Aero Vintage Books

Hello B17 lovers everywhere,
Where to start? Pictures are good!



While TEXAS RAIDERS is a tribute to the 381st BG (Triangle L) my Dad was a B17 Pilot in the 384th from Aug. '43 'til Feb '44.
I love ALL B17s from pre-war to any application in any theatre of operations AND those in the warbird "circus". Bless 'em All!

I suspect more of you out there know more about TEXAS RAIDERS N7227C than I do.
I've only been around her for about two years. I've never seen her fly!
(I have ridden taxi in LSFM's Thunderbird and flown in Liberty Belle, bless Don Brooks' and Tom Reilly's hearts, that and the 430 Samoans it took to buy a ride.)
But I've been lucky enough to get myself elected WING LEADER of the Commemorative Air Force- Gulf Coast Wing.

Shorter is probably better with first posts.

SPANNER

Whose the hippy?Get a haircut Bill.

Hi B17 fans...
sorry I have been away for so long.
TEXAS RAIDERS lost its hangar lease and we had to move EVERYTHING!

After much drama we moved to the "far" side of Hobby airport.
If nothing else it was great to get all four engines hung and get the airplane out in the sunshine. We even got to put the prop trailer to good use.

Photo by Kevin Hong

We are hoping to test run the first engine in late January.
A lot has to happen in order to make that come to pass, but it is amazing how success breeds success and the volunteers are getting more excited everyday once they come in and see the airplane with engines and the nose plexi-glass installed and various other projects done!

Merry Christmas everybody.

SPANNER
aka Don Price

nice pics Don......just curious when you think she will be flying again?

When?
With the proper application of the lash it SHOULD be flying in July or August.
It will probably still look like hammered hell, but we hope it to have it at Midland and Wings Over Houston.

She looks good without the winddrag hanging under the nose.Have you guys thought of changing her to an F model? Cant wait till she flies again.Been tooooooo long.

We hooked up enough stuff to turn the #4 engine over with its starter and watch the test prop. spin on Sat. Jan. 10th.
Once that was done I started putting spark plugs in and hooking up the cigarettes.

I am going back tonight to replace some old bolts on the throttle linkage and cotter pin them in place.

It shouldn't be too long before we screw our goonads on and gas her up and make smoke and noise!

SPANNER

Here is the first start up ( in seven years) of engine #3 from last weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aMdNhwV0pE

There are two other videos of our engine test program posted on youtube.

So far we have not found any large amounts of metal in the screens from our test runs.

The plan is to test Eng. #1 tomorrow Sat. Feb. 21st.
You know how plans are. The weatherman is predicting sprinkles, so if it isn't safe we aren't running it.

We got drenched last weekend during the third run of the day on #3.

More news as it develops.

SPANNER

Coo...ool. Keep 'em coming.

After all the hubbub on the succesful #1 engine run last Sat. we started to hang the flap on the right wing.
It was a "pre-fit" affair, but it turned into a "learning experience"!

All of the flap transmissions had been removed, cleaned, repainted and re-lubricated and when they were put back on it turns out some were mis-aligned by as much as 1/8 of an inch.

So all of that is being tended to and we hope to have a flap on soon.
We are anticipating hanging the wing extensions by the end of March.
There will still be plenty left to do before flyable, but seeing wings on her will be grand.

SPANNER

Test run pictures from #4 with Fortress Fixer Ashley and Larry NOT the Cable Guy doing the Victory Dance.


#1 with SPANNER presenting his best side.

Who doesn't like carry through SPARS?
For those NON-mechanic types, the carry through spars are what define the for and aft of the bomb-bay and as an afterthought the designers bolted the wing spars to them!
I decided to see what TEXAS RAIDERS carry through spars looked like under all that bubbling paint.
All of the rust is still surface rust and non-pitted.
It is about to get the treatment and repainting.
While I was mucking about I decided to get the air hose out after the various diagonal braces in the bombay and what should pop out, but rivet heads from all the repairs done due to the AD.


Shop heads that were hiding in the hollow braces.



The worst of them for rust showing through.

More news as it develops.
SPANNER

Spanner,

For us non a/c repair bods, could you clarify:

Are these the old rivet heads that ended up left inside the structure, or have the heads come off the new rivets put in during the AD?

All the best,
PB