Posted on 10/16/2007 9:02:37 AM PDT by Dysart
“This is a story that should have never been published in to day’s society. Vandals and other fringe haters will stoop to any level to destroy the work of a person of skill and knowledge and thieves will be far to willing to clean him out.”
Huh? What are you talking about?
We did a job across the street from the edge of the Van Nuys airport, i’m guessing it was in the late 70s, and in a fenced yard was an unrestored but complete P-38 sitting out in the open.
I’ve always wondered what happened to that bird, it even had the engines on it.
An English wheel in the hands of a skilled craftsman is a sight to see. There are probably just a few people left in thwe world that have that level of expertise.
Talk about a dream job.
Thanks for the link. I agree with everyone, this is a great story.
bttt
OK, I give up... what’s an “English wheel?”
Thanks for the article, and may God Bless all those in the CONFEDERATE Air Force that fly these beautiful birds. I got to go to a C.A.F. air show at Minter Field in CA many years ago. Still got my Red Baron triplane pin on my motorcycle jacket.
Yeah, I know it ain’t PC to call ‘em Confederate any more.
When I ride my ol’ HD ‘87 Softail Custom, I dream I’m in an old open cockpit canvas biplane soaring thru the skies.
Noble work keeping warbirds flying.
History you can touch and feel. Our freedom in aluminum.
http://www.airshowbuzz.com/videos/view.php?v=7455b62d
One of the greatest time periods of flight.
A link to a P-40 sim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwAagsDnAqw&v3
This is from one of the projects I have worked on over the past several years.
By the way, the engine sound is from a real P-40 based at Addison Airport at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum.
They took the plane up for us so we could record and film the whole experience.
You can see the actual plane and walk around here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xeuaBsqbx4
http://shockwaveproductions.com/
http://www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com/
Kudos!!! Just got back from England and went to the Duxford Air Museum near Cambridge. It was unbelievable. You could spend almost two days there looking at restored aircraft - they had almost everything British & American that has flown from just before WWII to now (civil & military).
That FB / B2 picture....looked like Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker
That FB / B2 picture....looked like Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker
It’s a sheet metal tool. It usually a large steel frame with multiple rollers above and below. A piece of sheet metal is moved back and forth through the wheel creating shapes and curves in the metal. It was used in the early automotive days to create curved and shaped panels on cars. The rollers are able to be adjusted individually up and down, in and out, therefore being able to alter the shape of the metal. But, the skill to use the English wheel is all hand eye coordination plus lots of experience.
You can Google it to see a better explanation.
They still ise DC3/C46/DC6 to haul cargo every day in Alaska.
It’s *fun* to visit the “The Ted” (airport) on Tuesdays.
It’s wonderful what the man is doing but acknowledging that expensive planes, some former military, are involved will just push the left lug nuts to want to destroy the planes. Since we know the type of equipment needed to untake such rebuilds the thieves will be hot to clean the place out.
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