Warbird Information Exchange

Gary:
You are more then the crew chief, YOU ARE THE MAN! I cannot thank you enough for the work you are doing on FIFI. I am still looking for the Mil, but the banks are hard to rob these days.

Philip Beegle

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Philip Beegle
Dixie Wing CAF

Hi Gary,

Sorry to hear about Fifi's troubles. I know how hard you've been working on her for the past two years.

Is there no recourse with the overhaul shop? It seems that if 3 out of 4 engines make metal in the first ten hours then something just wasn't right. I'm guessing that it's bearing metal that you're collecting in the screens. I'm actually surprised they made it off the test stand.

Good luck, and best wishes.

Steve Patterson

Gary,
I too agree with Steve. I've been following this string. The engine builders ought be made to toe the line and furnish new rebuilds or bust their A**
to go back thru these for you...of course if they were donated to start with but even then I don't think they would enjoy bad publicity....Tom

Dear Gary,

Even though I am disappointed in not being able to show my father FIFI at Osh this year because of your problems, I commend you and the crew for attempting to get her flying again!

I think everyone would agree, that if we could all do something to help, we would and that your efforts are GREATLY appriciated in every aspect.

I hope to see her in person again soon, as I did at Offutt AFB a few years ago, when I was still in the Air Force in Omaha, Nebraska.

She is a wonderful treat for all to see and what you and your crew perform is well, PRICELESS!

If there are any idea's for helping out that I can post on my website or communicate, please call upon me to help out, if you need it!

Respectfully,

Thanks Steve. Well, there might be a touch of confusion out there as to which of these engines were overhauled vs. making metal. If the confusion started from me, I apologize...so here's the real poop...........

We just installed a newly overhauled engine on the #4 position of FIFI. Other than hydraulic locking if we don't turn it through every other day, it is doing fine. Runs great, no metal. We paid $175,000.00 for that engine.

The #1 engine was overhauled, then installed in late 2003 ($145,000.00 for that one I believe). When I got on board with the B-29 Sqdn. (May 2004), I called the engine overhaul facility to inform them of the 6.8 gals/hr. of oil that it was consuming and inquired about warranty work. They said, among other things, to simply run it the rest of the season and then we'll work it out. After the season was over, we had just barely exceeded the 100 hr. warranty period on the engine, but eventually convinced them to warranty the engine for us as they had promised. Just a few weeks ago, we finally got that engine back and installed it on the airplane. It is currently the engine making the most metal. I cannot get into the specifics as to further warranty work on this engine, as we are still discussing it with the overhaul facility.

The #2 & #3 engines that are also making metal were only repaired (for various reasons) by this same overhaul facility some time ago (before my time with the CAF). I have no reason to believe that these two engines are anyone's fault that they are doing so poorly. These were simply junk engines to start with, check out any B-29 history book for confirmation. Give me a few days to work out the repairs on the nosecases from these two engines, which we're working on doing as we speak, and I'll hopefully be able to enlighten everyone on where the metal from these engines is coming from for sure. It's a stretch, but we've got to try.

Gary