The Fighter Collection

Category: Grumman Bearcat

The week after Legends

Hangar Talk

I can only liken the feeling in the week following Flying Legends to climbing the steepest and highest mountain; (months in the planning and weeks in the execution) only to throw yourself off at the top once you reach the summit, such is the anti-climax post FL. This years FL brought us some extra challenges that we took on the chin and combined with the tenacity of our principals, volunteers, engineers, pilots and with the assistance of our partners at IWM Duxford developed innovative ways of bringing people closer to the action whilst simultaneolusy moving them further away!! ( Irish logic I know) Much has been written about the revised CAA regulations and whether you agree with them or not, they are here to stay, at least within the medium term and finding ways to minimise there impact is key to delivering and safeguarding the Flying Legends brand. It is also unfair to point the finger of blame entirely at the door of the Civil Aviation Authority; it is important to recognise the support of a number of individuals within the authority, who working within the confines of regulation and due process, have helped us to complete the UK civil certification of Curtiss Hawk P-36C (G-CIXJ) that arrived with us last ‘Legends’ from prolific Curtiss Hawk builder, Matt Nightingale’s, California Aerofab Inc, California USA. It has taken a sustained and combined effort between multiple agencies, individuals and organisations to complete the certification process in time for Flying Legends 2016; at a time when vintage and historic aviation is being scrutinised at microscopic levels it was refreshing to receive pragmatic and practical levels of support and assistance from the General Aviation Unit and its Design and Airworthiness Surveyors. We are also indebted to our fellow aviation ‘geeks’ at ACRO Aeronautical Services for once again reviewing the multitude of design and modification queries we generated as we completed the aircraft survey and type design review ahead of the (E4) design report being submitted to the CAA.

Anyway, here we are a week after a successful FL 2016 and we are about to launch the Corsair and Bearcat to Farnborough for the weekend and are already stuck into the annual inspection on the P-40C and Spifire MkXIV. The landing gear hydraulic issue we ran into on the P-40F and the reason for it not flying at FL is almost resolved; new seals have been manufactured by SKF Economos for the landing gear control valve and we have tested the first batch this week. We now need to manufacture a new batch of spring retaining clips for the poppet valves before completing final landing gear functional checks. This month all seems to be related to seals as we are now progressing into the manufacture of new leather cup seals for the Gloster Gladiators Hobson carburettor accelerator pump; the pump has sprung an internal leak caused by the leather seals by-passing during operation allowing fuel to enter the upper linkage chamber. Over the coming weeks we shall be removing the rear fuselage fuel tank on the P-40C to carry out an inspection on the rudder control cable pulleys; removing the propeller from the P-36C to fine tune the static balance; fitting new wing fuel cells to the Spitfire XIV (assuming the contractor actually finishes them; 7 months and counting!), installing new seals in the Wildcat brake pedal foot motors (told you it was all about seals this month) and finally having a well earned break away from computers, mobile phones and aeroplanes…

July 16, 2016
Pre Legends Wednesday

Just like a number 9 bus, all quiet and then they all take off together! great day, great flying, hope to see you all at the week end

July 6, 2016
Christmas 2015 Best Wishes

Wishing all our Friends and followers seasons greetings. Click on any image below to view the gallery

We will be doing a few updates to the website over the Christmas break including a transfer to a new server. We may briefly be off air for a short period of time but we will be right back!

December 23, 2015
Hangar update for end of May

This would usually be part of the Online Fighter Log update available to Friends of TFC- it answers a lot of “which aircraft was where and when this week end” type questions so here you go:

A busy weekend in May…. The Hawk75 and Gladiator made our first European outing of the 2015 season with Stephen and Patrice at the controls for the trip to La Ferte Alais. The transit necessitated a brief stop-over at Abbeville for fuel before flying on to LFA were TFC engineers Roy and Paul were waiting for their arrival having departed Duxford at 5am Thursday morning via Folkestone. With some quite complicated logistics Nick who was due to fly the Gladiator in the show made the transit to LFA from Geneva on Thursday evening. Operating away from base is always a challenge particularly when your tools and spares provision needs to fit into a modern family saloon!

