Wow, you guys are worse than my mother (aka JDK and Andy in Beds). It is airshow season, after all. I do try and check on the forum when I’m home, but posting get’s more difficult as the days get longer.
Right, that’s enough tea…time for an update.
I’ve just returned from 3 days in Breckenridge, TX at Ezell Aviation. Apparently my Sea Fury has taken quite a liking to the place, as I can’t get her to leave. Well, it’s not quite that bad.
The short answer is “another 3-4 weeks”. We were planning on changing the dual oil coolers back to a single, high pressure unit designed specifically for the 3350 sometime after Reno. Unfortunately during the test flight we discovered that hot air from the engine compartment is being forced through unsealed joints between the fuselage and wing. At anything above 250 kts it feels like you’ve turned the heat on full blast. Not very fun on a Texas afternoon. To seal the firewall you have to get TO the firewall, hence the decision to go ahead with the oil cooler change. Which of course leads to the “Oh, and while you’re there we might as well look at the oil and hydraulic tanks, and we need to add the new spraybar tank, and move the O2 bottle and the Nitrogen blowdown bottle and fix the leaking prop seal that was fixed last year and solve that little problem in the Middle East…”
Nelson, Ashley, Steve, Dennis and a whole cast of extras are “putting it right”, and it should not be too much longer before Southern Cross can come home. Also, thanks Steve (whose last name I can’t type here because it will look like ****ey when the censor gets finished)for getting the T-6 ready for me this morning. Three hours in the T-6 compared to what would have been a little over one in the Sea Fury.
The plus side is I had a very nice dinner with Howard Pardue last night, and then we went flying in his Fury this morning, so that took some of the disappointment off the trip. Howard will be back at Legends next month, as usual.
Here are some photos that I took this morning (I know Robbo, why didn’t I take any when I went flying with Howard…well…I don’t know…I just didn’t seem to think of it).
So, again I’m sorry for my lack of contribution to the forum, and I will try and do better even if I only have sad and depressing news of how my Sea Fury is on an extended Texas holiday.
Anybody know where I can buy a Spitfire Mk. 9?
Steve
PS I saw some very interesting things in Ezell’s hanger that I’m not allowed to talk about. Maybe Ashley will comment on that little project that his dad is working on. See me at Legends (and buy me a pint) and I’ll probably tell all.
Sign In
