Newb w/ aircraft

[bever]

Hi guys....gals. A local SS'er introduced me to this new world of like mind thinkers. I'm currently working on the cosmetic restoration of 3 navy military fighter and attack jets. They contain some steel but mostly titanium and aluminum. Hopefully this site will help with that process.
Thanks..Gene

 

[Bad_Carp]

You'll find we are very visual, love to see pics of projects...post em up!

oh, and welcome to the site

 

[LongueCarabine]

Tell us more! What kind of aircraft?

LC

 

[timntrucks]

glad you made it over to the SS side of life. please post up some pics for us to see.. i will make it a must go and see you down there with those aircrafts. you will have to have all pics resized to the small 640 something to post them here. cant wait to see what you are working on.

 

[swbradley1]

Being former Navy I'd be interested in knowing types of aircraft.

Pics please or at least model numbers.

 

[bever]

Here's the short story. I am the President of the St. John Military Park in Reserve, La. We have possession of several military equipment.
F-4N Phantom II , A-7N Corsair II, F1-11F Tiger and a army personnel carrier. Not exactly sure of the designation of the carrier.
These aircraft were originally obtained to be painted and placed in a position of honer for the world to see. Mainly, education and preservation for the younger generation. We have the 501 status, the land, a plan and the cooperation of the governmental authorities. The secured land is large enough for the display of the equipment, area for cosmetic restoration and eventually a military museum.
Days after Katrina... the 82nd Airborne took over our airport. This was with cooperation of all concerns. They needed every inch of hard surface they could get. They decided that these planes took up too much space and were pushed off of the asphalt onto the grass.
These planes are now located in front of my business and are stuck in the ground. They have been there since Katrina. I have all the heavy lifting equipment I need (I think) to get these birds out of the field and back onto the hard surface. We need much needed help and assistance. We put steel sheets under the wheels. The tires are now flat and I'm told we need replacement tires and wheel assemblies. The steel wheels look OK to me.... We have the 3500 psi compressor. We really need someone who is knowledgeable with lifting these types of planes. The local NAS has offered assistance but then that offer went away. Attached is a pic of the planes. I have reams of pages of info on this project and the plan for the active museum if anyone is interested. Tons of pics available. HELP

 

[ProviderDriver]

Try and get together with one of the local Experimental Aircraft Association Chapters. (EAA Chapter) They do have a warbird division and could get you in touch with the right folks to help you get the aircraft safely moved.

Lifting them won't be the easiest way. Get some sort of ramp material, dig down to get them under the tires and wrap a nylon strap around the nosegear strut close to the wheel assy. Then gently tow or winch them to the tarmac. Have you tried to air up the tires? Most of the time they will air right back up if they are not damaged. If they are, try calling Specialty Tire, the folks that took over Desser, they should be able to help.

Don't lift them, you will cause more damage that way.

The rims will probably be OK...If you have to clean them up use a bead blaster and mask off the bearing races.

Be careful trying to jack the planes up....Look for the jack points, you cannot just lift anyware. The jack points are going to look like an upside down cone but only protruding about a half inch and be about an inch and a half around. They are steel and will probably be brown with surface rust. The jacks are specialty items and might be able to borrow/rent from any large aircraft maintainance facility. You may want to consider gettting someone from the EAA Chapter to find an aircraft mechanic to "Pin the Gear" if it is not already pinned in the down position. This will keep the gear from collapsing while towing.

 

[swbradley1]

I have spent a lot of time working on the F4s but I can't remember how to jack the thing up. I think it had a hard point under each wing and on the bottom of the fuselage right behind the front landing gear.

Maybe these guys can help with information. There are lots of F4s still flying and I'll be there is a lot of tires and maintenance equipment as well.

Welcome to the F-4 Phantom II Society!

 

[DieselBob]

First off welcome to the site. Thanks for the pic's. I loved when the Blue Angles use to fly the smokies. You could hear them coming a hour before they got there.

 

[swbradley1]

I always liked the fact that F4s and B52s always had their own smoke screen with them.

 

[mattgw86]

I'm definitely gonna have to check this place out sometime. Where at in reserve are you? I'd definitely be in for helping out, provided I am not working.

 

[amaverick88]

welcome aboard from an aircraft sheet metal mechanic in the air force. i am not sure how the jacking of the planes goes for that specific weapons platform but if you have any questions on how the restoration of the metal and other structures are concerned feel free to ask me. or you can also as mdmorgan as well since we both work together along with his wife which her name on here is mdmorganwife.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

The West Texas Detachment of the SS welcomes you aboard Find a bunk, stow your gear and prepare to get underway

Your aircraft, if in their original paint and marking, "should" have both Lift Point and Jack Point locations marked on their skin. If not, I'd recommend posting TWO threads in the Planes and Helicopters - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite Forum. Create a thread for each model aircraft and you'll probably catch the attention of some experienced SS or someone who knows someone.

Looking forward to following your project(s).

John
San Angelo, TX

 

[joshuaz223]

every navy plane i worked on whale, s3, ea6b and f14 had lift points. they require removing small body panels on the top of the aircraft for access and should be plainly marked just like the jacking points. i saw many f4s lifted and if i remember correctly they had three lift points two in the front at the wing roots and one in the rear about 3 feet in front of the tail. as stated earlier be very cautious with the landing gear. navy aircraft have very tough landing gear but if not properly down and fixed they will fold up like a deck of cards.

 

[jluv1185]

PM sent.

 

[MWMULES]

No help on the planes but the if the Army MV is the one in the back ground it is a M114 APC.
M114 IFV - Command and Reconnaissance Carrier - History, Specs and Pictures - Military Tanks, Vehicles and Artillery

 

[Ol-Paint]

If you haven't already, you might also want to try warbirdinformationexchange.org - a Warbirds Resource Group Site They've got a lot of folks with experience restoring & moving these birds.

Douglas

 

[deuceaid]

Welcome to the group! I have one question, does anyone know if its true that when a f4 was in a turn at a certain throttle setting they made a " Ghostly " kind of howl? a former Vietnam Vet told me they did , and it scared the VC... I thought I may have heard one do it once,,,,,, but its hard to find any flying f4s anymore.

And Your welcome to do a strafing run on my neighborhood anyday .

 

[WolfWalking]

One caution on the wheels, they are magnesium, not aluminum.

20 year Navy, retired AME1
EA-6B Prowler, A7-E Corsair II, F/A-18C

 

[noaccount]

I actually know a guy that travels all over the country doing recovery of items such as this. Not really sure of the forum rules on this type of referral, but I don't work for or with him and only know him in passing (last time I saw him was a couple of months ago at an airshow actually). I have never done any business with him but know allot that have and he has always seemed like a fairly straight forward guy.
Scotty's Towing and Recovery in Cameron, MO

Out of curiosity have you discussed the concerns with the people that moved the planes into the (no doubt muddy) grass?