Name that door!

[K5DH]

OK, WIX braintrust. . . the gauntlet is thrown down. . . one or more of you know the answer. . . give it up!

What kind of airplane is this door from? We believe it came from Dothan with the truckload of B-17 parts when Doc bought the B-17 that was to become "Chuckie". We know that Hugh Wheelless operated three Forts, three Harpoons, and six Mitchells, in addition to many single-engined types including Avengers. This door seems to be from the left side of the airplane because the hinges are always forward on an airplane door (in single-door applications, that is). It looks military in origin, though we have no proof of that. We're certain that it ain't from a B-17 (wrong side) or a B-25 (didn't have such a door). It's also not from a Twin Beech (totally wrong shape) or a DC-3 (way-way-way too small). Looking at the recent pix of Taigh's Harpoon, it sure looks like our door is the right shape and size, but I'm not sure about the curvature. Our door has a lot of curvature to it.

By the way, this isn't a contest. . . we don't know the answer!

Photos by Bill Gorin, VFM Crew Chief, a.k.a. WIXer "CrewDawg".







Thanks for your help!

Cheers,
Dean and the rest of the VFM crew

[BTromblay]

Hi,

I have worked on a PV-2D Harpoon as well. The original door didn't have a window in it and on the back side, was were the life raft was mounted.

Are there any part numbers on the door? Also, on a Harpoon, the fuselage is pretty flat in the area that the door mounts.

Good luck with your quest.

Cheers,

Bill

[aerovin]

I believe that would be off a Coast Guard PB-1G (B-17) that had a modified main fuselage entrance door. The door was hinged on the left (from the outside) and swung into the fuselage.



This a scene from The High and the Mighty.

(For some reason, these photos are not always displaying. Link to site: http://www.aerovintage.com/mighty.htm

Given the sticker, I would guess this is off a PB-1G converted to a duster or sprayer, and I would think this probably narrows it down to N4710C, ex PB-1G 77246, as it crashed in 1976 and was salvaged for parts. A whole bunch were saved and became part of the Dothan parts supply.

Thanks to Dik Shephard for spotting this one...

Last edited by aerovin on Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[K5DH]

I believe that would be off a Coast Guard PB-1G (B-17) that had a modified main fuselage entrance door. The door was hinged on the left (from the outside) and swung into the fuselage. Given the sticker, I would guess this is off a PB-1G converted to a duster or sprayer, and I would think this probably narrows it down to N4710C, ex PB-1G 77246, as it crashed in 1976 and was salvaged for parts. A whole bunch were saved and became part of the Dothan parts supply.
Thanks to Dik Shephard for spotting this one...

Yep, that makes a whole lotta sense! It sure looked like it had B-17 curvature, but the hinges were wrong. When Doc bought N3701G from Dothan, he acquired much of the remains of '10C. Makes perfect sense now.

Bill and I were joking about how many seconds would elapse between posting the query and receiving the answer. We weren't off by much!

Thanks, guys!

[Cvairwerks]

Dean: The key that it's an internal swung door is the latch....note the direction of the wedge side of the latch bolt. The angled face on a bolt keys you to the direction that the door swings to close. Also, with that much hinge offset inboard of the exterior surface, it has to swing inboard.

[CrewDawg]

Once again the WIX/AeroVintage brain trust doesn't dissappoint!! Thanks Scott and Cvairwerks!!!