powerandpassionDon’t suppose you have the rest of the Mossie hidden away????
Yes I do, but not in the sense that we know it, Captain Kirk. I have focused on the systems under the skin, so can show you a near complete hydraulic system, or fire control system, or dinghy inflation system or pneumatics system etc etc, but not a fuselage. Five years ago my partner told me that “all I did was work, and have no hobby.” So I told her I would build a Mosquito. “What’s a Mosquito?!” she said, and now regrets stimulating me into this path.:p
I figured that if there were 20,000 odd components to a Mosquito, and I found two per week, it would take roughly 400 years to get a complete Mosquito, a really good, lifetime hobby. You start with just one piece and you keep on. It is amazing how it grows. I reckon I am know about 137 years in, relatively speaking. I really need some mainwheel rams and clack valves to complete the hydraulic system. Do you have any ?
powerandpassionRemove the tyre.
The tyre was recalcitrant. It took some work to get off with the assistance of fork truck and kiwi hammer. A very heavy duty tube interfered with the smooth removal of the tyre, but some respect must be accorded to the union of tyre and wheel which had lasted peaceably for seventy years, that was now being rent asunder.
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This wheel, taken from a paddock on a farm, was filled with water, so not likely to be airworthy, but certainly saved for static display or patterning. The next step is to blast clean and inspect. This work was undertaken at Solidplus in Dandenong, Victoria, Australia, whose assistance I appreciate and would recommend for this type of work.
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powerandpassionWork the retaining ring off
With the steel ring removed, the wheel was placed back on the ground to allow the removal of the rim retaining ring. On this wheel, it was abysmally corroded, stuck on with oxide and gunk to the rest of the wheel. If it was in good condition, it would slip off easily. In this case, liberal application of lubricant and working of levers around the circumference of the rim eventually worked it free. Patience is a virtue.
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At this stage only one side of the tyre is free. The wheel was then turned upside down and placed on a new mandrel or support that held the metal wheel only, allowing the tyre to be worked down and off the wheel. Again, liberal use of lubricant and levers to break the oxidised bond between tyre and wheel on the other side was necessary before the tyre could be worked down.
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powerandpassionRemove the steel ring
If the wheel was not seventy years old, not oxidised, and if you were ‘in the field’, it would be possible to use levers to complete the next step. Because the wheel and tyre were ‘sticky’ with rubber and metal oxidation a hydraulic press was utilised to evenly press the tyre down to allow the retaining ring to be removed. A mandrel was located that would apply to the tyre only and the wheel was supported underneath with timber blocks to clear the axle. This manipulation requires a forklift, as the wheel is very heavy.
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Once the tyre is pressed down the steel retaining ring can be easily removed. The ‘chunks’ on the steel ring fit into the recesses on the rim to stop it from rotating. This steel ring holds the split rim together. Note the remains of green-yellow zinc paint on the steel ring. Inside the inner diameter of axles on a number of wheels I have seen this paint fully preserved, so I believe this paint was applied to the entire wheel assembly as the basic undercoat.
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powerandpassionThank you for all your replies, will report back on how it goes.
Tyres are off and this is how it went :
Below are the components of the wheel. This is a split rim design with lock wire ring in foreground.
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Split rim designs are dangerous ‘high pressure vessels’ that can come apart explosively if incorrectly handled. Ensure the tyre is FULLY DEFLATED before attempting to separate tyre from the rim. Seek assistance from a resource familiar with split rim wheels. Airport towing vehicles for commercial airliners often are fitted with split rim wheel designs with retaining rings, as are fork trucks with solid rubber tyres. There are companies that perform this work, have appropriately trained staff and equipment to assist you.
Why split rims ? Often smaller wheels on historical fighter aircraft do not have split rims, but a more familiar ‘car type’ rim. Only when the wheel gets bigger to split rims seem to make an appearance. My understanding of the logic behind this is that the bead of larger tyres, in order to have integrity, is excessively robust, making it too difficult to stretch over a rim. Today, trucks still use split rims. Secondly, split rim designs, once understood, are able to be manipulated using simple tools. No other design would allow a fitter on the battle field to change a tyre with the most basic tools, so they are a practical design. Today, 4WDs going into remote regions use split rims because they allow a tyre to be easily changed with simple tools.
