My Day at the Ole' Factory/ Stratford Ct. (Buttload of Pics)

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:21 pm

Its been a few days since Saturday, but here they are. Ended up going into the Connecticut Air and Space Center and decided to bring my little crappy camera along. Alot of my pics didn't come out very well so please bear with us as I will be returning tomorrow. But for now...

The doorway are Director usually uses to enter the compound. :wink:

Seems to be an original stretcher box. No stretcher inside though.

Inside this room was a crawl space that led to some pretty interesting finds. I guess instead of throwing away this stuff, old Avco Lycoming employees stashed it away for us to find.

Paint Shop

For now this is the display room during Open House events. Sadly its the only time we get to have people in here. :cry:

Anybody want a 1/6th scale Blackhawk? If I've gotten my facts straight, i believe that this was one of the original wind tunnel test models that Sikorsky used up the road. We were able to fix it up and use it in a parade float.

Machine Shop

2nd View of Machine Shop

A few trainers..

Our Civilian Hardware

Restoration shop with two S-52's (A very small and forgotten Sikorsky Helicopter) and our T-33.

A couple of engines in the main shop.

And as we walk out (into what we hope will be the main Hanger for the museum), were greeted by a few more Warbirds.

Our little Tweet.....

And our Pusher Puller

Everything but the Dome. Anybody have one in good shape they want to part with?

As Im walking back to our storage shed I snapped a few crappy shots to show just how a World War II era factory hanger was reused and reutilized until 1997. Just look at those pipes! :shock:

Light at the end of the tunnel.

Our humble little Building 53

And what do we find?

Exhaust

Detail of the bird nests in the engine.

Detail of behind engine.

Cockpit

Inside of cockpit looking to the rear of the aircraft.

Showing the man on the scaffolding, if some of you remember from my last post. ( He originally worked on the Vought line and is here with us now.) The other man helping him with the black jacket is my old man. He finally decided to come down with me today.

Along with his original Toolbox. :wink:

More to come soon... :wink:

Matt_in_NC · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:33 pm

I'm amazed to see that the cockpit is that complete on that Corsair. I figured that it'd be completely stripped out. Nice photos...thanks for posting.

muddyboots · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:38 pm

Heya Kid, my uncle is a plankowner with HMX-1. They flew your 52's in Korea. Any info you can get me on the two you have tucked away would be awesome! Are they veterans or did they stay stateside? (Actually I think what he worked on were precursers to the S-52 if you can believe it)

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:59 pm

FutureCorsairOwner wrote:

I'm amazed to see that the cockpit is that complete on that Corsair. I figured that it'd be completely stripped out. Nice photos...thanks for posting.

Yeah, I myself was picturing less than nothing in the cockpit and was surprised to see what i saw! And yet they took out the landing gear for weight, but kept the engine.

Anyways, here are the other photos I had from the back of Building 53. Our lovely treasure trove.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Cockpit, looking alot better than the Corsairs'. :roll:

Our Round Engine Heaven.

And some other odds and ends photos i had...

Our Archive room. Most of the original documents are in the back.

The Office. Notice the original Vought overalls in the background.

Now thats a honking P&W!!!!

Ok....building 53 to the left, you can see the most appealing side to the main Museum. We hope to see the doors in the foreground to be able to open one day so we can push in whole Warbirds.

And last but not least, what do you think this interesting and odd room was for? :wink:

Thats it for now, but I'll try to find some more pics to take tomorrow.

Keep Em' Flying

Christopher

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:19 pm

muddyboots wrote:

Heya Kid, my uncle is a plankowner with HMX-1. They flew your 52's in Korea. Any info you can get me on the two you have tucked away would be awesome! Are they veterans or did they stay stateside?

I don't know. Actually, we have the one full example we received from a marine faction that wants us to restore theirs. As we do this, we have are own that were restoring alongside it. In Building 53, we also have a few other hulks of S-52's that are in various civilian schemes. I'll have to give them a closer look next time. :wink:

Keep Em' Flying

Christopher

Matt Gunsch · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:33 pm

someone should be flogged for what they allowed to happen to that Corsair

steve dickey · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:46 pm

Great photos Chris! Just two questions, was there even a seat in the Corsair and when are they planning on seperating the the fuselage @ the cockpit production break?
Thanks.

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:10 pm

Matt Gunsch wrote:

someone should be flogged for what they allowed to happen to that Corsair

Here, here!
Jerry

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:16 pm

steve dickey wrote:

Great photos Chris! Just two questions, was there even a seat in the Corsair and when are they planning on seperating the the fuselage @ the cockpit production break?
Thanks.

Don't believe there was a seat in the fighter which is an upsetting realization. I bet its in some attic in Connecticut somewhere. And work at this point has been slow and the project heads are weary of tearing it all apart without making sure were cataloging everything. Makes sense I guess. I just wanna take a drill gun to the whole thing! :wink:

So as for right now theirs no set time to crack it open.

Christopher

Obergrafeter · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:25 pm

Navy O-2. Don't see many of those around. Hope you restore it Navy.

Craig59 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:59 pm

Quote:

Restoration shop with two S-52's (A very small and forgotten Sikorsky Helicopter)

Great photos, all. Thank you! And not to nitpick but, if it's a Marine version, it's an HO5S. (Helicopter, Observation, 5th type supplied by Sikorsky).

RickH · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:11 am

Ober, VF-125, Fallon. A sistership to 594 and 593. One is still with Frank Mooney and sitting outside at Polly Ranch. He hasn't flown it in years. The other belonged to Ron Scott who sold it east.

Django · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:36 am

Thanks for the pics!!

Centurion · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:06 am

Nice photos!! WoW what a lot of work ahead, but what a way to keep occupied for a while!!

I noticed you have a Hiller helicopter in one of the pictures. I'm in the process of restoring my Hiller, which is a C model. Looks like you guys have an early Hiller...is it an A or B model and do you plan to restore it? I hope so 'cuz I just love to see the early choppers so as to give a historical reference as to how far copters have evolved.

Good luck with the task ahead and if you have any question re: the Hiller, let me know and I'll see if I can help!

Dave

TAdan · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:34 am

WarbirdKid...

Thanks for sharing your pics. Looks like a very cool place.

I love all the "goodies" hiding around.

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My Day at the Ole' Factory/ Stratford Ct. (Buttload of Pics)

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