|
Bell YP-59A
Hi,
New member here. My name is Greg Pascal. I live in Irvine, California, U.S.A. I work in the aviation business at a manufacturer of electro-hydraulic aircraft actuators and volunteer at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, CA.
My current project is our Bell YP-59A, serial number 42-108777. It was acquired in the 1950’s by our founder, Ed Maloney. Somewhere along the way, it was fitted with a second cockpit in the nose to give VIP’s their first ride in a jet fighter. It was displayed in that fashion until about 20 years ago. At that time, the Museum acquired three General Electric I-16 jet engines that had been stored for the Ryan Fireball project, and the decision was made to see if the YP-59A could be restored to flight status. These jet engines were overhauled in the 1990s and ran just fine at that time.
A survey determined the spar caps were corroded too badly to be used, but there was enthusiasm for the project and it was decided to effect restoration anyway. Accordingly, the wings were removed, the wing skin rivets were drilled out, and new spar caps were fabricated and installed. The wings were then reskinned and re-attached to the fuselage. The second canopy was removed and the fuselage was returned to single-seat configuration. We even fitted dummy guns. Of course, everything needed attention, and the cockpit canopy … the sliding part anyway, was missing from the time the aircraft was first acquired.
To make a long story shorter, we now have about 45,000 man hours into the aircraft. It is in the final stages of restoration, and we are planning a first flight hopefully yet this year, certainly before our airshow next May. When we DO get it done, we will be the only place in the world flying their country’s first jet aircraft for the public to see.
I have only been a volunteer for about 3 years, and my part of the project has been small. I worked on the ailerons, flaps, and am now working on the cockpit canopy. We are fabricating it from scratch and it will look pretty stock except we will not pressurize the cockpit. We figure the F-22 Raptor has taken over the high-altitude task from the early jets, and we plan to fly it at low altitude for air shows only. It doesn’t have the range to go very far anyway.
I was also on a team of 3 people who restored a WWII PulseJet engine that came from a U.S. Navy JB-2 Loon cruise missile, which was a copy of a German V-1 Buzz Bomb. After restoration, we spent a year learning to make it run, but run it does. At the last airshow, we pushed my pickup truck down the runway with the PulseJet. Definitely the loudest thing at the show. We had one WWII veteran come up and say the last time he heard that sound was in London in 1944 when he was in a hospital there after being wounded in air combat! (he was a B-17 ball turret gunner)
Nice forum.
|
23rd August 2009, 19:46
Similar Threads
Linear Mode