The first step is to lay the FULLY DEFLATED wheel with the retaining ring side uppermost. This can be identified by two square recesses on the circumference of the rim, which are only on one side. Lubricant is liberally applied to the bead to assist in separating the rim from the tyre, which have been fused together for perhaps seventy years. A mandrel or stand is placed under the wheel to clear the opposing axle shaft from the ground and present an even working surface.
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A tyre impact lever is worked around the circumference of the bead to loosen the tyre from the rim. This is important, as if the rim ring remains stuck to the tyre it is difficult to remove the tyre later.
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powerandpassionCheetah 9 & 10
Hi All,
Any leads on parts for Airspeed Oxford or Mk10 Cheetah Radial. Anything considered but smaller parts are easier to post.Happy to buy or swap other aircraft parts..
Miclittle, trying to get a 9 going and have repeats of 9 & 10 & bits of Oxford I need to swap for the right bits of 9, PM sent.
powerandpassionThinking it through
Strange question, but how do you make a curved fuselage frame, as fitted to an Avro Lancaster or whatever? I appreciate than huge presses were employed in mass production, but what if you only required one or two?
It is a question that in its naïveté opens up a range of fascinating possibilities. If I were tasked with creating in two weeks a decoy squadron of Lancasters with very little budget, that had to give off a metallic signature typical of a monocoque structure, that had to fool a secret agent that crawled under the wire and tapped the sides, what could I do? Given its 2015, I could in one day set up a 3D laser scanner and capture a real Lancaster 3 Dimensionally in a format that can be read by a Programmable machine. I would get a Pizza and place it and 5 litres of Coke next to a 22 year old CAD jockey and get them to slice the 3D object like a ham, then insert some cut outs to allow some standard rectangular section steel to be run the length and breadth of my sliced ham. I would then laser cut out of simple steel my slices of ham, buy a packet of cigarettes and get Trev the welder and his TA to weld the slices to the structural steel, to create a sliced ham, full sized 3D Lancaster, minus props. ( props are F28 bought on eBay as genuine WW2 Dambuster units). I would then wrap the sliced ham Lanc in foil, then fabric, then old carpet, then inject polyurethane foam into the cocoon, given that the CAD dude has made perforations in the slices to allow the void to fill. Once I remove the wrapping I would have a fully 3D Lanc that I could get some surfboard shapers to clean up the daggy bits. (I have now been called into dinner, so I have to pick this up later on)…
powerandpassionThe other thing that occurs to me about these hollow crankshafts is how long they would take to fill with oil when the engine has been new-built (or rebuilt); is it necessary to pressure-fill them with oil before starting the engine?
Don’t forget that the caps that seal the hollow journals via a centre bolt are aluminium; that this aluminium component would absorb heat faster than the steel crankshaft and effectively allow oil to leak into and out of the journal; effectively a controlled valving system using differential expansion; four semi colons, a forum record! Happy New Year!
powerandpassionHi All
Attached is a picture of a TR9 set on an early Stirling. All input and any dimensions gratefully received!
Regards
James
There is a picture of a TR9 controller and RT sets from the late 20’s here :
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?132804-Westland-Walrus-information&p=2186340&highlight=#post2186340
powerandpassionThank you very much
Thank you, had a lot of fun with it this year and learnt a lot. Please accept half gallon of Christmas Cheer ![ATTACH=CONFIG]234001[/ATTACH]
powerandpassionHello everyone,
I’m working on the team restoring the fuselage of the Comet 1A F-BGNX at the De Havilland Aircraft Museum at London Colney. Specifically, I’ve taken on responsibility for re-equipping the aircraft with pilots, engineers and navigators instruments panels!!!! Given that it hasn’t got any, there’s quite a lot to do.
Anyway, work is progressing: we’ve found (at the BAe Systems archive at Farnborough) the original drawings for the Air France aircraft pilots panels and have almost finished re-drawing them in CATIA V5 prior to having new panels made. We’ve sourced many of the instruments already, although I may be posting begging letters before long!
My question at this juncture is this: the drawings call for the panels to be finished in “D + PC Black” which I believe to be a crackle black paint finish. Can anyone cast any light on what this finish was and how it might be replicated today?
