Warbird Information Exchange

For those who don’t check our Facebook page occasionally, we have miraculously obtained a replacement left tip fuel tank from Germany. This was a huge relief. Some things are on the Unobtainium list and tip tanks are close to the top. We did get some gear parts as previously noted and have located more. We have a source that can build trunnion support plates from scratch so that will help a bunch. We have all of the nacelle parts and gear doors. The problem is manpower. We have lost several people over the Covid shutdown. Some have moved away for new jobs or to be close to their kids/grandkids. We generally work on Saturdays, but sometimes, there are a few who work during the week. We need sheetmetal skills especially. The wing did pass the spar inspection so we are ready to move forward again. Come see us at VFM if interested and able to help. Thanks!

Work has been slowed again with people going on vacations plus the hangar gets too hot here in Texas by about 1 pm to get much done. We did get some new downlocks for both sides. Left side trunnion support plates go out Saturday for patterns for new builds. Again, there is a ton of sheetmetal work needed and we are very short on people with those skills. If you are one of those who lives in our area and want to help, please see our Crew Chief JR on some Saturday morning. This is going to be a short fix or a long fix depending on manpower. As we approach the time for Oshkosh, we are disappointed that we do not have a flying machine to make the trip. The Hiller rotor blades may not make it back from overhaul until November so that’s out as well as Kay. That would be a heck of a trip though at 55 knots at 500 ft AGL. A stiff headwind could be real trouble as it only has about 1.5 hours of fuel. Planning must be impeccable to find airports with fuel within this range. The Flightaware.com track might look like we are zig zagging in case of enemy submarines. Well, maybe next time…. Meanwhile, don’t forget our Facebook page. We hit a record 66,787 views on a recent post. http://www.Facebook.com/a26specialkay

I only just caught up here... it's great to see that you are making progress in getting Special Kay back into the air. Wish I could do anything to help out but there's an ocean in the way.

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A Little VC10derness - A Tribute to the Vickers VC10 - www.VC10.net

Archer, thanks for your interest and support. Not much has changed since the last posting in June. We have gathered more gear parts that need to cleaned and tested. We had to send out more parts for sheet metal work that go in the nacelle. Everything is on hold as we will spend Saturday moving parts and toolboxes for the VFM 1940’s Hangar dance on Sat 14 Oct. Tickets can be obtained for the dance & or dinner on the Vintage Flying Museum website. It is always great fun and food. Don’t miss out if you can possibly make it. See you there!

We had a nice write up in Vintage Aviation News recently. See link in previous post. Thx Thomas. We are about done with fabricating parts for the left nacelle on Kay. We expect to hear rivet guns starting about 9 March putting it all back together. Once the gear is installed, we will take her off the jacks and turn her around so we can remove the prop and engine. Back up on jacks, we will take the right main gear out for inspection and overhaul. Then do the nose gear just to be sure we have everything inspected and tighten the systems up. We have started work on removing belly skins and will get those replaced during the summer. In other news, the Hiller Helicopter we acquired last year will have its rotor blades back from overhaul next week. Hope to see it flying soon. Then the Fouga Magister that joined us in December has had the 600 hour inspection completed and now awaiting installation of new avionics and newly certified oxygen tanks. Fingers are crossed to have it flying again by the latter part of April. Kay is probably two years away of flying again. That will be a triumph for sure.

The Vintage Flying Museum is hosting a Flyin and pancake breakfast on Sat April 6th from 8 to 10 a,. Free admission to museum during breakfast hours. We will be working on Kay and the Hiller helicopter. It will get the weight and balance report done. The blades have been tracked so now the next thing is to balance the main rotor and tail rotor. There is an electrical system issue to resolve and then a change to flight status with the insurance, then some brave soul will test fly it. Come see us!

Our sheet metal magician is close to having the nacelle rebuilt to the point of installing the gear trunnion supports. So we are reassembling the left gear in preparation on installing it so we can bring Kay off the jacks, turn her around 180 degrees. Then we can get at the prop and engine to start the overhaul. We have a replacement prop, but it requires cutting down to the proper blade length and compliance with the AD and Service Bulletin. Since the AD has a five year inspection requirement, we will wait until we are closer to flying before starting the clock. That’s where we are for now.

