Pima's Bristol "Blenheim Mk IV"

[PeterA]

All that wonderful work adorned with a very strange looking fuselage roundel.

Unless they know something we in the UK are missing.

PeterA

[RMAllnutt]

Wow... these guys are producing miracles... How is it possible to work on all of those projects simultaneously, and so quickly. Does anyone know how big the restoration/volunteers staff is there? I guess it helps that Arizona is a big retirement state. Too bad that the Boli is being displayed outside though. I understand the need to protect the perspex from the sun, but the aircraft looks so strange with the skyblue painted windows. Thanks for posting...

Cheers,
Richard

[jamesintucson]

Our painter did get the yellow portion of the fuselage roundel a little bigger than he should have, it should match the white not the blue portion of the insignia. But otherwise the plane matches the photo were were working from very closely.

For our restoration staff, we have seven paid staff and about 30 volunteers. About half the volunteers are actively participating at any given time with the rest being gone for one reason or another. It takes between three and eight weeks to give an aircraft a paint job depending on whether or not we have to strip the plane down to bare metal or if we can paint over an existing stable layer the way the military does it. The Blenheim took about three years to do because of corrosion issues. The WACO we just finished took about 8 years.

James

[PeterA]

Our painter did get the yellow portion of the fuselage roundel a little bigger than he should have, it should match the white not the blue portion of the insignia. But otherwise the plane matches the photo were were working from very closely.

James

James,

I hope you will be able to fix it. Well worth the effort.

I do not know the exact outside diameter you are working with but the proportions as on the Spitfire for this C.1 type roundel would be.

Outer Yellow 36inch dia
Outer Blue 32inch dia
Outer White 16inch dia
Red 12inch dia

A fine restoration.

Best regards,

PeterA

[mustangdriver]

Is it indoors now?

[jamesintucson]

Is it indoors now?

Unfortunately no. We just don't have space for it inside right now. Correcting that situation is a high priority around here but we all know what it takes... $$$$$$$

James

[JDK]

Very nice, congratulations on the job. I concur about the fuse roundel, mistakes do happen, and it would be good to get if fixed so the rest or the (excellent) work can be focussed on instead.

IMHO, like proper flag etiquette, it's good manners to get national marking correct. Here, we paint the star-n-bar the right way up, generally.

For those that care, it's identifiable as a Bolingbroke because of the deeper (higher) bulge on the 'beetleback' that is the over-wing engine fairing on the starboard wing, which was changed from the Blenheim IV to hold the dinghy in the Canadian versions. Also the Wireless operator / air gunner has a porthole on the stbd side just fwd of the turret; not present in the Blenheim Mk.IV.

The sky-blue windows seem odd, but better than than a cooked interior! Some sort of compromise clearly is needed, and that's not bad. Got to do what works.

Regards

[Forgotten Field]

Anybody working out there that can answer technical questions about the O-52? Thanks,

[jamesintucson]

Anybody working out there that can answer technical questions about the O-52? Thanks,

Post your questions here or email them to me at work and I'll see what I can do.

jstemm@pimaair.org


James

[6trn4brn]

Hi James...fantastic work with that small of a crew!!! Sure would like to see the Big Stick fly after you guys get done restoring her Just kidding of course

May be a redundant question, but do the majority of your planes still belong to the NMUSAF? And if so, do they help you out at all with funding the restorations, paying the staff, etc?

Again, fantastic work with all of your restorations!

Regards,
Darrell

[APG85]

Unfortunately, a couple of years in that blistering sun and the entire plane will need a fresh paint job. Hopefully the day will come when the whole collection can be put indoors...

[jamesintucson]

Hi James...fantastic work with that small of a crew!!! Sure would like to see the Big Stick fly after you guys get done restoring her Just kidding of course

May be a redundant question, but do the majority of your planes still belong to the NMUSAF? And if so, do they help you out at all with funding the restorations, paying the staff, etc?

Again, fantastic work with all of your restorations!

Regards,
Darrell

I shudder to think how much it would cost to put a B-36 back in the air, let alone keep it there. You would have to replace all the magnesium skins just to start. You can't see it in photos but that bird has lots of corrosion issues.

We have about 75 or 80 aircraft on loan from the Air Force Museum, I don't recall the exact number right off hand. All loans from the government are done at "no cost to the government." So no the AFM doesn't provide any support for the upkeep of their loan items. Its just part of the cost of taking these loans.


Scott:
We've started using a new kind of paint that is supposed to stand up to the UV light from the sun better. We'll see if it does or not.

James

[APG85]

Scott:
We've started using a new kind of paint that is supposed to stand up to the UV light from the sun better. We'll see if it does or not.

James

Awesome! Hope it works.