Warbird Information Exchange

Hello All,

I just spoke to a friend in New Mexico who went to see the Collings Foundation B-24 and B-17. He was told that in about 5 years, both aircraft will probably be grounded because spare parts are drying up. Is this the picture others involved with these types have? It would be a shame for these birds to never fly again. Is anyone manufacturing spares for the engines and airframes?

Ray Crawford

Anything and everything that is on either aircraft can be replicated, it's simply a matter of cost. Many of the items that are wearing out are needed in such low volumes that it is extremely expensive to produce those parts. A good example is the crankshaft for R-1340's. There is a company that is/was making PMA'd new ones but they cost something on the order of $14K each. From what I can remember they lost their butts on the entire project and were not going to fab any more unless they had enough prepaid orders to make some profit.

Also, too many people let their lawyers run their business and shy away from fabbing even one-off parts due to liability concerns. That's one reason that are few shops out there that can or will handle complex restorations.

Well, kinda. The company that made the 1340 cranks, Air Tractor, had some "issues" with the first version. The issues culminated in an AD that said, essentially, the airplane is grounded until this crank is replaced!

They have subsequently redesigned the crankshaft, and been approved to make it, but they got such a bad "name" due to the AD and related engine seizures that they couldn't sell them for free. At least that's what an engine shop in OK has told me. As a related aside, the value of a servicable used R-1340 crank is $7,500.00. I know, we gotta have one for the BT.

_________________
Regards,

Jase
www.b26marauder.com
"I'm having a BLAST!!" 2007 CAF Wing Staff Conference

RIP Gary Austin..always in our hearts