Thanks for the updates! Love the Fouga too

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Magister Aviation
It's all in my book

We have hit a few snags with the work on Kay. A lot of delays, in part, due to key people being gone on trips or vacations. The left gear strut has been rebuilt and has proven to hold fluid and air so that section is ready to go. The trunnion support arm that was twisted out of its support is another delay. Some time back, we bought a set of spare gear so will use the arm from the left one, however, it needs some work that Manning Engineering will have to get a tool made to remove the cap end. Work on the nacelle rebuild is slowed waiting for the trunnion arms so the trunnion support plates can be accurately placed. Sheetmetal work on the rear belly skins has started again now that our AF Reserve sheetmetal guy has returned from F-35 training. The underlying structure does not show much damage except where antennae were broken off. Those mounts require straightening.
On the other side of the VFM hangar, the Fouga update is coming along. New antennas have been added for comms, gps, ADS-B, VORLOC and GS. We were lucky to obtain an engine hoist for the Fouga engines that Jim S will refurbish and replace the tires. The Hiller gang is just needing the right weather and people to take it outside for hover and track the blades. Should be good to start flying as soon as that mission is accomplished. Guessing the Fouga needs another six weeks unless that team comes down with flu again. That’s the way it is…..

There has been very little to report on the progress on Kay or the Fouga. I have been busy with open heart surgery and trying to recover in cardiac rehab. The nacelle work on Kay is slow going as many of the parts have to be built from scratch. It is slowly getting to the point where the trunnion support boxes can be installed and the gear installed so we can turn her around to pull the prop and engine. We sent the left aux tank off to California to be used as a pattern to build a new one, a seam had split earlier in the year before the gear collapse. The Hiller rotor blades and hub was pulled to do the inspection required by an AD. While off, it was rebalanced and the lead/lag was adjusted. It is ready for more flight testing. The Fouga has been hampered by the low availability of the avionics guy due to his own health problems and cold weather. We are going to host a consortium meeting in April for A-26 operators to share info and discuss common problems. Several A-26 restorations folks will be attending. We look forward to having the brain trust together in one spot.

Milwaukee have just announced Special Kay for their airshow in July...

Not sure where that news came from, but it will be several years before she can attend any airshows. We have had no contact with any show in two years. We are short on people and money so it will be slow going.

Mystery solved. Not Kay but BUBA, the other A-26 at Vintage Flying Museum. The CAF Invader Sqdn is putting Night Mission on the circuit this season. It is the fastest A-26 out there. We flew formation with a B-1 at Dyess AFB airshow a few years ago.

Good news, the Fouga has flown twice. It passed the Condition Inspection and a weight and balance report was done. There is one hitch in the avionics. The Flightstream 210 connects to the IPad ok thru Bluetooth, however, there is probably a wiring issue between the 210 and the Garmin GTN 650. This connection is important as it allows the transfer of flight plans from the Garmin Pilot app on the IPad to the 650. It also allows any changes to the flight plans in the 650 to be updated on the map display on the IPad. The advantage is that the IPad has a greater display area. We hope to get this fixed very soon and be out flying again. In other news, the Hiller gang decided to overhaul the Franklin engine as it was just not making rated power. It will probably be 7 or 8 months before it is ready to go again. So it will be the “Headless Hiller” for Halloween. The Vintage Flying Museum Hangar Dance will be Saturday, Oct 11. All the airplanes that can be moved out will be stored outside, weather permitting. Which brings us to Kay. She can’t move yet as the left gear has not been installed. A small snag was hit on rebuilding the outboard side of the nacelle where the trunnion support attaches. Patrick is working on a fix to align the holes within tolerances. Apparently there was some slight bending of the nacelle wall which threw the alignment off. Come to the dance and say hello to her. There will be a reunion of some of the Vietnam veterans who flew Kay back in the day there to visit.