B-26K Counter-Invader Restoration ("Special K")

[51fixer]

Stearman??? No it was probably a N3N. They are the same you know,only Stearmans' are much prettier.

Only if they have accurate invasion stripes!

[A26 Special K]

Will there be any broom ground school taught in conjunction with the B-25/A-26 school?

That is an excellent idea. There is only one thing wrong with it. It is doubtful the owner of the broom would loan it to us no matter how desperate we are to raise funds for the restoration. Seems she is keeping a low profile after all the ruckus with the Black helicopter guys. Personally, my opinion is that she could just put a pox on them and they would disappear faster than those Secret Service folks who took part in the party down south where it was legal to do so, but now somehow are deemed unworthy to protect our President?? Isn't it odd how we keep eating our young when there are bigger fish to fry? I am just glad that none of the media types ever read the Warbird Information Exchange. The next thing you know, they would be leading a campaign for the guvmint to stop allowing us to fly our old warbirds. Wouldn't that be silly?? JR

[A26 Special K]

The left wheel well is coming along nicely. It is all painted and David A. took care of the bonding strap and connector for the external power plug on the left nacelle. Ain't she pretty? The look of new copper is just so nice!! Thanks, David!! David and Big Mike got one of the new landing light bulbs and found it to be a little different than the original. It has a two position setting for 1000 watt and 400 watt for taxi. We decided to not upgrade the wiring in the wing to handle 1000 watt so will wire it up for the 400 watt setting. The original was 600 watt. We won't be flying at night so not a biggee unless we get delayed getting in by having to avoid flying brooms or some such. The danger of mid air collision is compounded by the fact the ol bat doesn't look where she is going. But please don't tell her I said so. I don't want to go thru the rest of my life with a big boil on my .... uh.. posterior. The other JR

[A26 Special K]

Felipe and David W drilled and measured on the horizontal spar repair all day. That is a delicate chore to get the holes drilled so precisely. They got the ground out areas all treated and ready for Dynamold's moldable shim material. The repair calls for a doubler plate to be bolted and riveted over the top of the spar and on both of the inner sides of the spar underneath. The airplane may break but this spar will be better than new. Oh, Granddad David L and grandson Ethan are in the background along with Denis M "supervising" Felipe and David W. JR

[A26 Special K]

This is what they were working on. The moldable shim is applied and just waiting for it to harden up so that we can smooth it out next week and fit the doubler plate over the top. Looking good. Thanks team!! JR

[A26 Special K]

Clay is up on the vertical working on that cleanup. Should be ready to close in another week so we can remount the top and get the rudder ready to hang. Always optimistic!! JR

[A26 Special K]

More measuring and eyeballing by our American Airlines guys. They are a big help. Would welcome others to come out who have an interest in working on old warbirds and especially with sheet metal skills. JR

[RickH]

Moldable shim,....JB Weld ?

[A26 Special K]

This is the real JR checking out the cable and attachment for the fuel selector valve. Big Mike was running the lines to make sure they are correct with the selectors in the cockpit. Wouldn't that be a surprise if you selected left main and then the engine quit on that side? Be plum frustrating trying to figure out which position would give some gas. I personally never have that problem since I am good in any position, but it is all about the airplane, not me. At least that is what the real JR keeps telling me. The other JR

[A26 Special K]

Moldable shim,....JB Weld ?

Dynamold, Inc..local Ft Worth company. can get you the MS number if you want it. Comes in several varieties. They have a website that is easy to find. The particular application they recommended to us sets up in 4 hours. There are a number of aerospace manufacturers using their products. 300,000 lb tensile strength. but we are not using it for load bearing, only to fill any minute gaps between the area and the doubler.

[A26 Special K]

Denis got started on the latch for the avionics bay door on the belly ... uh, I mean the ventral side as opposed to the dorsal side of the airplane. The O2 Lady has been raggin on me to be more formal when I talk about the airplane. Our friends next door with the CAF A-26 Texas Special traded us their old door I think I mentioned awhile back. Their door doesn't fit their airplane due to changes in the size of the hole in the bottom... the ventral side. Well, you know what I mean. That airplane was one of the pre-OnMark airplanes.. Grand Central co. I believe. Robert Denny was involved with it, but then started On Mark. BTW, we hope to have Bob Denny, his son, with us at the Nimrod gathering on May 5th. We are thinking of having a big cookout at lunch time at the hangar as part of the deal. May open it to the public if anybody is interested. After lunch we will gather the A26 vets up in the conference room for some stories and videotaping. Kinda like an "After the Catch" scene from Deadliest Catch on tv. Will see what happens!! JR

[A26 Special K]

Hey, look what passed by our DC-3 today on the way to the Wichita Falls (Kickapoo Airport) airshow sponsored by the Museum of North Texas History. http://month-ntx.org/ The museum celebrates Call Field which was a WWI training base. They have a restored Jenny that is airworthy and typical of the type used for training at many American training bases. Gee, that is like history or something. I wonder if the AF museum would like to have that Jenny back too? It is a former military airplane. It is capable of flight. Who needs to see that old thing putt putt around the skies and remind everybody what some very brave men did in 1917-18? Heck, it ought to be hanging from a ceiling in some airport terminal or something else useful. While we are it, shouldn't we consider donating this lovely P-51 back to the AF Museum so it can also go into storage and never be seen again to remind the next generation what the WWII vets did? Is it just me or does anybody else see a problem with this guy Turner's proposal? Who in the world convinced him to put his nose in our business?? Makes me want to throw up on static displays.... almost... JR (picture courtesy of Dave Williams, one of our members and erstwhile DC-3 FO.)

Last edited by A26 Special K on Sat Apr 21, 2012 11:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[NImrodA26]

............BTW, we hope to have Bob Denny, his son, with us at the Nimrod gathering on May 5th.

===========Be sure to get lots of pictures!!!

[A26 Special K]

............BTW, we hope to have Bob Denny, his son, with us at the Nimrod gathering on May 5th.

===========Be sure to get lots of pictures!!!

Randy, sure sorry you can't be here then. But yes, Hawkeye is going to have the video camera running a lot and we do plan to take lots of pictures which we will share with you. JR

[A26 Special K]

Well, here we are, a fine Sunday morning and I forgot to mention last night that we have blasted thru 51,000 views already and well on the way to 52. Thank you very much for the interest. And so far, we have heard from only one person who was interested in a warbird ground school, however, it was for an aircraft not in our inventory. Not much we can do for a broom although I am told that while it is a two place, the owner seldom lets anybody else fly it. There's not much demand either since it was modified to side saddle in the back seat. That's about all I have heard about it. So back to the question of the B25 or A26 ground school. Anybody interested in attending one of these? JR