Alan
Alan, is the BAe Systems archive accessible to the public ? How does one seek assistance or access if it is not a public archive, Thank you, Ed
I have a 1955 DH Inspection handbook, with inserts to 1960. Chapter 18 deals with ‘Fabric & Paint’, but unfortunately that section is empty !
Crackle finish black paint, and other colours, are available from any auto finisher dealing with custom vehicles. You may have to make a few phonecalls, but you will find it. I have purchased it in spray cans before, but am in Australia. I would be surprised if you could not find it in the UK.
powerandpassionNewton & Hucknall
The information for Hucknall and Newton has finally been updated; the respective items were taken off line by the ‘host’ and the data revised.
A new piece about RAF Newark (58 MU) has been added and this includes photographs of some of their recoveries.
Thank you for posting this information.
I am reading my father’s memoirs, written a decade or so ago, re Polish RAF, with training in Hucknall and Newton.
Some excerpts :
July 1943
“A letter arrived from London HQ, requesting applications for pilots, as losses in the last months were great. I applied..was accepted and expect a posting to Hucknall soon for EFTS”
20th July 1943
“Hucknall is the first school of flying…when completed, trainees go to Newton for final flying training…Hucknall is a relatively small aerodrome with grass landing areas…our training consists of flying Tiger Moth trainers…The system of training is apparently to reduce the confidence of the pupil by calling him all sorts of rude names. My instructor, Flt Sgt Sykuilski, tried this on my first flight, and seeing that it only made me laugh, did not try again…The beauty of the Tiger Moth is that one is in direct contact with the surrounding air, the cockpit comes up roughly to one’s armpits…one can do all acrobatics, stalling, sideslips, loops etc.
We sleep in large dormitories, not very comfortable, but it does not worry us at all. Between flights we are looked after by the local Salvation Army with cups of very strong tea and fresh milk, not obtainable elsewhere”
19th September 1943
“I am finishing Hucknall with very good marks and will soon be posted to Newton for the next stage of training. I have a total of 72 hours on Tiger Moths”
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The photo above is the EFTS course, personnel with crosses unfortunately died in training.
20th September 1943
“Newton SFTS..is a pre war aerodrome, very comfortable and well organised..larger than Hucknall with bitumen runways and brick buildings. Practically all Polish pilots trained in England went through Newton, so it is well known. There are two types of aircraft flown here, Masters, used for training fighter pilots..and Oxfords, used to train for bomber squadrons. I am allocated to the Oxford group..most of the instructors have one or two tours completed in various squadrons. If successful I will be here until March 1944 then go for one year of further training on other aerodromes…and finally to OTU, then to one of the squadrons. A long way and a late start. [NB Fought Nazi and Red Army 1939, escaped Russian custody four times, prisoner in Siberia until 1942, went via Persia and India to UK in 42-43. 5th September 1939 “Near the village…five Junkers (Stukas) suddenly arrive, flying low and cut us up with machine gun fire. I disperse my platoon…we could see the faces of the pilots..the ground was undulating, there was nowhere we could hide. I fell over one soldier in a ditch and remember the bullets cutting a path right across where we were lying. We used our light machine guns to fire at the Junkers..one aircraft fell 2km from where we were lying. I have one killed and five wounded, other platoons have much heavier casualties. My trousers are shot through.” ]
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Above is Newton SFTS, numbered names are written on the back of the photograph.
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Hucknall
“Most of the flights are over industrial England, with plenty of smoke and mist..sometimes it is difficult to find your way, there are so many towns and railways and roads, all hardly visible because of the smoke. It is easier at night, because each night we receive an envelope marked ‘secret’ with a list of red beacons flashing one letter and their position. Taking a bearing on two or three beacons give you a fix…It is good training and keeps us on our toes. half of the days are taken by lectures, we are so sleepy it is difficult to keep our eyes open. I am doing well, competing for first place with Lt Mietek Sawicki, a highly decorated veteran of Tobruk who was allowed to volunteer for the air force..he is trained on Masters.”
