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By: - 11th October 2011 at 18:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Lovely cockpit was at Booker....I have pix somewhere. Did you see my warbird alley cockpitfest idea? Also i still have a part for you!
By: - 11th October 2011 at 19:32 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Don't have any parts, but do you have any pictures of the restoration? Would love to see them :)
By: - 11th October 2011 at 21:50 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Lovely cockpit was at Booker....I have pix somewhere. Did you see my warbird alley cockpitfest idea? Also i still have a part for you!
Yes, count me in to warbird alley! would love to see pics of the A-26 at Booker, we never did catch up at Shoreham about that Cobra bit.
Fouga, I will get some pics together when I am at the museum next, we have had our work cut out addressing the corrosion issues in the wheel bay, anyway you will see when I post the pics.
By: - 12th October 2011 at 03:56 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Redhill--
I remember seeing the Invader cockpit outside the little Booker museum on my one and (so far) only UK visit, in April 1989...as the Invader was and is a favourite of mine I'm sure I took a picture, will see if I can find and scan it.
Meantime, here's an entire Invader I recently saw at Gatineau, Quebec...inventive paintjob pays tribute to 1 Canadian Air Division Sabres!
S.
By: - 12th October 2011 at 10:02 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
It was outside at Catfield in Norfolk for donkeys years. I had a good look at it then, and thought it would be a good project for someone, but the owners didn't want to sell. I never took a picture though!
By: - 12th October 2011 at 11:33 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Nice Invader [ex-Air Spray sister of my Tanker 2]
Psssssst....don't call the paint Police......:eek:
By: - 12th October 2011 at 16:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Is this the same one that is featured on David Taylor's website?
By: - 12th October 2011 at 16:14 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Yes it was.... i passed it onto Dan :D
.
By: - 13th October 2011 at 16:54 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
As promised here are some pics of the Cockpit. You can see the amount of corrosion in the wheel well prior to some extreme conservation work, we are now just fitting in various repair patches prior to a top coat of paint, then she will be rolled back over so the canopy can be refitted.
By: - 13th October 2011 at 16:57 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Looking good, must be a quite a collection or rare US cockpits you have there now. Do you still have the C-119 cockpit or am I getting muddled up with somewhere else?
Will the 26 be retaining it's K Vietnam markings?
By: - 13th October 2011 at 18:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
We still have the C-119 but since it is post war, we are (when time permits) going to find it a new home, as we have a lot on the go already. We would like to get a few quid for it to help lube a few "restoration cogs" but not a huge amount.
Re the A-26, we are restoring her back to wartime spec since this fits in with the museum, the other reason is that B-26 parts are even harder to find than A-26 parts. We will however include the Vietnam side of things in the display.
By: - 6th November 2013 at 13:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Ok, so it has been a while since I last updated the A-26 Invader Cockpit Project thread but work has been ongoing all this time. A mile stone was reached earlier this year when the wheel well (the worse area for corrosion by far) was finally completed. The wheel well was blasted back to bare metal, all the corroded sections were then cut out and repairs put in place. Everything was then etch primed and top coated. The before and after highlights the challenges we had to face and it was pretty gutty & probably on the extreme side of restoration but really there was little option. As you can see the large crease in the wheel bay area is from the aircrafts last flight when it stalled on landing, that we concluded was beyond repair!
By: - 6th November 2013 at 15:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Nice work!
By: - 6th November 2013 at 17:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Well done, You have done a fantastic job, great to see the then and now photos.
TA
By: - 7th November 2013 at 09:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Thanks guys, attached are some pics of the final roll-over having spent 2 years on her side, we had a purpose built stand made to fully support the section. These pics werer taken in August (playing catch up). The wheels are great, one person can push this about now.
By: - 7th November 2013 at 10:14 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Great stuff; I looked over it on a number of occasions when it was sat just a few miles from me. It really was a mess.
By: - 7th November 2013 at 12:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Hi Bruce, I found this photo on the net, not sure when it was taken but sure wish we got hold of her in that condition!
By: - 7th November 2013 at 13:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
brilliant job Dan, well done....i am still digging out he booker pix
will it be at the Fest????!!!!
By: - 7th November 2013 at 13:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The B-26 arrived at Booker on the 16/4/88 and the Dakota left in March 1994 if that helps!
By: - 7th November 2013 at 16:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
He's another one at Booker late 1988 [ATTACH=CONFIG]222735[/ATTACH]
Posts: 818
By: wingsmuseumUK - 11th October 2011 at 18:30
Hi,
This year we have been busy working on our Douglas A-26 Invader cockpit that I believe used to be at Booker?? Much of the work has been on the underside wheel bay area with conservation work on a grand scale. Recently the interior and underside have been etch primed with various repair patches being fitted as we speak.
Now then, on to the appeal, this cockpit spent a number of years outside with much of the internal parts being "removed". Now that we are entering a stage where we can begin refitting parts this is a general appeal to anyone that might have any of the missing kit lurking around in your collection that can help aid this project.
Main items that would make a visual different (important for museum display) is the pilots seat, rudder pedal assembly, control column and yoke, instrument panel etc and any other bits that might have once originated to the airframe.
Your help would be most appreciated and no questions asked if you do have any parts from this airframe. ;)
Thanks to one and all.
Oh, one last thing, if anyone has any "spotted" pictures of this cockpit whilst in open air storage, we would love to see them.