(( PART II ))
Now at this point, while writing this, Julie just walked in and reminded me that I wanted to go see the WWII Bombers that were on display at our local airport.
The Collins Foundation was in town for a couple days.
I had no idea what I was in for..
There were three Bombers at the airport. A
B17,
B24 and my all time favorite a
B25. I’ve drug Julie to these kinds of things before but, having kids in tow, she never actually got to climb through one. So today we toured the big 4 engined B17 & B24 bombers. You could peek in the B25, but that was about all.
I would have loved to tour the B25 but, oh well..
Then I overheard someone talking about getting a flight lesson in the B25? “Huh?” I asked the guy, he said “Talk to that guy over here.. “
“Ah, Sir? You’re offering flight lessons in the B25 Bomber?”
“Yeah, 30 minute flight. You’re at the controls. We can fly around the islands.”
“When can we do this?”
“Right now if you want.”
Now let it be known, I’m actually terrified of even the thought of going up in and old aircraft like this. Engine fires, broken control wires, corroded wing spars, overstressed metal.. Good lord! Never would I fly in a B24, a B17? I think I’d need a stiff drink. But to try my hand at flying a B25? Still scary..
“I’m in!”
They started prepping the plane, we had to deal with the money thing. About the time I was walking out to the plane they told us, “You can take Julie along”.
“Really? C’mon Julie!” She was a bit reluctant but with some arm twisting.. She came too.
I was so excited I thought I’d wet myself! Rolling down the runway the pilot told me “Start pulling back on the control yoke. Get the nose up a little and it’ll fly off when its ready.” And from then ‘till we dropped the wheels to land, I flew the plane. WHAT A RUSH!
Funny though, I’ve dreamt about this for years. But Julie, who had no idea what she was getting into, had the time of her life! Its nearly 10PM and she’s STILL going on about it! After we got airborne they had her crawl up and ride in the nose of the plane. She had an absolute BLAST! Here is a link to her
Facebook Video.
Here’s Franklin’s post with
another video clip.
A shot Julie took from the bombarder's compartment. Complete with 50 Caliber machine gun.
I’m pretty sure we were over Camino island at the time.
Julie’s new facebook profile picture. I tell ‘ya. The girl is in love!
And finally proof we survived. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for hours!
Face your fears and reap the rewards! What a day!
Another funny thing; Our pilot Ty, is another WC53 owner! What a kick! After the flight he came out and checked out Franklin.
Ok, back to the blog..
Steve, starting to make the template for the floor.
At this point things have changed a bit in our plan. Getting planks for building this turned out to be harder than we thought. Then I decided plywood would be fine. Seeing that the wood is becoming a structural part of all this, I’d like it to be one monolithic piece. I ordered a 5‘x10’ sheet of 3/4” plywood.
Meanwhile I’m working on replacing all the body mount rubber bits. Seeing that almost nothing is holding the body to the frame, I’d just jack the body up and carefully slip in the rubber pads.
This is one of the rear corners. The taillight is a dead giveaway. The rear corners were two of the three that actually had bolts in them. Not doing a lot, but there.
Jacking up the body to slip in more rubber pads. This it taken laying on the ground under the truck looking up past the frame rail.
After the floor template was complete, Steve had me paint the perimeter with Hammerite to stop the rust under the wood. I wonder if this is just more snake oil, but I complied.
I’ve also been giving the plywood a coat of varnish. Really low quality sheet I might add. I didn’t see it until I unwrapped it at home. But time is rolling on, so it’ll have to do.
Ok, steel beam is in, body mounts at least have their pads, cross members are welded back in, Hammerite is painted on..
Steve, laying out the template on the plywood sheet.
Cutting begins.
And pretty quickly its finished. Notice the fender cutout in the left side but none on the right side? We found that there was no way we could get the full sheet in or out of the truck. So in the end we had to chop off the rear right corner. But the wood will still give the truck plenty of strength.
First test fit. I went under the truck with a pencil and marked where all the known holes were. And Steve, better more accurate craftsman than I, drilled them all out.
Once all the holes were at least pilot drilled, if not fully drilled. I spent a day getting as much of the screws and bolts aligned and installed as possible.
Painting the forward steel angle.
Artsy shot of test fitting the steel angle.
Everything your seeing now is just test fitting. Steve and I have not yet ironed out how the steel beam cab mounting is going to be completed. We go around and around about how it should be done. It spans under the plywood between the two bolt heads just aft of the steel angle.
(( End Part II ))
