TALESPINNERS - January, 2003

Hangar Flying
with Stu Faber

IN THE NEWS. Wall Street Journal,19 Dec 02. Boeing is dropping work on its very fast Sonic Cruiser to concentrate on development of a 250 seat transport which will be 20% less costly to operate than similar size planes. Airlines have shown little interest in the Sonic Cruiser idea or an enlarged 747 so Boeing is concentrating on designs to replace the aging fleet of mid size planes. Development costs are estimated to be around $10 billion.

    AND on 20 Dec 02, an item that the Pentagon is delaying a plan to lease around 100 Boeing 767 aerial refueling tankers. Planes now on hand may be extensively upgraded.

    AND in 30 Dec 02 issue of Fortune Magazine, an article on GE's jet engine business. Interesting from both a business and a technical view point. GE is on its way to cornering the market for big engines. The article shows a picture of a 747 taking off with a GE-90-115B engine substituted for the left inboard engine. After takeoff the three other engines are shut down and it climbs out on the one engine only. The GE-90-115B is rated at 115,000 pounds of thrust but has been tested at Peebles OH up to 123,000 pounds. Remember when early jets flew on 3000 pounds of thrust? The article tells much about how parts are made by a number of scattered, small specialized shops and how and where they are assembled. Quite interesting to Cincinnatians and former GE people.

    ALSO in the same issue: an article on Boeing's and other recent stealth developments. Pictures and descriptive details of Boeing's "Bird of Prey" a single seat experiment like the experimental stealth UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) which are really not pilotless as they are flown by remote pilots. The Bird of Prey looks bat like with drooping wing tips. By putting most of the maintenance access panels in the wheel wells many hours of labor needed to putty and tape the edges for radar invisibility are saved. I wrote the following before I wrote about taping the panel edges. Glad it was not part of tank changes.

NOT SO FOND MEMORIES. One day recently, while repairing the gas line on my 35 year old lawn tractor I was thinking about the work involved in replacing the self sealing fuel cells in B-24 wings. After taking a hit from a machine gun, and although the tank was not leaking, where I was, we replaced the damaged cell. These were heavy synthetic rubber bladders somewhat larger than a coffin and about the same shape. They were fitted between wing ribs and each wing had 6 or 7. Access was through a plate about 4 by 5 ft, or perhaps somewhat larger as part of the under side of the wing skin. The plates were held in place by a double row of countersunk screws about one inch apart around the edges. The screws were recessed cross head like Phillips except they were by Reed & Prince and took a different screw driver point which we were also issued. The head slots were filled with paint and many of the screws were corroded and the heads rounded out when we tried to unscrew them by hand. We had no power screwdrivers. Then they had to be drilled out using an "eggbeater" type hand drill. Eventually we learned to use a Reed & Prince screwdriver without a handle and place it in the slots and rap it sharply with a hammer. This set the point in the slots and the jar loosened the corrosion. Once the plate was removed the various fittings were disconnected and the cells removed. 3 or 4 of the cells could be collapsed and folded and removed through the opening but the outer ones could only be removed by first removing the inner ones to clear the way. Each cell was provided with manholes in the sides which could be unbolted and allow a man to crawl through and beyond the cell where he could push against the sides to collapse it. The tanks were heavy and stiff and it was mainly a muscle job using big wood paddles. Replacing was just as much work .We were fortunate in having a mechanic who somehow slipped through the enlistment as he was well below minimum size for service. The crawling through was his job as well as bucking rivets in tight places. Our planes did not get shot up much and as it took a good many hours to change tanks I wonder how often they changed tanks where there was much more anti-aircraft and fighter opposition.

MAY YOUR 2003 BE CAVU ALL THE WAY.

Copyright © 2003 by Stu Faber.  All rights reserved.