Activity Stream

Activity Stream



  1. nlappos added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    Seat Back Ferry Tank
    Has anyone installed a large ferry tank behind the seat on their Avid/Kitfox? I am thinking of one plumbed exactly like the small header tank, but perhaps as large as 10 to 13 gallons, depending on tank shape and available space back there. Learning from one who has done it already would be a real help. Thanks!
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  2. KFfan added a topic in Close Call's and dumb stunts   

    WW II B-17 STORY
    A friend sent this to me.
    Never heard this amazing story:
     
    B-17 "All American" (414th Squadron, 97BG)
     
    Crew:

    Pilot- Ken Bragg Jr.
    Copilot- G. Boyd Jr.
    Navigator- Harry C. Nuessle
    Bombardier- Ralph Burbridge
    Engineer- Joe C. James
    Radio Operator- Paul A. Galloway
    Ball Turret Gunner- Elton Conda
    Waist Gunner- Michael Zuk
    Tail Gunner- Sam T. Sarpolus
    Ground Crew Chief- Hank Hyland

    In 1943 a mid-air collision on February 1, 1943, between a B-17 and a German fighter over the 
    Tunis dock area, became the subject of one of the most famous photographs of WW II. An enemy fighter attacking a 97th Bomb Group formation went out of control, probably with a wounded pilot, then continued its crashing descent into the rear of the fuselage of a Fortress named "All American", piloted by Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg, of the 414th Bomb Squadron. When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but left some pieces in the B-17. The left horizontal stabilizer of the Fortress and left elevator were completely torn away. The two right engines were out and one on the left had a serious oil pump leak. The vertical fin and the rudder had been damaged, the fuselage had been cut almost completely through connected only at two small parts of the frame, and the radios, electrical and oxygen systems were damaged. There was also a hole in the top that was over 16 feet long and 4 feet wide at its widest;
    the split in the fuselage went all the way to the top gunner's turret.

    Although the tail actually bounced and swayed in the wind and twisted when the plane turned and all the control cables were severed, except one single elevator cable still worked, and the aircraft miraculously still flew!

    The tail gunner was trapped because there was no floor connecting the tail to the rest of the plane. The waist and tail gunners used parts of the German fighter and their own parachute harnesses in an attempt to keep the tail from ripping off and the two sides of the fuselage from splitting apart. 

    While the crew was trying to keep the bomber from coming apart, the pilot continued on his bomb run and released his bombs over the target.

    When the bomb bay doors were opened, the wind turbulence was so great that it blew one of the waist gunners into the broken tail section. It took several minutes and four crew members to pass him ropes from parachutes and haul him back into the forward part of the plane. When they tried to do the same for the tail gunner, the tail began flapping so hard that it began to break off. The weight of the gunner was adding some stability to the tail section, so he went back to his position. The turn back toward England had to be very slow to keep the tail from twisting off. They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn home. The bomber was so badly damaged that it was losing altitude and speed and was soon alone in the sky. 

    For a brief time, two more Me-109 German fighters attacked the All American. Despite the extensive damage, all of the machine gunners were able to respond to these attacks and soon drove off the fighters. The two waist gunners stood up with their heads sticking out through the hole in the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their machine guns. The tail gunner had to shoot in short bursts because the recoil was actually causing the plane to turn. 

    Allied P-51 fighters intercepted the All American as it crossed over the Channel and took one of the pictures shown. They also radioed to the base describing that the appendage was waving like a fish tail and that the plane would not make it and to send out boats to rescue the crew when they bailed out. 

    The fighters stayed with the Fortress, taking hand signals from Lt. Bragg and relaying them to the base. Lt. Bragg signalled that 5 parachutes and the spare had been "used" so five of the crew could not bail out. He made the decision that if they could not bail out safely, then he would stay with the plane to land it. 

    Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its final turn to line up with the runway while it was still over 40 miles away. It descended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its landing gear.

     
    When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off because not a single member of the crew had been injured. No one could believe that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition. The Fortress sat placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage and the tail gunner had climbed down a ladder, at which time the entire rear section of the aircraft collapsed. 

    This old bird had done its job and brought the entire crew home uninjured.
     
