CAF Centex Wing - News from the Cobra Den

Ray Clausen · **Posted:** Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:08 pm

Welcome to the CAF Centex Wing news thread!

We are working to keep our friends on WIX better informed about us with regularly updated, official news threads. The Centex P-39 and the CAF P-63 are established and an official Yellow Rose thread is coming soon. Here, we'll update everyone on whats happening at the Cobra Den in San Marcos, TX.

We have a dozen or so aircraft and there is always something going on. Currently we have a T-6 in annual inspection, some aileron bearing work on a CJ-6 underway, the wing repair on the P-39 is progressing, the P-63 needs only a control stick boot, the Yellow Rose is beginning her B-inspection, and the 310 Kate is going back together. We're also working on restoring a 1943 Ford GPW jeep and a 1913 Republic truck.

The 310 Kate went down in AZ when an exhaust pushrod broke. Here is the broken pushrod...

You can see the bulge in the pushrod tube where two pieces of pushrod tried to occupy the same space at the same time.

The plane was trucked back, a wise move, and after assessing the damage, our crew immediately set about removing the engine.

The prop blades couldn't be saved.

We pulled cotton out of the underside of the plane for days. Note the bomb is still attached...

The engine should be back any day now and the new prop should be ready soon. The horizontal tail surface was re-attached first.

Next came the wings.

When the engine was removed, we dismantled and stripped the engine mount for magnafluxing. It passed the test and was then painted. Parts are going back on it now.

The elevator fabric was not damaged but the paint was cracked and chipped pretty extensively, so we decided to just recover the elevators and paint them.

This one has only been glued. Look closely and you'll still see some wrinkles in the fabric.

This one has had its initial heating to shrink the fabric.

That catches us up on the 310 Kate to today. We will be doing a little sheet metal prep on her Wednesday and will continue with the elevator fabric work.

The Kate has a date in Yuma, AZ, in March, 2012 so we want her flying by the end of January. I want to see some solid flight time on her before she goes too far from home. The holiday season and the cold, wet weather have kept many of my volunteer workers away, so work overall has been moving a bit slower than I would like, but it seems like it is this way every year at this time.

Hope you all have a safe and merry Christmas! Keep checking in!

Old Shep · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:49 pm **Posts:** 219

Ray:

What's the deal with #24 T-6 over in the corner with the cowling off?

Old Shep

cooper9411 · **Posted:** Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:19 pm

Hey ray, thanks for the post :drink3:

Matt Sharkey · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 2:27 pm **Posts:** 223

Great information, thanks for keeping us up to date.

Django · **Posted:** Wed Dec 21, 2011 12:36 pm

Thanks Ray. I didn't realize that the Kate went down.

Ray Clausen · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:15 pm

Well Django, there was a thread titled "(Sept. 2011) Tora Zero wheeels up landing, pilot ok" that first reported it to WIX. It got some coverage in national aviation magazines, too. Pilot Bill Fier was fine and he did a fantastic job of landing it under the circumstances. We're one oil cooler scoop away from having everything we need to put her back in the air. Seems to be pretty tough to find a scoop in good shape (or more likely, its tough to get anyone to turn loose of one in good shape). I missed one on eBay last week that went for $132. Aaaaauuuugghhhhh!!!

Thanks, for the question about the SNJ-3 #24, Old Shep. Its owner is INCREDIBLY meticulous about it and any hint of an oil leak is cause for removing the cowl and locating and eliminating said oil leak. Often keeps me pretty busy, though. Imagine, a round aircraft engine without any oil leaks?? It has taken a while, but if I stay on top of it, it is actually a pretty clean, dry engine. Sadly, the owner is selling the plane and the first buyer in line is from the Houston area, so we may lose the plane soon. Many of us at the Cobra Den hope that deal falls through because two of our pilots are next in line and they want it BAD. All who have flown it report that it is one of the lightest feeling, best handling, fastest T-6's they know of. I've flown it from the back seat and it is great!

We got the fabric on both of the Kate elevators shrunk and got the first coat of Poly-Brush on them. Work on the fabric will resume in a week, due to Christmas. The airframe gets some more attention until then.

Kelly Klaus finished the floor work in the P-63, but when we tried to fit the LAST piece, the control stick boot, we found that it had been cut incorrectly. We have a man, Mike Chalk, who can sew most anything and he came in, assessed the situation, and is making the correction to it. Should be ready next week. Mike is wrapping up work on a complete set of new B-25 canopy covers!

We have already started the big B-inspection on the Yellow Rose but will be changing the work schedule on it a bit since I received the new Mandatory Service bulletin on the landing gear last night. We will start that inspection right away, in case we find something nasty. After all the rough times we've had with engines the last few years, we are hoping and praying for a break from Professor Murphy...

The members of the Centex Wing of the CAF wish you all a very merry Christmas! Be safe and come see us if you can!

Old Shep · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:49 pm **Posts:** 219

Ray:

Thanks for the info on #24.....I'm afraid the deal will go through, but the new owner doesn't live in Houston.

Old Shep

Ray Clausen · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:58 pm

Well, wherever he lives, he'll be getting a great plane. We will be sorry to see her go...

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:07 pm

While ferrying a Cherokee today I had some time to stop by the Den and got a very nice tour of the place. Here are a few of the "warbird" photos.

The P-63 was receiving some last minute TLC from Ray to make sure the landing gear are in great condition.

The P-39 is still in need of skilled sheetwork to finish up. They have some, but it's a matter of the time that those people have.

More pictures as I can upload them.

Ryan

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:57 pm

For those of you not in the B-25 loop - here's the offending part that has caused the B-25 fleet trouble of late.

It's the part on top of the pivot point on the main landing gear, and is a piece that absorbs a lot of the shock of the landing. Apparently about 50% of the fleet so far have found that they have cracks as well. The good thing is that the Yellow Rose crew seemed pretty optimistic that as soon as they have the replacement parts, they will be able to fly in a matter of days if all goes well.

First the big picture:

Now up close...

And a mechanic is pointing out to me where one of the cracks was found...

One more shot for the super-detail modeller types out there...

Both sides will need the fix on the Rose.

Ryan

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:59 pm

Good progress has been made on Kate 310 and the main holdup now is paint for the elevators, and running some new cable rigging.

The paint for the elevators is apparently two weeks late at this point!

Ryan

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:36 am

Hopefully soon this will be a flying aircraft!

Ryan

Ray Clausen · **Posted:** Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:48 am

Enjoyed your visit yesterday, Ryan! Hope we didn't bore you with too much talk, we're pretty proud of our hangar and our birds and we tend to ramble on... Like I'm doing now.

Anyway, thanks very much for posting the updates and photos. I promised to post more often and have already dropped the ball. I did get the P-63 landing gear fixed up and working smoothly. That was the last hurdle and I hope to be announcing a first flight date soon. The paint for the 310 Kate's tailfeathers came in about an hour after you left. I'll be shooting the first color coat today.

Thanks again! Drop by and visit us anytime! And I mean that for all WIXers, not just Ryan!

Django · **Posted:** Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:19 am

Thanks for the updates!

Misterg97 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:36 am

Ray & Ryan,

Thanks for all the updates and photos ... I for one am looking forward to the "Rose" coming to Urbana and Dayton in April.

For all out there that would like to help support this great group and all they are doing, I still have 7 of the Yellow Rose Nose Art embroidred hats. If your coming to the Doolittle Raiders Reunion, why not wear one proudly.

Jerry

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CAF Centex Wing - News from the Cobra Den

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