Planes of Fame

[GregP]

In the 2015 POF Airshow thread I said I'd get some Planes of Fame pics. Here are a few.

1) Bell YP-59A Airacomet Side shot: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/GregPascal/POF/YP59A%20Side.jpg?t=1431244483

2) Reno Air Racer Voodoo apart: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/GregPascal/POF/Voodoo%20Apart.jpg?t=1431244562. Stevo Hinto Jr, is putting in some speed for this year's Reno.

3) Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Nakajima Sakae 31 Engine from left front: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/GregPascal/POF/Sakae31%20Front%20Left.jpg?t=1431244615
It is running great abd there is no need for overhaul at this time. We are overhauling the airframe, though.

4) Here is our Tora Tora Tora "Val" made froma BT-15: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/Tora%20Tora%20Tora%20Movie%20Val.jpg.html?o=10
This one still flies, mostly at our airshow, but sometimes at our monthly event in December, too.

5) Here is our REAL Aichi D3A "Val" awaiting room for active restoration: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/Aichi%20D3A%20Side_2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=31
We are doing some low-priority work on it now, but we need to finish some of the "projects" to make room for it.

6) One of my projects is a North American O-47. Here is the starboard side. My partner John Petersen and I have been working on the starboard stub wing for some time now: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/O47%20Leading%20Edge%20Clecoed.jpg.html?sort=3&o=30

7) I was asked about the Bearcat that Steve Hinton is restoring. This is a low-priority for him. It was the former Al Williams Gulfhawk. Here is a shot from the rear quarter taken last Saturday. You can see the wings are on, including the outer panels, and so are the ail feathers: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/Bearcat%20Rear%20Quarter.jpg.html?sort=3&o=15

8 ) Here is a shot of our Northrop N9MB Flying Wing with the engine cover off. You can see the cooling shrouds that direct air over the cylinders of the flat-8 Franklin engine: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/N9MB%20Engine%20Shrouds.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

Last edited by GregP on Wed May 13, 2015 3:56 am, edited 6 times in total.

[GregP]

Well ... I posted correct links from photobucket and don't seem to see anything, but I did try. Will revist this when I get time.

So I changed from Img to URL and you can see the links, but I would much prefer having them show up in here.

[Jim MacDonald]

Greg,

The links worked great. Thanks for taking the time to post them & sharing your photos with us.

Mak

[DH82EH]

Thanks Greg.
Some great pics.

Andy

[Warbird Kid]

Fantastic! How is the Hispano 109 coming along? What project would you say will be completed first?

[Triplane102]

Thanks Greg, THIS is what WIX is , AND Should Be About ! Thank You Sir !

[GregP]

You are all welcome. I will post more when I get time. My impression is the Bell YP-59A will be completed first, probably followed by the Hispano Ha.1112. At that point the Aichi D3a should be able to be moved into a place where it can be worked on.

The final say, of course, will come from the Museum, probably from and through Steve Hinton.

After having been associated with restorations, I would not care to Hazard a guess about timeframes.

[Lon Moer]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing...



...now be sure and update us every week.

[GregP]

1) Here is P-51C-10-NT Boise Bee visiting for the airshow: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/P51C%20Boise%20Bee%20Front%20Right.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2
As it happens I was living up in Nampa, ID when they were building this aircraft up. Wish I had pics from then!

2) Here is the windscreen for the Hispano Ha.1112: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/Hispano%20Canopy%20Fram_2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=7

and here it is from the side:

http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/Hispano%20Canopy%20Frame_1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=8

We replaced the plexi and are waiting for other things to finish before doing any more. Right now it is under a blanket to keep the unavoidable dust off of it.

3) Here is our North American B-25J with the bomber nose on it: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/B25J%20Front%20Bomber%20Nose.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

and here it is with the photo nose on it:

http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/B25J%20Front%20Photo%20Nose.jpg.html?sort=3&o=20

As you can imagine, it takes some time and effort to change it out for a photography mission. We also have to deal with the tail as we remove the guns and the tail cap so the tail is open for photo missions.

4) Here is our Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bomber / recon aircraft: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/Yokosuka%20D4Y%20Judy%20Right%20Side.jpg.html?sort=3&o=22

Is was in "crash" shape when we got it and it has been restored to static-but-taxiable condition. That is, we can start it and taxi it, but we didn't make it airworthy. For a bucket of money we COULD make it airworthy, but it would take considerable effort.