    My father flew in B-24s in the pacific. Many fond memories of the stories. I am named after his best friend who died in a post takeoff crash. What an honor...
    • 8 replies
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  3. BryceKat added a post in a topic 582 needle bearing tool   

    Thanks Mark, that is great!
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  4. TJay added a post in a topic plastic leading edge   

    I sure like how Ron flared out that leading edge here, when you do it that way, does that mean you have to fabric that wing tip, I have the drooped tips for mine not sure how that will go, I thought you fabric then install the wing tip. Then finish tape from the wing onto the tip edge covering the rivets. Any suggestions?
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  5. thebriman added a post in a topic New elevator!   

    I did.  My set up is a mirror of yours.  Although I believe Lowell's fabric skills are a touch better than mine.  This was the first time I did any covering, I did have a few imperfections and wrinkles in the tapes.   
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  6. 1avidflyer added a post in a topic Painting fuselage tubing   

    I used two quarts for the acid etching primer, and also 2 quarts for the epoxy paint. Each comes as a two part mix, with one quart of each part.. No doubt, most of the paint is now stuck to my garage floor, as a lot of it misses the tubes. Anyway, that's how much I used with basically one coat of each type of paint. I did look around closer to home today for some one to give me a price on sandblasting and powercoating. Looks like Crystal finishing is 300 miles from me. That ends up being 1200 miles with hauling it down, then having to go back when it's done. I have a Kitfox 4 fuselage that will need blasting and new paint when I start to rebuild it. Plan is to finish the Avid first, then the Kitfox. Jim Chuk
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  7. EDMO added a post in a topic Fly the airplane...successful nosedragger deadstick landing   

    Maybe they both went to the same school that I did, and made a taildragger out of it until it stopped!
    I could see the Air Force Pilot doing that, because his engine was still running - Donno about the other one tho.
    EDMO
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  8. C5Engineer added a post in a topic New elevator!   

    Nice I think you are going to really like it especially when in slow flight. Did you do the trim tab too?
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  9. TJay added a post in a topic Painting fuselage tubing   

    I could have powder coated mine a couple of times already ha, I bought some black epoxy primer from a company called Eastwood, don't ever need to do that again, I did some testing with it, let it dry at 60 to 70 degrees for 1 week, then took a rag soaked with acetone and wiped the primer, wouldn't you know it, it wipes right off, there goes $80 bucks, I used acetone and Mek with the same results, afraid if I was to use it, it would all soften up when I hit it with poly-tac. So I went to the auto parts store and got some good stuff made by PPG it was DP90LV it was there epoxy primer, Now that's good stuff. but I had to give $187dollars for 1 quart with hardener, If I had to do it again I would just have her powder coated, since the local powder coating is only 20 minutes from me. One of these days I will get it done and ready for paint.
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  10. thebriman added a topic in Avid Model C   

    New elevator!
    I followed Joey's lead on this one and over the past month I modified my elevator to MKiv specs.  I haven't flown with the new elevator yet because the birds have been walking the past few days but as soon as the weather breaks I'll take it for a spin!  It will be nice to not run out of elevator at slower speeds and also be able to trim off the stick forces.  I have a 15 lb weight hanging from one of my tow bar attach points to help with the stick force, hopefully this mod will allow me to remove it.  We'll see! 
    • 11 replies
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  11. dav8or added a post in a topic Avid speedwing.... Impressions from those that have flown one?   

    I just realized that the video above was from last November when he flew over my cruising group while we were on the other side of Galveston Bay a couple of miles up one of the bayous. My wife and I are on one of the boats that you see several minutes into the clip. It was definitely windy and bumpy that day.
     
    Dan
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  12. dav8or added a post in a topic Avid speedwing.... Impressions from those that have flown one?   

    That is the Avid that I share a hangar with. It is a Model C Aerobat with a 582, c-box 3:1 with a 3 blade Warp Drive Prop. My Avid is the regular Speedwing with a 582 b-box 2.58:1 and a 2 blade GSC prop. We usually use around 500ft of runway taking off from grass and we could probably get it stopped in about the same distance. His cruise speed is a little better than mine but I am getting closer to matching him now. Cruise speed is around 100 mph IAS with a top speed of around 115 mph. We have both cross checked against GPS in 2 directions and our readings are pretty close to being correct. Touch down speed is around 50 mph after 65-70 on short final. My stall speed is 46 mph. Oh yeah and climb in mine with just me and 12 gallons or so of gas is roughly 1200-1400 fpm depending on outside temps.
     
    If you have some tailwheel experience then landing a speedwing should not be much of an issue. We enjoy the higher cruise speeds and slightly more comfortable rough air handling.
     
