Warbird Information Exchange

Well, there I was cruising up a forlorn two lane blacktop about 50 miles north of Atlanta, when what did I see? A guy sitting in a rocking chair on a porch playing a banjo next to a P-40 chin cowl! Now who in the Sam Hill could that be? None other than my old buddy Tom, better known here as "hang the expense"!

I met Tom at Chino Airport in the early '90s when he worked for David Tallichet and I was doing time in general aviation.

Here he is on the left, the short guy with the big head. I'm the absurdly handsome guy on the right...



I hadn't seen Tom on about 18 years but got reacquainted with him here on the WIX about a year ago.

Anyhoo, Tom was running a clinic on hydropress forming that day so I set a spell and learned a few things.

This press is cool- I gotta get me one of these!



Here's a piece of sheet metal in the form block. It is a former that is joggled in the web with a curved flange. Guess the part number and win some Georgia road apples...



Next we see the part partially formed and Tom is ready to add a little more rubber to finish forming the flange.



Next Tom performed a Georgia "tune-up" by beating the part into submission with a lead spoon. This shrunk the remainder of the flange into a perfect fit onto the form block.

Here's Tom with the final part. Please note that Tom is fully prepared in case the "revenuers" show up...



Anyhow, after the shop tour and hydropress forming demonstration we headed over to Applebee's for supper. Just as I remember, Tom was still the loudest guy in the restaurant- clearly the chief redneck in the joint. Here's an example of the highbrow discussion we enjoyed: Tom (chatting up the ladies on an adjacent table as usual), "So how old are you?" Girl, "Four..." Tom, "So when will you be five?" Girl, "On my birthday of course!"

I just wanted to thank Tom for his hospitality. He has tons of cool stuff and does top-notch work. It was great to see him again and hopefully he'll make it out west again sometime soon.

You were doing time... And at Chino..?
You hard- boiled criminal, you...

I wonder if Tom was the guy who got me my A-2 jacket in Santa Monica that first year I visited Elmer Ward. He was hanging around with Bruce Crandall?

T J

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Make my day, punk!

You ain't seen nuthin till you see Tom miss the part he's beating and whap himself in the nuts with the lead slapper or a rubber block. I've never seen somebody's eyes get so big. looked like a cartoon.
He is also to blame for my wasting so much time on WIX.

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All I did was press this red button here...

Howdy bdk

Let me guess...... did the Part Number start with 75 or 87 !

Do you have any other pics of Toms little factory of goodies
such as ahhhh P-40 stuff

Lightning

The resemblance to bdk's avatar is uncanny. Clearly as well as being a letter and a case-shift apart we are dimensionally polarised too...

Why do I think bdk and hang were recreating a well known film scene that eve? "How much for zee liddle girl?"

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

I was going to comment on the avatar myself... lol...

Robbie

That hydropress forming is a pure wonderment. Wish I could do magic like that.
Robbie

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

That makes three of us! I always pictured him as looking like a young mustacheless Tom Selleck somehow.

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Why do you think I picked it! Like Bill Greenwood says, I'm full of hot air too!

It could be worse, he could look like T J Johanson's avatar

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Matt Gunsch, A&P, IA, Warbird maint and restorations
Jack, You have Debauched my sloth !!!!!!
We tried voting with the Ballot box, When do we start voting from the Ammo box, and am I allowed only one vote ?
Check out the Ercoupe Discussion Group on facebook

Take your index finger and touch the end of your nose. You aint seen nothing like enemy ace turning around laughing and walk right into a deathna trailing edge.It was then the laughing stopped.How ya doing buddy?

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Hang The Expense

Hell,dont be shy,come on up to the shop and I will let you try it.

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Hang The Expense

I NOW know how Art Linkletter felt with his TV show in the 60s called Kids say the darndest things.It was priceless.

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Hang The Expense

Things are well here at the Berghof, Leaving in the AM for La Ferte Alais,(Can you say flying Hawk 75?) got the Paris airshow next month then back to the sandbox in July.

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All I did was press this red button here...

Ah yes, I remember Tom and his accent and enthusiasm and smile well. Met and knew him as well back in the 90 and 91 period in Chino when I used to hang out there every weekend. Those were great times.

John