Worlds only USMC Mitchell PBJ-1J Restoration CAF's Semper Fi

[Second Air Force]

WE'RE HERE!

Keep up the great work, we await your next posting.

Scott

[tulsaboy]

And we're all expecting details... SOON... DETAILS!!!

See, we'll follow your restoration anywhere...

kevin

[Dan Newcomb]

I will be going to CMA this Thursday and should be updating by the weekend.

Dan

[Dan Newcomb]

Ken and Marc and I continued the process of drilling the upper skins. We all agree things are going very well. The new parts that Ken and Roger fabricated went up beautifully.

We are still a few weeks away from shooting. What we are doing now sets everything else up. This step can’t be rushed. I’m finding this a lot easier than the work we did on the PBJ.

In other news the Bearcat was run up and she sounded sweet. I was also told that the Hellcat and Zero should both be flying this weekend. The PT 19 also went up yesterday.

Before I left the hangar I went up inside the C 46 and turned off the lights and took some photos of the light shinning through the holes in the new skins. It reminded me of starlight. We sure have a lot of rivets to shoot!

See you next week.

Dan

[Alan Brooks]

In some parts of Texas, we might say"It's HAMMER time!" Great work guys... Alan

[Alan Brooks]

Sorry, double post.....

[Dan Newcomb]

Yesterday Jeff, Marc, Tim and I continued with work on the C-46. We have located and fitted up nine (I think it is nine) skins with three smaller skins forward to go. Marc removed the lower right side aft skin and we cleaned, filed and shot gray primer on both sides. We will cleco it back up on Thursday and it will be ready to shoot when the time comes.

In the late afternoon Marc and I helped K2, Mike and Jason put the Hellcat back together for a test flight. The boys weren’t happy with the results so she came back to the ramp for more work.

I am going to come back down on Thursday. There is a chance Scottie will join us for a few hours. That’s it for now.

Dan

[Dan Newcomb]

Work continues on the C-46 skins. I hope we can start shooting in a couple of more weeks. The goal is to get her flying in May. In other news the Hellcat and Zero are back on flying status and the Bearcat should be by the end of the week. I can’t get back down to CMA until next week so it will be a few days before I can update things.

Dan


Scott broke his arm a couple of weeks ago when he fell from the C-46's wing!




You can't keep a good man down!!!

[retroaviation]

I'm coming to visit y'all in a couple of weeks, Dan.......I'll see you then.

Gary

[b29flteng]

The joy of de-burring 1,234,648 rivet holes!

[Dan Newcomb]

First the joy of drilling them! Soon the joy of filling them!

[pbeegle1]

I need a PBJ fix, I am currently having bad withdrawals.

[Dan Newcomb]

We shot about 200 rivets on the C-46 skins the other day and we hope to finish in May. After that we will get back to work on the PBJ.

Thanks bud!

D

[Second Air Force]

Thanks for the update, Dan! I miss updates from everyone's projects almost as much as I miss being able to give them.

Scott

[b17engineer]

So, what's the latest from Camarillo? Enquiring minds want to know.

RICK