    Dan
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  13. 1avidflyer added a post in a topic Painting fuselage tubing   

    Well I've been out looking again at the fuselage, and am surprised by how many spots got lightly covered on the side of tubes. Fortunatly, I had put the last of the epoxy in a can on the floor right next to the garage door where it's pretty cold. That kept the paint from hardening up. Got a 1/2" wide brush and hopefully got all the missed spots. I also ran across the paperwork that came with the epoxy paint. It showed that I paid $75 for that paint. I'm sure the primer was about $50. So at that rate, I have $125 for paint, not sure how much for the sandblasting grit, I bought way to much, and probably will have enough for life if it doesn't get wet and clump togeather, and I don't want to think about how many hours I put in sandblasting and prepping for and painting the fuselage. I'm definatly going to rethink the powercoat option on the next one. $260 is dirt cheap. Any one have any thoughts about the worry of rust getting under the powercoating and causing problems?? Jim Chuk
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  14. lv2plyguitar added a post in a topic Trim servos 40 bucks   

    I am in the market for a full trim servo setup all the way to the controls on dash.
     
    Thanks
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  15. dholly added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    Traveling the U.S. in comfort and style with your folding wing plane.
    I've seen a few Highlander and Kitfox owners posting about trailering their planes around the country in retirement, maybe you even met the one fellow putting on 'seminars' at OSH last year. All very neat setups but this Aerotrek guy is gonna be tough to beat. Wowser!


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  16. dholly added a post in a topic Superflite revisited   

    Keep an eye out on eBay for some black vinyl stripe if you've closed up your paint booth. You can score some real good bargains if you are in the right place at the right time. The checkerboard graphics on my plane were actually an old Indy Pace decal car set before I 'customized' it for my aero application. Cost me all of about $25 IIRC and not one single problem, lifted edge etc., in three years. Bonus too is if'n ya don't like it, easy peasy to remove without damaging the paint under. Due to your brand new paint though, it might be wise to let it cure for a while first?
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  17. C5Engineer added a post in a topic Fly the airplane...successful nosedragger deadstick landing   

    J bird yes it was. He set it down on the other side of Hwy 12 across from Trilogy. Doug a Cessna or Tripacer is one thing but I am sure have you have seen the nose gear of an RV with a 5.00 tire on it. Pretty flimsy looking and everything around is recently plowed or soft from last weeks rain. He did great landing where he did and not putting it on its back or tearing that castering stick off the front.
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  18. 1avidflyer added a post in a topic Avid speedwing.... Impressions from those that have flown one?   

    Hard to tell how accurate his ASI is, but I tried to watch it on his take offs and landings.  Noticed on the one landing, he was showing about 50 when the plane touched.  Also, on the first takeoff, I counted 12 seconds before he left the ground.  Just looked at a video of my light Avid B, and it took about 8 seconds to get off the ground in that video.  Don't know what engine this guy is running, but I was running a 532 in the B and it weighed 445.  Jim Chuk
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  19. RDavidson added a post in a topic Superflite revisited   

    Ed,

    The original was just yellow. I think that is a replica, considering he crashed the real one, in a museum and they might have painted it to go with the name. Here is the original

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  20. RDavidson added a post in a topic Superflite revisited   

    Great idea! I didn't use preshrunk tapes, is that a real thing about tapes shrinking when the sun hits dark colors? Even stripes?
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  21. TJay added a post in a topic Avid speedwing.... Impressions from those that have flown one?   

    this guy here has the 24 foot aerobat wings performance is amazing I would not be one bit afraid of it.

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  22. cliff added a post in a topic Painting fuselage tubing   

    Epoxy is a primer.
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  23. TJay added a post in a topic Painting fuselage tubing   

    looks great Jim
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  24. EDMO added a post in a topic Fly the airplane...successful nosedragger deadstick landing   

    Members of our EAA Chapter and I helped pull a nosedragger Vans RV-6A on its wheels out of a muddy field in Illinois some years ago - Air Force officer and family got caught in snow storm and collected ice, and had to put it down right in the middle of a plowed field - the field was so muddy and rough that we had to build a large skid platform to put the plane on and pulled the skid out with a large tractor. We blocked the 2-lane highway and he flew away.
    Good pilot - poor judgement?
    EDMO
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  25. dholly added a post in a topic Fly the airplane...successful nosedragger deadstick landing   

    Got a chuckle when I saw "nosedragger" in the title, like a trigear couldn't ever survive an off field landing unscathed. Ha!
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