Warbird Information Exchange

Hey Pogo! There is almost always someone at the hangar Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. With the work going on with the Rose, it's a sure bet that there will be several people there until around 5pm on Monday.

The good news is the P-39 is finished with the annual inspection. They ran it up yesterday, then just needed to change the Prestone.

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Mike

The wing didn't get mated today. Still a little problem with the mounting bolts. We are getting closer though! I should find out more at the hangar tomorrow (Saturday) and I'll post a better update on Monday.

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Mike

The wing is in place! However, it's a ways away from being attached
properly. The lower wing bolts went in place flawlessly. I wish I could say the same for the top ones. After a lot of rethinking on how and where to lift, and some sore backs from those of us who were on the B4 stand at the wing tip, lifting with our arms and backs, we got a majority of the old bolts in the holes. Gary Gates took one of the new bolts to his shop and is going to make sure the reamer is just right to finish the holes on top so the new bolts will slip in.

The hope is Monday the new bolts will go in the bottom and be snugged up. Possibly the flap will go on as well. Then maybe Wednesday the top bolts will be in and snugged. If not before, then Friday they should be torqued. Saturday the oil lines and control cables will start being hooked up. The following Monday will see work on the tension of the control cables and other "housekeeping" items. Wednesday will be closing the plane up. Possibly that Friday will be the engine runs, if they pre-oil is done.

We are hopeful that the plane will be ready for it's maintenance flight,
and ensuing PPE and crew qualifications, within two to three weeks. Maybe sooner, but we are not going to push for any reason, just going to get the job done right the first time.

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Mike

sure would love to see some photos of the wing going on.., not every day we can see those!!!!!

Cheers!

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S.

You are reaming the bolt holes in the attach angles? Unless you have a new attach angle that has undersized holes this may not be a good idea. Normally you use tapered pins in adjacent holes to line them up to install the bolts. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something here since I don't know much about the B-25 (although I did see one on TV once).

P.S. Lance has the North American tapered lineup pins for the T-6 in stock. Depending on the diameter you need these might work or you can make some (and don't use stainless steel if you make them).

Ditto here about possibly misunderstanding, but I was curious about snugging the lowers and coming back
a few days later to do the uppers. Is this a normal approach? I was thinking all bolts are loose fitted for alignment and
then snugged up...but what do I know? Just curious..

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

A lot of photos were taken, will be posted as soon as we get the chance.

The attach angles are new, and were drilled slightly undersized, with plans to enlarge them slightly to the exact size of the new bolts.

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Mike

Boy, she's sure looking grand these days, as is the P-39. And the hangar crew looks to have an extra little spring in their step with all those things coming together too!

After studying the Gnome rotary radial in the museum with the Maintenance Officer (tall guy with mustache), I mentioned the bunch down at Kingsbury is rumored to have a Le Rhone, also . . . and it's currently displayed on the business end of a Dr1 triplane, and everything works and even flies. Well, I went to Kingsbury to investigate the very next day and found all that and much more to be true. I'll post a mess o' photos one of these days if I ever decide to go back home, but could y'all pass this on at San Marcos CAF HQ? There's gonna be a fly-in down there 6-20 where you'll be able to hear that baby sing her song.

Hey Pogo, glad you enjoyed your visit! We won't be taking any planes to Kingsbury, but our PX trailer will be there.

On to the Rose...

Sometimes some of us get excited and dream a dream, then share that dream, like my pipe-dream of a progress schedule for getting the Rose back together. For a dream schedule to happen, Murphy has to suspend his laws for working on aircraft, which I've never known him to do.

I'm happy to report that the wing is in place, and the new bolts are slowly being put in. What I wrote earlier about the holes being reamed wasn't quite accurate. They were only needing to be slightly polished for the bolts to go in, if at all. That's how close of a tolerance we have. The new bolts are all going right in, but the slow-down is in being able to access the bolt holes from inside the wing. If anyone knows a double-jointed contortionist with long, skinny arms...

More updates as progress happens! (sure is nice to see the wing back on though)

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Mike

Go check the seedier parts of town, I am sure you can find what you are looking for, how ever, it will probably come with a room you rent by the hour.......................................

Now it is clear! Good job and carry on!!!!

Things have been hectic at work, so I'm just now getting to post this. The wing is LOOKIN' GOOD! After leading a flight of four to the coast on Saturday (to honor our "Wounded Warriors"), I checked on the progress. Those new gold colored bolts are sure pretty sitting in place!

We couldn't afford the double jointed contortionist with long, skinny arms from the seedy part of town, but got help from someone even better! We have a 13 year old CAF Cadet who is home schooled. Part of his schooling, I guess, has to do with working around the hangar. Anyway, his young, nimble arms have been able to get bolts in most places the less agile (didn't want to say older!) workers couldn't. As of Saturday there were just a few bolts left to get in!!!

The to-do list is getting shorter, and the Rose will be in the best shape she's been in since leaving the NAA line back in '44!

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Mike

We pushed her out and gave her a bath today!!! Getting close to engine run time. One oil cooler left to install (opted to put the stress plate back on to move it while we had plenty of helpers to wash her), flap, tension control cables, retract test, and a few other minor housekeeping items. Being the eternal optimist again, engines could run on Friday, May 29th. Ray says we'll have a better idea by this Wednesday.

It was such a morale boost to get her out of the corner of the hangar finally and clean her up! Hearing the engines roar to life will be the next big boost, and the greatest of all will be when we see the air under the tires without the aid of jacks!

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Mike

Murphy struck again today. Some suspect rivets were noticed when the crew was about to reattach the left outboard flap. Inspection showed they needed to be replaced due to a bit of corrosion. Further inspection, after drilling out the rivets, showed a couple of brackets that were eaten away. Nothing major, and they can be fabricated in house. We checked the right wing as well, and the same two on that side had the same problem!

However, the thinking is that won't stop us from doing an engine run on Friday! That will just give us more time to look over the engines after the run.

We're just glad we found them now! This bird is going to be in such great shape when this is over. Gary Austin did a great job on showing us how to REALLY look over an airplane!

Thanks again, Gary!

Mike Renck
Operations Officer
Yellow Rose Squadron
Commemorative Air Force

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Mike

Sweet, sweet music to my ears!! For my money Yellow Rose and the P-39 are the two COOLEST birds on the circuit, and you got 'em both right there. And both are now, or very nearly, in better shape than they've ever been. Now, how to "restore" Gary back where we NEED him...?