Warbird Information Exchange

Jim Moore from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has done a very nice piece on us and the project. There will be another story on the Corsair coming out soon as well. Check out WarbirKid in the video.
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2013/130221group-works-to-preserve-hangar-with-a-history.html#.UScXjh-pAWs.facebook

Also we are able to take pay pal for donations to the project finally.

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Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions

A very noble effort and well worth some sunshine!!!

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Trust me with the roof the way it is right now we got all the sunshine we can take

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Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions

Wel, wasn't it listed as 'a fixer-upper with great ventilation'??

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Very nice article and video. Good interview Chris!

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

chris did a wonderful job on this interview

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

What a fantastic project!!!!!!!!!

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Thanks guys. Just doing my best with this great project. Can't wait to start seeing some of the "heavy work" start later in the year when it actually gets warm enough to work outside where you can feel your fingers. Be sure to be around when that happens!

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

oh i'll be there! Hey, how's my corsair wheel barrel? Did you start restoring that yet?

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

I understand that two pinhead sized drips of blue paint were found on it and it's been confiscated and removed to Pensacola where it is awaiting shipment to the Challenger Deep for 45 years of safe storage at the end of those 45 years, 17 teams of Government lawyers will question your right to even be on the same planet as this valuable military icon-

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Hey Drew and Crew, what's going on with that Corsair of yours? I've been out of the loop.


Navy F4U-1 Corsair BuNo 02172 parked at the Vought plant in Stratford CT in 1942

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Zero Surprise!!...

Were advancing the RPM's and making progress.


Speaking of which, anyone have the correct knobs to finish this off? Care to Donate them? or loan them to us to make a 3D scan?

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Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions

Very nice indeed Drew. I now have questions upon questions. I guess a good overall question would be, just how detailed a restoration will you folks try to achieve? I'm sure that answer will be dictated by funds acquired of course, but what are your realistic goals as far as cockpit, engine and overall detail. Will the corsair have the ability to fold it's wings? And just so you know, I really like what you folks are doing. Wonderful stuff.

Mark

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Zero Surprise!!...

I tried to get drew to land it on a carrier for qualifications but he told me to get back to work

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Mark,
That is a fair question. We are attempting to reverse the damage of sitting in a junk yard and then being butchered to be placed on a pole for 37 years. The intent has never been to restore the aircraft to flying status. We hope she will serve as the ultimate memorial to the best Navy fighter of WW2 and to honor her creators as well as her builders and the men who flew them and maintained them. We want it to look close to factory fresh, but not discounting the planes past, for example like the patched oil cooler from a .50 cal round that almost assuredly happen in El Salvador while sitting in the scrap yard. She will retain her bumps and bruises here and there.

Exterior - Glossy Blue with her Bu # and Star & Bar and proper factory stenciling. We still need a set of wing flaps, all the trim tabs and linkage, gear bay doors and dive flaps (that's the door panel attached to the landing gear strut) We all so need the lower engine panel that butterflys open. We are in the worked of getting ailerons & wing tips. The entire tail section needs to be jigged and torn totally down, its really bad in there. We do need the tail cone "stinger" to finish off the plane.

Wings - we need a set of ammo cans and feed belts as well as all of the gun bay locking handles. If I could get one of them we could make copies. We do need one door replaced.

Cockpit - We would like the cockpit to be a close as possible to original., That said we are missing some major parts including the Seat, Headrest, Fuel Selector and assorted handles. As well we need a proper gun sight and inert gauging if possible.

Engine - We are simply cleaning up what we have and will need some assorted parts like pushrod tubes and clamps. The damage to the Jugs can be patched up with a little finesse (read scotch weld) We do need a Magneto, prop governor, oil tank and a carb. The engine is a R-2800 B-10

We are trying our best with the resources we have at hand.

Hope that answers your question.

If anyone one wants to get involved with the project from a far or a near please contact us to volunteer for a great project and great cause.

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Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions