of the cowlings to get this "Scott mod."

Gary

Thanks for the good news. What made the PBY firewalls crack? Ideas?
TIA,
David

"Scott mod"? I'd just as soon have a NOS set of cowlings and cowl flaps fresh from the Consolidated parts warehouse, but we'll have to make do with what we have.

David, our nacelles were updated rather late in the war and most likely incorporated all the most modern pieces. It is interesting to hear about the problems with PBY firewalls in '41--vibration will always find the weak spots of any structure if given enough time. It's another neat thing for our resident PBY experts to chime in on.

Scott

Looks great Scott. Only 3 more to go...

Gee, Chad--you're such a source of moral support!!!! I'll do an update later on my REAL favorite part of the cowlings and nacelles, the beautiful cowl flaps.

Scott