Come join us on Saturday, July 12, to help maintain and restore our vehicles and aircraft. Plans are to work on recovering the Thomas-Morse Scouts, and to do maintenance on the Model Ts and Nash Quad. Volunteers may get the opportunity to drive these!
We had another excellent turn-out and the guys quickly broke up into groups to work on various projects.
Ted Dawson and Terry Bledsoe went back to work finishing the Luscombe up. The airplane was moved frorm the storage hanger to the main shop portico to be worked on. But one of the first things to happen was a test run of the customer D.VII's Gipsy Queen engine. The purpose was to double check the engine rpm at full throttle as the cockpit tach was only indicating 1500 rpm, well below maximum rpm for this type of engine. Yet it felt strong to Roger. Don Dixon - who flew in to continue working on the Curtiss Junior - monitored the hand-held strobe tach and confirmed that the cockpit instrument was correct!
As mentioned, Don Dixon was in to try and get the tiny Salmson radial on the Curtiss Junior running. Didn't quite get that far as he and Sanford spent nearly the whole day continuing to work on the fuel/oil tank mounts and tie-down straps.
Ted and Terry made great progress on the Luscombe. The prop was re-mounted and the engine cowls buttoned up, but I believe there are still a few tasks to complete before the airplane is ready for flight again.
Most all the remainder of the airplane guys fell onto the Thomas-Morse Scout tail feathers, continuing the covering process.
First the two horizontal stabilizers were brought to the shop from the storage hanger and work started on cleaning them up and preparing them both for epoxy varnish. Both stabilizers were varnished and set aside to dry.
I wouldn't call it a production line, but we made great progress on getting the vertical fins and elevators covered. I think all the elevators were covered, shrunk and the first coat of nitrate dope applied. I believe the rib stitch reinforcement tape was applied and rib stitch holes marked off and punched on all components. I believe that Jeff Basham - with a little coaching from Roger - completed rib stitching one fin, while Gary Goolsby and Doug Hortvet were rib stitching elevators.
It was decided to fly the Fokker Dr.I triplane so we hauled it out and prepared it for flight. Roger expressed concern because there was a slight cross-wind on the runway and once the triplane's tail settles onto the ground the pilot is along for the ride. And the cross-wind might induce a groundloop.
Sure enough... upon landing the airplane didn't seem to want to lose speed very quickly while on the main gear, and when Roger dropped the tail the groundloop commenced. Very stately and elegant... almost slow-motion as the airplane was very quickly losing speed. The starboard wingtip skid dug in hard.
The revised mounts held though and the skid itself is in one piece. The mounts are bent, and the front one may need to be replaced. Didn't look at the tail skid very closely, we'll need to inspect that thoroughly before it flies again. So... a little drama with the triplane flight this time around!
Dave and Art worked on the black touring car most of the day, working on sundry things and taking off and testing the starter. Looks like we have two bad starters, the former TT starter and the touring car starter. I will look into seeing what can best be done getting at least the touring car starter rebuilt. Dave and Art worked very hard trying to save the starter but it looks like it is a goner.
As for the TT, John, Tom's son, and Al adjusted the tranny pedal and it appears we have gotten a bit more life out of the TT without having to replace the band material. It stlll may need some more adjustment but right now is doing ok. John and Tom's son also changed the oil in the Signal Corps truck. Additionally they primered the side strakes for the TT, then John and Al later in the PM painted the strakes with a coat of green. It adds to the TT appearance quite a bit. The next job for improving the TT will be to start re-varnishing the wheel spokes. This is not just for appearance but to protect the wood. The varnish is mostly gone. After that we will need to be thinking about manufacture of the C cab and maybe doing some spot painting....it will look awesome after that.
We didn't get to the Quad, but Ron was able to do quite a bit of work on the ammo box. He got the doors and locking latch working smoothly.
Roger mentioned that Mike McMains has the parts for the Indian gas tanks now, so hopefully he has what he needs. Some parts had to be machined.
We had a step backwards with the wrecker, but it may not be that big of a deal. It appears the starter solenoid went out so we could not get it cranked up. Roger thinks he has some extras. We have juice going to the solenoid and you can bypass the solenoid so that probably means the solenoid went out. It shouldn't take 30 min to fix if we have the part. I will look into availability also and if I find one inexpensively I will get one so we will have a brand new one on there. This is probably the kind of thing that is to be expected with the Ts, little things here and there are going to crop up.
This was not a spectacular day for Team vehicles and friends, but still a productive one. We do hope to get the Quad running again, and we will be looking at the French ambulance to see what can be done getting that one running as we are going to have to wait for a starter solution for the black touring car.
