• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Aircraft Restoration

Share this page

S

SaxMan

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
Last year, I started helping out with a group of individuals who have been restoring World War II airplanes. It's a group of gentlemen, mostly in their 70s and 80s, led by Jack Kosko, a World War II veteran who was a radioman on a Grumman Avenger. Jack originally was a "car guy" and still has a 1929 Daimler in his collection. He restored one Avenger and donated it to the Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, PA. The Commemorative Air Force struck a deal with him to restore one of their Avengers. I came in late in the project:

Here's a couple of shots from last summer:

Restored cockpit:

DSC_0088 by onyxsax, on Flickr

In the hangar:

DSC_0011 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Pushed out to work on the wings:

DSC_0003 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Last December the plane was shipped to Hagerstown, Maryland for final assembly and flight testing. The Avenger is inching closer to its first flight. This is a shot of the Avenger in the old Fairchild factory building last month:

DSC_0067 by onyxsax, on Flickr
 
The current project for the volunteers is a Cessna UC-78 "Bamboo Bomber". I haven't been up to the hangar in Fawn Grove, PA for almost two months, but here are some shots from the last visit:


DSC_0018 by onyxsax, on Flickr


DSC_0023 by onyxsax, on Flickr


DSC_0024 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Jacobs engines:

DSC_0026 by onyxsax, on Flickr

They are always looking for people to help out, so if you're in the South Central PA / North Central MD area and would like to help out, drop me a PM. There are some days that there is more social activity than actual work, but the stories these guys tell are entertaining and riveting.
 
Great pics... thanks for posting and keep'em coming!
 
Bravo! Great photos of the great work you're doing on some great aircraft. Congratulations to you all. Wish I lived closer!

Tom
New England Air Museum
 
Damascus, used to fly out of a little airfield on 124 back in the day
 
Back in 62, I could have bought a flyable UC-78, with the shaky jakes on it for $1500.00! Hate to say what a restored one would go for today. $150,000.00 ??? PJ

Do you remember Sky King? He flew one in his shows. I think they put PW 450s on it though.
 
OMG I remember Sky King. Always wanted to learn to fly but never got around to it. Great looking old planes and glad to see them reborn.
 
I wish I lived closer..have a pilots and a/p lic. Worked on lots of recips in Vietnam. Pic with C-119 boxcar in background brought back memories. We had a squadron of Ac-119s called Stingers..awesome platform.
 
Wonderful photos...thanks for posting! Some of those were built down the street from where I used to live (in Trenton, NJ). My landlord worked at that plant. I was at an airshow around 15 years ago at McGuire AFB and a family flew in with their own Bamboo Bomber. It was a glorious-looking plane. It took me a second to get Paul's "shaky Jakes" reference (Jacobs radial engines). :friendly_wink:
 
Southern Alberta is home to the Canadian Bomber Command Museum, in a small town called Nanton... The only reason the museum exists is that a Lancaster bomber ended up in the town in the late-60's, for many years it just stood on a giant stick in the middle of town before they built the museum and did an excellent restoration... I was there recently for a running of the engines, they currently have three of the four engines running, but this particular plane will likely never fly again... Photo...

9446040109_8544d3684a.jpg


They also plan to rebuild a Halifax bomber in the future...
 
The Avenger is the TBM-3E version, manufactured by General Motors' Eastern Aircraft Division and was assembled in Trenton in July 1945. This makes it among the last TBMs built. It was assigned to the Marine Corps, but never left the United States during its service, spending most of its time at East Coast bases, particularly Key West and Norfolk. It was struck off charge in 1952 or 53 and transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy, where it was modified to a TBM-3S (anti-submarine warfare) standard. It served with the RCN until 1959 when it was sold surplus, passing through a number of operators before ending up with Forest Protection Limited in New Brunswick as Tanker 18. Unlike many surviving TBMs that were converted to air tankers, this TBM never saw service as a tanker in the United States. It was purchased by the Commemorative Air Force in 2000 and was flown to Frederick Maryland where it was assigned to the now defunct Stars and Stripes wing. When the wing folded, the TBM was moved to Hagerstown and sat outside, waiting for assignment. The National Capital Squadron in Culpeper took responsibility for the plane and it was sent to Jack Kosko's facility in Fawn Grove for restoration.