5) Here is our restored WWII Pulsejet: http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/PulseJet%20Side.jpg.html?sort=3&o=24

If you haven't seen it, Google "Chino Pulsejet" and you can see us push a pickup down the runway during the 2009 airshow with it. It still CAN run, but it needs the fuel pump overhauled to run cleanly at this point in time. Runs best on 87-OCtane unleaded gasoline.

6) Here is looking into the nose of our Pilatus P-2 with the air-cooled, inverted Argus V-12. Runs great! http://s107.photobucket.com/user/GregPascal/media/POF/Pilatus%20P-2%20Engine.jpg.html?sort=3&o=42

All for now. "We" means the people at the Planes of Fame and Fighter Rebuilders, not especially me. I have helped a bit, but the "miracle workers" are the A&P's at Fighter Rebuilders.

Last edited by GregP on Thu May 14, 2015 1:54 pm, edited 4 times in total.

[sandiego89]

Thanks for posting.

Really hope to see the P-59 make it to the sky- perhaps unloved, but early jets are well under represented on the scene. And yes, I've slipped a small amount into the jar before someone asks...

[GregP]

If I am not mistaken, they started working on the YP-59A in 1992. It may not LOOK like it, but there are a LOT of man-hours in it. When we started it was going to be static. Then we found engines. We had to do a survey of the airframe and we found corrosion on the spar caps.

So, we had to remove the wings, drill off the skins, drill off the spar caps, make new spar caps, rivet them back on, then re-rivet the skins back on and re-attach the wings straight and plumb. Then we could get on with restoration.

Originally it had a second cockpit in front of the first, so we had to return it to single-seat configuration. So far that has taken 23 years of volunteers. It is now very close to being ready for the final push ... hopefully within a calendar year ... perhaps even shorter than that. There is nobody who wants to see air under the wings more than our group of volunteers as well as the good people at Fighter Rebuilders!

A relatively short time will tell, and we are eagerly pushing progress toward first post-restoration flight.

Many people think it was unsuccessful but they built 66 and they trained the core of our best WWII piston pilots to fly jets. From the P-59 they transitioned into Lockheed P-80's and became our first-generation of jet fighter pilots. So WE don't consider it a failure in any way.

Many people fail to realize that when they asked Larry Bell to design it, they didn't tell him how much thrust the engines made , how much they weighed, or even where the engine mounts were. They gave him a big block of wood and said the engine would not be any bigger than the wood block!

Considering what he had to work with, the plane came out very nice.

We added stainless firewalls. Before that, they even had lightening holes in the structure, so a fire on one side would automatically bleed over to the other side! There was no fire system, but there is one now. We were missing the sliding portion of the canopy aned had to make one from scratch. Unlike in some WWII research testing, our pilots are not expendable.

Right now we are replacing the trailing edges on the elevators and the plane SHOULD be ready for final assembly and checkout after we paint the inside of the fuselage. We still need to make an instrument panel, but that will be a relatively quick task when compared with what we have done so far. We are working on an emergency canpoy opening system to add, too, so someone can open the canopy from the outside.

Most tasks now consist of systems checkout and sign off.

Again, "we" means a LOT of people, not me alone or principally.

Last edited by GregP on Wed May 13, 2015 4:03 am, edited 2 times in total.

[Zac Yates]

From the wrong side of the Pacific, thanks a bunch for the photos and info Greg! I really appreciate getting to see what's going on at PoF.

I'm excited about all the projects, but the concept of an intact, restored original Val makes me very happy!

[GregP]

Hi,

I don't consider that the wrong side at all. I'd love to visit.

We'd like a flying "Val," too. The Planes of Fame likes to keep authenticity to the maximum extent but, so far, we have not located an intact engine, much less two, that is avilable to us. If we get the D3A done and still don't have two engines, we may have to put a US radial into it to fly.

First, we have to finish a cpuple of projects and then restore the D3A. Once we get near the end of that, it will be time to look at the engine situation. I have hopes that we can locate a couple of engines before that time.

[Roger Cain]

Thanks for all the additional info Greg, much appreciated.

[george]

GregP - Thanks for the statuses of the various projects at POF. What about the Mauler? Any plans for it? Wonder if Texas Legends would be interested in such an amazing attack aircraft, assuming POF may not have plans on restoring it to airworthy.