“On Sundays, when there is no flying, we go by trolleybuses to Nottingham..and mostly finish in the Palais de Dance. Dances are very popular…as the females outnumber the males, who are mostly in the forces, we have the field to ourselves. There is a very good canteen in town…and generally the forces are well looked after.”
“Some of the blokes find night flying difficult, in fact we lost two on solo flights at night. We also lost one crew flying a Master, a friend of mine called Szwede, who caught his wing tip on the ground and crashed and burned. I had the unpleasant task of identifying his body…completely burnt beyond recognition. I will never forget the night of our first (night) solo. Instead of flying in a circle and landing soon after takeoff one trainee must have lost his confidence and flew in a straight line after takeoff. We saw his navigational lights going further and further away and finally a crash on the horizon.”
“Near the end of March 1944 we had our final tests in the air…to my surprise…and I must say satisfaction, I finished first…and got my name on the small marble plate at the entrance to the dormitory block. It may still be there with luck”
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Above in 305 Squadron flying Mosquitos
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I wonder if the dormitories at Hucknall are still in existence, and whether a marble plaque bears the name of S.A Meysztowicz as dux for 1944. Simon still lives in Melbourne, Australia and, at 98, has outlived Hitler, Stalin, the Third Reich and Communism, despite their very considerable efforts to finish him off.
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I would be grateful, if the plaque exists, if someone near Hucknall could photograph it and email a photo through.
powerandpassionBubbles speaks out
[QUOTE=J Boyle;2186989]
and is possibly a complete idiot without a firm grasp of the aviation history[QUOTE]
I admit loosing a few neural connections listening to the Dead Kennedys and I do not know a lot but I do enjoy learning. I don’t mind asking silly questions and I probably will ask a lot more. I also don’t mind a good passionate argument so if we are fired up that’s better than being cold and bored.
I have travelled the roads from Washington State down to California. Subject to the San Andreas Fault sinking the whole show into the Pacific it is probably one of the most wonderful road trips you could do, and I would heartily recommend it. I do know where Boeing is and I have read their most excellent 1966 biopic Vision by Harold Mansfield. I have also eaten nuts on a Boeing aeroplane, which I probably have in common with Bubbles, the late Michael Jackson’s chimp.
I am in Australia which most Americans lump with Austria, so probably lumping the North West USA with Southern California was a subliminal geographic act of revenge, but again, any second, with that ol’ San Andreas Fault, I might end up being right after all. For the sake of the discussion, it is west coast USA.
I am interested in aloominum and the history of Alcan and Alcoa, and the connection between the hydro schemes of the 30’s and the helix in the development of the aluminium industry and the stressed skin aircraft industry. None of this happened without massive government assistance, and a lot of it was Roosevelt New Deal. I do not know much at all about the government of California in the 1930’s, but there is something in the DNA of that place that puts it on the forefront of innovation and industries that changed the world.
The way I figure it the nascent, struggling aircraft companies of the 1930’s looked at pin jointed biplanes, played with the welded steel tube designs of Fokker but then emphatically chose to develop monoplane, monocoque, stressed skin aluminium structures pushed by French and Polish innovators and run with that, and started something that still the dominates global aircraft, otherwise I would be eating nuts on a Handley Page Dreamliner. Massive unemployment and the Roosevelt New Deal pumped Federal money into job creation schemes, and it all seemed to come together with aluminium in the American West.
I think the first scale aluminium sheet rolling mill was on the Missisippi, so water transport of alumina and finsihed products seems to be a common theme. I am not sure where American bauxite came from in the 1930’s, probably from some South American country with a heavy Marine presence.
I do like the USA a lot, for its encouragement.
powerandpassionI’m in!
We have an interesting announcement which might appeal to warbird project enthusiasts and owners…globally.
Warbird owner and collector, Peter Smythe has posted to a forum this notice and is seeking to clear out spare parts of his various 1940s era aircraft spares.
If interested I can put your in touch with Peter.
Santa? Is that really you!? I’m in! Please pm contact details!
powerandpassionLove the Dead Kennedys reference! I thought this thread was going to be wayyyy off topic!
Yes it all started with a little innocent hard liqour, cigarettes, damaged eardrums and soon went down a slippery demon slope to standing next to Merlins at full roar and sniffing jet fumes..
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