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FINALLY, significant progress on the A-26!

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DZAUTO

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Well, I'm gone on vacation for 2wks and come back and they've got the left wing on! By the way, the left wing is my personal assigned responsibility.
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This is the right wing. Notice the 4 big lugs on the ends of the wing spars which plug into the side of the fuselage.
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This is inside the fuselage (bomb bay area) where the lugs plug into those holes and then pins go through the holes of the fuselage structure and the lugs on the wing spars. This is right side.

Holes for forward spar.
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Holes for rear spar.
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This is inside on the left side. You can see where the pins are installed through the holes for the left spar lugs.

Forward spar pins installed. Those pins are solid steel, about the size of an average person's wrist.
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My son and his family that lives in Missouri are here for the weekend, so he and I went out to the hanger tonight to see the progress and while there, I took these pictures.
Tomorrow, we'll probably start making preparations to attach the right wing.
Once the wings are installed and secured, we'll jack the plane and start preparing to install the landing gear. Then we'll finally have the old girl up on her own two (3) feet! :thumbsup::hurray::thumbsup:
 
#2 ·
Tom you get to play with some really cool stuff. I miss when I used to work at Torrance Airport. I got to meet General Doolittle and Col. Yeager when they came in for a opening of a resturant on the airport. They brought in a B24 and a B25 for the opening too and they were tied down on my ramp.......
 
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Discussion starter · #4 ·
A few weeks ago, I pulled all the inspection panels off of the BOTTOM of the wings to begin inspecting inside the wing sections, control cables, fuel lines, wiring etc. We quickly discovered several discrepancies which MUST be addressed. Consequently, I had to remove all the UPPER wing panels to gain access inside the individual compartments for maintenance/repairs. On the left wing (and now subsequently on the right wing) we ended pulling out all the control cables and have discovered that we will need to have all new cables built. :( Oh well---------------------- one step forward on the restoration, three steps back!

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One a more positive note.
Here is our all new wiring installation as it has now progressed back behind the flight deck bulkhead.
As I've posted before, we have built (from scratch) a completely new rack for all new comm, avionics and navigation equipment. The rack and equipment will be in that corner where the pillow is.
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Oh ya, and yesterday we received a new, AND VERY SIGNIFICANT DONATION. Once we get the plane airworthy, so that we can fly it back to the other airport where it has been the past 10yrs, a person with LOTS of $$$$$$ resources is going to donate stripping the paint from the ENTIRE plane and painting it for us!!!!!!!!!! This has been a major expense that we've been trying to figure out how we would cover it!
 
#5 · (Edited)
Hi Tom!

Pardon the dumb question, but on the wing pic with the doors off, are the first two compartments closest to the fuselage for fuel, or are all five compartments for fuel?

What a fantastic project to be involved in!! You guys have alot to be proud of!!
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
LS_5 said:
Hi Tom!

Pardon the dumb question, but on the wing pic with the doors off, are the first two compartments closest to the fuselage for fuel, or are all five compartments for fuel?

What a fantastic project to be involved in!! You guys have alot to be proud of!!
Click to expand...
Andy,
The two bays (compartments) nearest the fuselage are where self sealing fuel tanks are installed (rubber bladders). The one right next to the fuselage is a 100gal auxillary tank. The bay next to it (just behind the engine) is a 300gal main tank, for a grand total of 800gal. Depending on load/mission, this will provide an average of 5-6hrs flying time. They've been squeezed to almost 8hrs.
The outer 3 bays (on some planes) contained 2-3 .50cal machine guns/ammo.
Later versions which were sold as surplus and modified (before the corporate jets came along) as executive/corporate/private planes, had additional tanks installed in the outer bays.
Each panel over the bays is retained by (literally) hundreds of Phillips head screws. With an elec screwdriver, it still takes a lot of time to remove each panel. The reason for so many screws (spaced about 3/4in apart) is because each panel serves as part of the structure of the wing. The outer panels are about 1/8in thick alum and the inner panels are about 1/4in thick.
As an added comment, what we found during inspections inside the wings is a perfect example of why it is taking so long (12yrs now) to get this plane restored. Without exception, everytime we get deeper into an area to either do an inspection or a repair, we uncover something else that needs to be addressed before we can accomplish what we originally were going to do.
Now that we've inspected the control cables in the wings and discovered that they are damaged/rusted beyond being safe, we have to send them off to have new ones made, plus, we gotta come up with funds to pay for the new cables! Always something! :(

But, let there be no doubt, WE WILL FLY THIS OLE GIRL SOMEDAY!!! :thumbsup:
 
#10 ·
DZAUTO said:
Andy,
The two bays (compartments) nearest the fuselage are where self sealing fuel tanks are installed (rubber bladders). The one right next to the fuselage is a 100gal auxillary tank. The bay next to it (just behind the engine) is a 300gal main tank, for a grand total of 800gal. Depending on load/mission, this will provide an average of 5-6hrs flying time. They've been squeezed to almost 8hrs.
The outer 3 bays (on some planes) contained 2-3 .50cal machine guns/ammo.
Later versions which were sold as surplus and modified (before the corporate jets came along) as executive/corporate/private planes, had additional tanks installed in the outer bays.
Each panel over the bays is retained by (literally) hundreds of Phillips head screws. With an elec screwdriver, it still takes a lot of time to remove each panel. The reason for so many screws (spaced about 3/4in apart) is because each panel serves as part of the structure of the wing. The outer panels are about 1/8in thick alum and the inner panels are about 1/4in thick.
As an added comment, what we found during inspections inside the wings is a perfect example of why it is taking so long (12yrs now) to get this plane restored. Without exception, everytime we get deeper into an area to either do an inspection or a repair, we uncover something else that needs to be addressed before we can accomplish what we originally were going to do.
Now that we've inspected the control cables in the wings and discovered that they are damaged/rusted beyond being safe, we have to send them off to have new ones made, plus, we gotta come up with funds to pay for the new cables! Always something! :(

But, let there be no doubt, WE WILL FLY THIS OLE GIRL SOMEDAY!!! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation, Tom.

I've been following your progress through these threads. Sounds alot like the frame off we went through a couple years ago on the coupe. Everytime you think you have your arms around something, something else totally unexpected, and expensive, comes crawling out of the woodwork. I'm sure it's a real test of patience and persistence for something on this scale!

Imagine the sense of accomplishment you'll all feel when that day for flight comes, though. You guys have alot to be proud of!! :thumbsup: Good luck.
 
#11 ·
Looks great Tom. I thought that restoring a Chevelle was a tough task, that thing would be ridiculous. I'm actuallly watching a show on the A-26 on the Military Channel right now. They were actually talking about the wings coming off of them during Vietnam. Keep up the outstanding work and keep the pictures coming. :hurray:
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
Brian 69 said:
Looks great Tom. I thought that restoring a Chevelle was a tough task, that thing would be ridiculous. I'm actuallly watching a show on the A-26 on the Military Channel right now. They were actually talking about the wings coming off of them during Vietnam. Keep up the outstanding work and keep the pictures coming. :hurray:
Click to expand...
Brian,
That's VERY ironic that you mention that about the A26 on TV.
We do not get the Military channel, but last night we were over at my youngest son's apt and he said the A26 was on the Military channel, so we watched a small portion of the show.
 
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DZAUTO
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