Warbird Information Exchange

I had been in Houston several weeks ago and wanted to give an update on Texas Raiders. She is at Houston Hobby at Craig Aronsons' hanger. Craig will be assisting in finishing the airplane. Lots of work to do, but they are on track. They pressure washed and scrubbed the old girl last week. Stripping, corrosion treatment, repair, zinc chromate, and repainting are planned. They do have a complete, operable top turret, but that may yet wait for a while...... for John, the ball turret does rotate as seen in the picture..... Alan






They have lots of spare parts to resort and store. Just takes time....

_________________
Just call me Al.

Al,

Thanks for thinking of me when you took the pic of the ball turret ...it looks beautiful!!!!

Just out of curiousity does it have all the internal "guts". I would assume so since you mentioned that it does rotate.

John

Alan or anybody familiar with the airplane,

I was under the impression that Raiders was down for the spar AD only. It looks like it's getting fresh engines as well...possibly some new wiring? Can you give me/us a comprehensive update on what has been done to it and what is planned and yet to be done?

Thanks,
John

Thanks Alan. Were the engines overhauled or are they spares?

Hey John and Superfort! The engines were previously operational, but pickled and stored. I do believe at least one, possibly two were very low time (after overhaul) engines. The AD was in a way, the least of the issues.... it was the terminal ends that created the bigger problem. The inner portion of the terminal end fits inside the square spar and it is bolted together. The outer end actually bolts to the fuselage. Several of the terminal ends were corroded beyond limits. No other B-17 to date had this issue arise to the point where a replacement part had to fabricated. Of course all with the blessing of the FAA. The GCW website has a pic of one of the terminal ends before it was finished being machined, then remated to the spar. Hope this helps a little.. John waiting for a new update on Redtails.... DR said you guys were cutting metal on wingribs... Alan
http://www.gulfcoastwing.org/images/Dsc00356.jpg

_________________
Just call me Al.

John, I have another Houston trip in about 1-2 months... I'll try and get some really detailed shots of the ball turret inside and outside. Alan

_________________
Just call me Al.

I'd love to see close ups of each of the firewalls - not an easy shot to find in reference books.

NICE bird! Thanks!

Derek

Looking through the pics, I can fill at least one request... so here goes!
Firewall detail for #1 engine.

Upper turret in the box.

Upper turret ring.

_________________
Just call me Al.

Thanks Al!!!

John

Alan,

Thanks for the info on Raiders. I am familiar with spar AD work you mentioned from another B-17 I used to "Play with". While I was not part of the crew that completed the spar AD on that airplane, I did do some reading and research into it to satisfy my own curiosity. It sure will be great to see Raiders back in the air…nothing finer than a B-17! I hope the sponsors can resist the temptation to repaint it. I know she's starting to look a little dog eared but that’s all hard earned patina...exactly the way a real B-17 should look!

While I was not able to make it to Airsho this year (yes I'm still getting my ration of u-know-what for not going) I did get a couple of disconcerting reports regarding the Red Tail from friends who did go. Apparently other than the fact that it crashed, its story from that point to now and the future of the Red Tail is largely unknown to most CAF members. I'm currently working on an article that I will forward to HQ for publication in the Dispatch. I doubt it will be as nice as the article Gary wrote about Fi Fi but hopefully it will fill in the open blanks for the members. The plan is to have it done soon but that four letter word "work" keeps slowing me down!

We’re not working on wing tooling yet, but will be soon. Right now we are continuing to concentrate on the fuselage. I’ve been working on the windscreen/sun visor assembly and would like to have the entire canopy done soon….we have all of the parts to build it, it’s just going to take some time (she’s a lot more complex than a D model…there is quite a large box full of parts!). Work is also progressing nicely on a new wiring harness, installation of the hydraulic lines and hydraulic components. Hopefully by spring we will have the aft duct back on it and be real close to starting the process of buttoning the fuselage up from back to front. Obviously our biggest hurdle right now is a lack of funding. If a significant underwriting sponsor could be found, we would have it back in the air in less than 18 months. Let us know (Feel free to contact me off-line) if you or anybody you know can help on that front.

John

THANKS Al! Are there differences between the inboard and outboard firewalls? If possible I'd love to see more of the firewall shots. Any chance you can email to me directly? (slobber slobber)



buffiesbest@comcast.net

Cheers!

Derek

Ok Derek, this is the best compromise I could find on my pics... Alan
#1 & #2.

#3 &#4.

_________________
Just call me Al.

Thanks so much! Very helpful shots!



Derek

She's a great plane. It was ten years ago I, and a couple of B-1 aircrew, got a ride from Dyess AFB (Abilene) to Love Field in the girl.
I agree, her condition was not overdone to show standards, rather she had a nice patina worthy of a well cared for, working airplane.

I hope to see her in the air soon.

_________________
Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

That's good to see that T.R. is getting some TLC. She was the first B-17 that I ever saw in person (let alone in flight) in the spring of '91 or '92 flying out of Andrews AFB after a fly-by for the College Park, MD airshow. It's always a thrill to see a '17 in flight, but you ALWAYS remember the first time.