Warbird Information Exchange

Thinking it would be a good thing to have folks be able to see restorations going on at Wendover.
We are going up to Wendover over Memorial Day weekend to do some more cleaning up and prepping for rehire of building 819.

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Scott Dunkirk
AZGCLHU Inc.

http://arizonagroundcrew.org/

1940's Army Air Force ground crew living history
(A 501 C 3 organization)
(IYAMYAS)

"Yes sir, it's suppose to look like that"

Hey Scott, show us some before and after photos!

What's being restored?

A lot of work is going on at Wendover in general, but this project is the restoration of Building 819. It's a flightline squadron operations building that hosted 20 heavy bomber squadrons in training during WWII. Unlike the similar building on the field, this one was never repurposed as anything else and so is a prime example of the wartime structure.

It has suffered 75+ years of 'benign neglect'. The structure is inherently sound, but the interior drywall (yes, it was drywall in 1942) suffered some water damage, and the electrics need to be brought up to snuff.

In the "Before Times" we had gotten a coat of paint on the exterior, all of the screens replaced and windows reglazed, and made major inroads on the required demolition part of the interior. Now that things are starting to ease up, we will be getting back to survey, weed, take care of any minor maintenance and get to the post demo clean up.

Facebook has been the best place to keep up with it http://www.facebook.com/BUILDING819

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Well back from our work weekend, photos to follow

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Scott Dunkirk
AZGCLHU Inc.

http://arizonagroundcrew.org/

1940's Army Air Force ground crew living history
(A 501 C 3 organization)
(IYAMYAS)

"Yes sir, it's suppose to look like that"

For those of you that do Facebook, here is a link to the Building 819 page
https://www.facebook.com/BUILDING819

For those of you that don't, we'll be posting some pictures once we've sorted out a decent selection of "before" and "during" pictures. "After will have to wait until, well... After

_________________
Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Before photos from the start of the restoration (In the 'before times')

_________________
Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

_________________
Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

_________________
Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Interior photos.
These are after an initial cleanup of dust debris etc,

_________________
Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

The restoration of Building 819 is being done with volunteer labor and donated time, materials and money.
If you would like to help, you can PM me, or cc032i for more information. Links are also on the Facebook page.

Thanks

_________________
Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Nice progress!

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Scott Rose
Editor-In-Chief/Webmaster
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Thanks Scott.
Since these photos we've done most of the interior disassembly and demolition - about 5 tons of drywall so far. Most of that progress is shown in a number of videos - still gathering some still shots to post. Covid left us about 11months behind "schedule" (as much as there is a schedule on a project like this). We are now easing into the stage where the next step is replacing and upgrading the wiring, some minor structural repairs and prep to start putting things back.
To that end, if somebody happens to have about 300 sheets of drywall just laying around........

_________________
Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

A few comments on Wendover Airfield, what a neat place! I was there a few weeks ago ferrying the 1930 Waco CRG from Wisconsin to Sacramento, along with another one-of-a-kind biplane, the Paramount Cabinaire flown by a friend. We had to keep going, so didn't get to spend a lot of time there, but the setting is wonderful, the hills and salt flats and desert and etc., and the airport has some fantastic hangars and an excellent museum. Definitely a recommended stop if you're driving or flying along I-80 in Utah/Nevada.


A few photos from our visit

Westbound following I-80, Bonneville Salt Flats ahead, and Wendover is under the left wing tip, about where the highway meets the first hills



1929 Paramount Cabinaire parked in front of the tower at Wendover



Interior of one of the hangars, how about that trusswork?



The Waco on the ramp at Wendover, with the Cabinaire in the background, and some of the big hangars visible. One interesting tidbit, both of these airplanes flew on the 1930 Ford Air Tour, and now 91 years later they were together again, and went to the same buyer.




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http://www.biplanerides1.com/

I was there several years ago and to me, by far the most interesting thing was all the original buildings and hangars. I wouldn't worry about collecting airplanes, the buildings are far more rare and interesting.