The workday got off to a somewhat chaotic start. A film crew was there and they were NOT done by 0900 as Roger had speculated. Bless them, they tried, but a Piper Cub issue and a rain shower were delaying things.
Finally the Canuck was started and took off, and eventually the Cub was started and got airborne. I figured we could at least wash the triplane as the aircraft hadn't been cleaned after it's Air Fair appearance.
But as we were starting to haul aircraft out of the hanger to extricate the triplane people expressed concern that we might ruin the filming. So we stopped. People had expressed concern throughout the week that we'd end up spending a lot of down time doing nothing while the filming was happening and despite two calls to Roger to ensure we would have something to do it looked like everything was going to hell in a handbasket!
Turns out just before dashing into the air to impersonate Charles Lindbergh Roger left two work instructions with Chris Backer and Tom Miller. One was to move the customer D.VII to the patio so engine work could continue and the other instruction was to wash the triplane. So I started to feel a little better.
The triplane was washed up and parked in the sun to dry. We will need ground crews at events in the future to immediately clean all rotary powered aircraft. Letting the castor oil fog set up for two weeks, especially in the Texas heat isn't a good idea! Doug Hortvet finished off the triplane's care by oiling the valve rocker arm ball bearings.
There were two more airplane events to mention - Ted Dawson, Terry Bledsoe, and Mike McCormick finished off the Luscombe work. They reinstalled the fuel tank and as far as I know, got the aircraft ready for Roger to inspect in preparation to flying the airplane again.
The other major airplane event (that I am aware of!) was beginning work on the Tommies. The rudders, vertical fins, and elevators for both Tommies were dug out of the hanger and taken to the shop. The T-2 stuff is fresh, and needs no work, aside from maybe varnishing the wood parts with epoxy varnish (which protects better since it isn't affected by the dopes used to seal the fabric covering). Envelopes were cut for all the T-2 parts and most, if not all, were sewn by Roger. The rudder's cover was glued on and the first coat of nitrate dope was applied. Thin tapes were applied where the rib stitching will occur and Roger taught several guys how to rib stitch, so that process has started.
Steel wool was applied to the T-1 parts, everything except the rudder, which Roger had recovered "not too long ago" and was deemed good (though it has paint issues and at least one puncture through the fabric!). For the remaining T-1 parts the fabric tape mummifying the metal parts was cut off. The entire piece, metal and wood, was rubbed down with steel wool. The metal parts were then painted with Rustoleum and the wood parts were sealed with epoxy varnish. These parts will be ready for cover next workday, and work can start on the horizontal stabilizers, wings and fuselages.
Team Vehicles had a great time this week. Don G, John B & son, and Jeremy B did a great job getting the vehicles fixed up. Don was spectacular getting the Quad not only timed and tuned, but also in directing the work on the gas line problem that developed shortly after the Quad ran and then starting working only intermittently. Roger Freeman's expertise was instrumental in both initially starting as well as teaching some basic operating skills, and also correctly calling the source of the fuel line problem. We blew the line clear of debris, after which the Quad ran like a fine tuned watch thanks to Don's expertise.
John also did a lot of work in installing a new starter switch for the TT, which required cutting the plate to allow the switch to be properly placed. It appears that the ignition issues with the TT have been fixed. It was no easy task but John applied his usual energy in completing the task as well as contributing a lot of cranking on the Quad, as did Don and Jeremy (if we keep the Quad operating the cranking should be minimal in the future). John's son John was also in the mix. John and Jeremy were outstanding in their efforts in working under the vehicles. Some of our more rotund volunteers just can't get that kind of work done expeditiously, but they could.
Jeremy, was everywhere, providing more than significant assistance to John & Don on the work on the two "projects". There was an awesome amount of teamwork all around. Five drivers had the four running vehicles exercising, and it was figured out quickly that working on the vehicles in the shade was a far more satisfactory arrangement than working in the hangar. The term "shade tree mechanics" comes to mind--in a very positive light.
AirFair 2008 was a rousing success! For the first time in several years, two of the Museum's WWI-era aircraft were flying, and several vehicles were active as well. We also had the usual turnout of aircraft flying in, and car clubs showing up and putting their rides on display.
In the morning, the Curtiss JN-4C Canuck was fired up and flown. After takeoff, Roger Freeman made several passes for photographers before bringing the plane in for landing.
Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, several of the Museum's Ford Model Ts were running about the field. The wrecker and Signal Corps truck were most prominent, but the Model TT was also driven. Although a valiant attempt was made to start the Nash Quad, some recent maintenance to the water pump had left the magneto out of time, and the most we got were some spectacular backfires.
Some of our volunteers who also do re-enactments put up a display of equipment and machine guns contemporary to the World War I era. Although the Indian's fuel tank is out for maintenance, the old motorcyle was rolled out for display in this area, also.
At about 1:30 PM, the Fokker Triplane was prepared for flight. The team fired up the rotary engine to the great delight of the crowd, and then helped walk the Dr.I out to the runway. After takeoff, Roger Freeman demonstrated the great maneuverability of this type and made several curving passes for the photographers. Video of the flight is available on Youtube. After landing, the volunteers once again grabbed the wingtips to help guide the plane back to its parking spot.
Had a great turn-out last Saturday, folks divided up into several teams and quickly got down to business.
Tom Gaylord started the day out easy by painting the bottom border on the wooden entrance sign. Carl Canga had repaired the decorative trim along the bottom on a previous trip. Al Sumrall has said he'll get some green paint and touch up the metal rail fence at the entrance before the Air Fair. The wood on the sign isn't faring well... I suggested to Roger he laser cut some metal stuff for the sign to create something more durable!
Tom then joined "Team Washing". Bill & Will Walsh, Tom Gaylord, Susan Braden, and a whole host of others throughout the day washed various aircraft. The worst of the bunch was the Meyers OTW!! The 2nd aircraft we tackled! Only the 2 Fokker D.VIIs and the Rearwin Sportster need washing. The Piper Cub, Meyers, Bleriot, and Pietenpol were all washed. Jeez... seemed like we washed more airplanes than that!!!
Greg Solberg wasn't able to attend, but sent along the Ford Model T steering wheel he made. Still needs a few coats of varnish to complete, but Al took the part home to finish that. The rim is all mahogany wood and is gorgeous.
During the day Mike McMains flew down in his RV-7 (christened "Mighty Mouse") to deliver the fuel/oil tank for the Curtiss Junior. Needs a few tweaks to fit perfectly, but looks "the business" perched in front of the engine. Mike also brought along what he has done on the Indian motorcycle fuel tanks. Mike says that the tanks were just corroded and useless except as patterns. Mike had about 75% of the right side tank to test fit to the bike.
Sanford turned into a one-man "Team"... Team Sewing Machine! Roger and crew are starting the covering process on the SPAD and Roger's ancient (1918?) "professional" sewing machine was in need of some TLC. Sanford tackled the job and appears to have conquered the thing! Sanford's wife is a world-class quilter, so apparently Sanford has become a sewing machine technician over the years, in addition to his other fine qualities!
Terry Bledsoe spent nearly all day in the new hanger, sorting boxes of parts, condensing the boxes, etc., etc. The first item addressed was moving the wood Roger brought back from his father's place in California into the shop proper. Team Lumber (Mike McCormick, Isaac Bridges, Doug Hortvet, and Gary Goolsby) lept into action, sorting the wood and getting it all stored! Roger has some amazing chunks of wood... 30 ft lengths of aircraft spar grade Sitka Spruce!! Unwieldy things to store! I didn't see the hanger after Terry was done, but for the amount of effort he put into the task I'm sure he made a major impact!
Team Canuck (Tom Miller, Gary Goolsby, Doug Hortvet and others) went back to work fitting the improved engine priming system and completed the task that day. Very late in the day the aircraft was buttoned up and Roger took it for a test flight. All went well, but the engine seemed to be running quite rich. Still a few engine bugs to work out!
Ron Marcotte re-installed the cockpit coaming fairings on the Fokker Triplane. Roger hasn't gotten them covered yet, but he is eager to resume flying the airplane since the most recent rounds of mods has been completed. Ron then assisted Team Washing, especially with moving aircraft into position!
Team Vehicles (Al Sumrall, John Bush, Dave Miller & Jeremy Beheler and others) went to work mainly on the Nash Quad. The water pump is giving them fits. Attempts were made to get air into the ambulance tire, again, I think, without success. Once again, the running vehicles were driven around the grounds to keep their vital juices flowing and going.
Roger Ritter drove down... apparently just to fly the Piper Cub. That done, he was out of time apparently and left! Poor guy, he missed out on all the fun of washing a few airplanes. The Cub was the first airplane washed and Roger was threatened with dire consequences if he got the bird dirty! (I was very careful not to dirty it up! - RR)
That pretty much sums up the day. A lot got done folks, Congratulations! And Thanks!