The VE Anniversary show at Duxford was combined with the departure of three TFC aircraft Spitfire V, P-51D, Corsair) to the Oostwold Airshow , Groningen, Holland. EP120 was able to make the dash across the channel on Friday (beating the weather) at the hands of Alan Wade as it was not required for the Duxford show; regrettably the MkXIV wasn’t able to depart for the show due to an as yet undiagnosed over-fuelling issue with the carburettor. With the weather closing in on us the P-51D and Corsair weren’t able to make their planned slot to leave Duxford on the afternoon of the Sunday show and finally left at 08:20 local time Monday morning (another lay-in missed !).

All aircraft made the recovery back to Duxford on Monday, with the Hawk75 and Gladiator first to arrive in the late afternoon and our Dutch contingent finally returning 18:45 local time. All in all a very successful weekend both here at Duxford and across our European commitments. Many thanks to those of you who visited us in the Friends area and had a close up look at the Bearcat.

And finally…. ‘A little knowledge is dangerous’…..on occasion we have to respond to inaccurate information placed on public forums and disseminated as factual. We were recently made aware of a thread running on one such forum suggesting the Sea Fury FB11 needs a new centre section! You might imagine that as Chief Engineer these are things I would normally know a little about, particularly if one were actually needed (which it isn’t).

To be absolutely clear; the Sea Fury hasn’t fallen off jacks; it isn’t on jacks simply because it doesn’t need to be on jacks. However, there is a small area of damage to the lower spar boom port side were a bolt was incorrectly orientated in the landing gear retraction mechanism and which on retraction test (some years ago) caught the underside of the boom flange. The damage is repairable and a scheme has already been identified in accordance with the aircraft repair manual and our resident design organisation, therefore no one need worry that the aircraft is not being currently progressed for the absence of a replacement centre section. Our priorities are set by the Principals and Chief Engineer dependent upon our developing workloads, Inspection Programs and ultimate goals; suffice to say we have not forgotten about G-BUCM and its time will come….shortly…..

May 27, 2015
A Busy Sunday – the video

We ran the moving picture cameras while the aeroplanes ventured into the sunlight on Sunday and caught a few engine runs (we have cheated and included the Kestrel engine in the Nimrod from earlier in the week as well as), Spitfire and Wildcat but we didn’t think that would be a problem.

May 14, 2015
May Desktop

Well it’s this time of year where we start getting things out of the hangar, so here’s a shot to reflect that as this months desktop, don’t forget to mark up the weekend of the 23rd and 24th!

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April 30, 2015
We are getting dressed again

A quick view of the hangar with more bits being put back on the aeroplanes than taken off since the last update.

March 23, 2015
October Hangar Catch up

With the winter drawing ever closer, the flying season is has drawn to a close and so the engineers set about servicing the aircraft. Currently the Gladiator is in in a rather revealing mode with a chance to catch some interesting internal detail, elswhere the Hellcat and Wildcat now carry engine inhibited warnings.

Among other happenings this week one of our long standing engineers (and previously a volunteer) , Fred, has left for pastures new. TFC wish him all the best for the future.

Here he is in characteristically cheerful mood after a backseat experience in Miss Velma:

Talking of Miss V, today she was the subject of attention from the TFC volunteer team:

We also had a quick hangar shuffle with the Staggerwing:

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October 26, 2014
Legends – the true meaning

On Thursday we had a visitor to the hangar. John Cronin was a Fleet Air Arm pilot in 1945, completed his flying training on the Cornell and Harvard before going on to the Martlet (Wildcat) He managed eight deck landings on an aircraft carrier with a collapsed oleo “on the wrong side” which made the take-off swing even worse than normal.

He then was posted to Tambaran near Madras (now Chennai) to fly the Hellcat, in preparation for the invasion of Japan. Whilst there, however, the hostilities came to an end and John gratefully returned to the UK and his life as an insurance salesman. Now 89 years young, he is still active, driving himself and brother Tom to Duxford today and although not able to get into the Hellcat this time it was a great pleasure to welcome him again.

You can see our aircraft Legends such as John flew below as the aircraft are nearly as active as John (including the Hellcat). Video as caught at the Duxford September show.

September 21, 2014
TFC at Duxford September Airshow

Our photo report on TFC at the show on Saturday and Sunday, others will have pictures on the internet of Lancasters, a 727 and other assorted goodies. A much busier day for us on the stand and VEAO in the hangar. Video of our planes in action will be along later:

September 14, 2014