New TBM Restoration - Wings Are Back On. First Flight Soon!

[DH82EH]

Hey! Great to hear some recent and positive news regarding this terrific looking turkey!
Things are looking like they're right on track.

Looking forward to more good news.

Thanks for posting.

Andy Scott

[SaxMan]

Engine start and taxi test! First flight could be this Friday if all the starts line up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXb38oP-T40#t=67

[Charlie Cartledge]

Looks great! She looks ready to fly! Great work!

[Michel Lemieux]

Well...the tail flew!!!!!!

Congrads to crew for all the hard work and dedication

[Stony Jim]

Well now, the whole airplane flew today- twice Once with wheels down, once wheels up. All went very well

[SaxMan]

Indeed - she did fly today!

This gentleman flew as a turret gunner with VT-16 off the Lexington. I'm sure today brought back a lot of memories.
url=https://flic.kr/p/nbQT1W][/url]DSC_0082 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Startup!
DSC_0137 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Taxiing to the active:
DSC_0219 by onyxsax, on Flickr

And slipping the surly bonds of Earth:
DSC_0244 by onyxsax, on Flickr

First flight was done with the gear down:
DSC_0369 by onyxsax, on Flickr

[SaxMan]

Coming in for a landing:
DSC_0392 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Taxiing in:
DSC_0416 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Things went so well, they immediately turned around and taxied out for a second flight:
DSC_0452 by onyxsax, on Flickr

This time the landing gear was retracted:
DSC_0468 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Pilot John Fuents shuts the plane down after two very successful flights!
DSC_0520 by onyxsax, on Flickr

I think the near perfect test flights is a tremendous testament to the caliber of work and the dedication of Jack Kosko's crew in Fawn Grove. It really didn't hit me how significant of an accomplishment this was until hours later. The guys who restored this plane were an average of 84 years old!...and this was their second TBM that they restored.

[avenger2504]

Well done a great job to return another Avenger to the skies, she is a beauty!

[TAdan]

Awesome, what a beauty, I hope I get to see her at a show this season.

[SaxMan]

Here's a link to the video, Courtesy Hagerstown Aviation Museum:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVYIAnL6JzY#t=211

[SaxMan]

The Avenger left Hagerstown this morning to head to its new home in Culpeper with the National Capital Squadron of the CAF this morning. I wasn't there...hopefully someone will post pictures!

I think I now know what my parents felt like when I went off to college, lol...and I only worked on the bird periodically. I'm sure it means a lot more to the guys who were with her twice a week for the last few years at Jack's hangar in Fawn Grove as well as Cliff Ellis and Bill Butler, in particular, who did a LOT of the final detail work in Hagerstown over the last year or so.

[Michel Lemieux]

Wow.....congrads to all the hard work and dedication to make this happen.........

One quick question. Why no flaps on landing? Enough front wind?

Just curious...........

[SaxMan]

Wow.....congrads to all the hard work and dedication to make this happen.........

One quick question. Why no flaps on landing? Enough front wind?

Just curious...........

On the first flight, they weren't using any hydraulics...no gear retraction, no flap extension. IIRC, on the second flight he did bring it in with flaps. From what I remember, there wasn't much wind at all that day.

[SaxMan]

Link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiW7dmqz-wE