The UC-78 was built in 1943 and spent its life as a stateside trainer. After the war, it was purchased surplus and sent to Cessna for "civilianization" which included a nicer interior and civilian radio and navigation gear. The plane did not see much flight time before being assigned as an instructional airframe at a technical school. The school used it nearly 20 years before putting it into storage. An individual found the plane in the 1970s and purchased it with the hopes of restoring it. It sat for another 20 plus years before Jack purchased the project. His crew did some restoration work on it, but then the CAF Avenger came into their shop and they put the UC-78 aside. With the Avenger now in Hagerstown, his crew has been working diligently on the Cessna. However, Jack will tell you "We watch the calendar, not the clock". They'd rather take the time to do it right versus doing it quick.

His motto is "If you are going to go through all the trouble to fix up an airplane, let it fly". All of their restorations are flying restorations...no hangar queens or museum pieces.

Jack gave me one other tidbit, this time about cars. He told me "It pretty much costs the same amount of money to restore a car, no matter what kind of car. So, if you are going to go through the trouble and expense of restoring a car, why not restore something nice?"
 
SaxMan said:
His motto is "If you are going to go through all the trouble to fix up an airplane, let it fly". All of their restorations are flying restorations...no hangar queens or museum pieces.
Click to expand...

I totally agree! I would love to see that in the air some day! Look at the P-38 found in the ice fields! So very rare, priceless original aircraft. Totally restored and now flying. All you need is highly qualified pilots. And, some good mechanics, Grin! :encouragement: JMHO. PJ
 
Today, the Avenger fired up its motor for the first time since well before the restoration was started.

[video]https://s838.photobucket.com/user/billb24/media/TBM%20Avenger%20Restoration/100_5212_zps500709ae.mp4.html[/video]

Two thousand six hundred cubic inches happily idling along.
 
DART said:
Just saw an advert in the Sunpaper for rides in a B-17 soon, I think rides ($450)/plane to be at old Martin facillity.
Click to expand...

It will be the most memorable 450 bucks you'll ever spend! Do it!! PJ
 
1st picture in post #1, what's that thing in the center of the dash that looks like a modern stereo?
 
Tiger said:
1st picture in post #1, what's that thing in the center of the dash that looks like a modern stereo?
Click to expand...

Radio / GPS unit, IIRC. This plane was not meant to be the Reserve Champion at Oshkosh. It's meant to be flown by the various members of the CAF's National Capital Squadron in Culpeper who have qualified to fly it, and also for the squadron to sell rides in the seat behind the cockpit (originally the Avenger was supposed to have a crew of four. It was reduced to three and the seat was discarded, but it is easy for a new seat to be placed in the space, the turret (a great seat) and the radio compartment (somewhat cramped and limited, but the view from the belly window would be amazing!

In a lot of ways, the Avenger is like the LBC of warbirds: Relatively inexpensive (compared to P-51s or Corsairs), still a heck of a lot of fun to fly, but it requires a few modern modifications to make it practical for being flown on a regular basis. It is a fairly straightforward machine to work on (remember this plane was designed at the tail end of the 1930s beginning of the 1940s). If you're used to tinkering with an LBC, you'd be right at home working on a World War II era airplane.
 
When I was a kid (and most of you reading this I suspect) WWII and maybe Korean surplus tanks and planes were in it least one park in most every town in America as a display piece (where I lived there did not seem to be any rules against climbing and playing on them, so we did that too). There was a Vought Corsair a few blocks from my house, maybe it was that, or all the TV growing up, but I have always been very fascinated with old planes. We have the SAC Museum https://www.sasmuseum.com/exhibits/aircraft/ about 30 miles, away, if I could retire early I think it would be great to volunteer to work on restoration of the old war birds there.
 
Back
Top