The West Texas Wing of the
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News for Wing MembersSNB Update May 15 2012 Progress was made today on the cockpit, but per normal operations, testing revealed problems. The radio sounded fine on the ground, but the transponder did not respond, so we will have it checked and tested. The flaps are working ok, but need lubrication and adjustment. The circuit to the rotating beacon is ok, but the beacon itself is toast. We are ordering another which will be installed upon its arrival. The interior lights will have to be wired and the landing lights are not working. Greg Kinnan
SNB Update May 9 2102 We started the cockpit inspection and testing today. Most of the switches and fuses are not marked, so our initial efforts will be identifying each switch and fuse. Gregg Downing was able to help me, so there was less jumping in and out of the aircraft. We were able to identify both the wing ice lights and the navigation lights switches and fuses. The bad fuses were replaced and we found only one bad bulb so far. The greatest challenge was the poor grounds that we encountered. These were repaired and the tests went fine. We will continue to trace and test all electrical circuits on future work days. Greg Kinnan SNB Update May 1 2012 After two full days of work, the windows are finally installed. The windows were easy; the frames were the challenge. The finish frames will be pulled when we paint them, but that is fairly easy. Greg Kinnan
SNB Update March 27 2012 The task of cleaning threads, replacing nutplates and fitting both the inner and outer window frames was completed today. There were three frame sections that had to be fabricated. The next work section will be devoted to installing the new cabin windows. Greg Kinnan
SNB Update March 14 2012 It has been some time since we last worked on the SNB; holidays and winter were the excuses. The new cabin windows have arrived, so yesterday I started the process of preparing for the installation. All nut plates were tested. The process of nut plate replacement and frame fitting was begun. It will probably take two more sessions to complete this process and then we will be able to install the new windows. Greg Kinnan SNB Update November 12 2011 Greg Kinnan and I went to Guymon yesterday and worked on the Twin Beech. We completed work on the tail and attached the tail cone. After lunch, we started preparing window frames for window installation. Slowly but surely, we are making progress. John Jowell
SNB Update October 26 2011 John Jowell and I installed the floorboards yesterday for the final time. The seat brackets are installed and ready for the seat installation. Greg Kinnan
SNB Update October 17 2011 Tuesday, Greg Kinnan and I went to Guymon and worked on the C-45. We continued working on the installation of the passenger seats. This task is almost finished. Next we would like to install the elevator spring and complete work on the tail cone. John Jowell
SNB Update October 4 2011 Greg Kinnan and I went to Guymon yesterday and worked on the C-45. We worked on seat installation. We positioned the seats in the desired locations, identified and cleaned the mounting hardware, fabricated some spacers for the brackets and started drilling mounting holes. We noticed some missing hardware pieces. If we can't find any, we will try to fabricate some. Gregg Downing will order some mounting screws. We should be able to finish mounting the seats on the next trip. Kinnan cleaned, stripped, and primed both the inner and outer window frames. John Jowell
SNB Update August 31 2011 David Albracht and I went to Guymon this past Tuesday and worked on the C-45. We installed the pilot's seat, the radio and the transponder. Also, located and put a decal in the dash for the landing gear switch. Greg Kinnan is stripping the window frames in preparation for painting. John Jowell
SNB Update August 24 2011 Greg Kinnan and I went to Guymon yesterday and worked on the C-45. Greg had the mounts for the seats and it was determined that we will need the seats as well to know where to install the mounts. We removed the floor boards so we will be ready when we get the seats. We also installed new bolts in the flaps and elevator. There is a little more work to do in the tail area and then we need to start putting the windows in. After that, we should be ready to install the right engine. Slowly but surely we are making progress. John Jowell
SNB Update August 3 2011Col. Greg Kinnan and I went to Guymon today and worked on the C-45. Work done included adding about 100 screws to the floor boards, hanging the flaps on both wings and hanging the elevator. We ran out of screws for the floor boards so more will be ordered. We will probably have to remove the floor boards at a later date to install the seats but the floors are in place for now. The flaps and elevator will need to have new bolts installed at the hinge points but they are in place now and the installation of the new bolts will be pretty straight forward. We had some extra help from Gregg's shop today so we decided to take advantage of the manpower to help position the flaps and elevator. I have attached a few pictures. She is beginning to look a lot more airworthy. John Jowell
SNB Update July 25 2011I went to Guymon yesterday and worked on the C-45. Boy did it get hot (108). Gregg checked and adjusted cable tensions for the elevator and rudders. Safety wired one cable turnbuckle. Began installing the floorboards. Need more screws and washers to finish. Also need to do some repair work on the tail wheel lock control cable before center floorboard is installed. John Jowell SNB Update June 30, 2011We finally got all the fuel tank locker covers installed. Saturday the last cover was fitted and installed. This has been a very time consuming process, but it was certainly worth the effort to find and repair the pin hole leaks. We can now start on the fast installing items like flooring, flaps and windows. John Jowell SNB Update June 21, 2011Col. Greg Kinnan and I went to Guymon today and finished installing the left wing tank covers. Greg indicated he might go back Saturday to work on the covers for the right tanks. John Jowell
SNB Update April 5, 2011Col. Greg Kinnan and I went to Guymon yesterday and worked on the C-45. We worked on replacing the left front wing tank cover. This required repairing a crack in the skin where the cover attaches, drilling new holes for the cover hinge and fabricating a strap to reinforce the area where the hinge attaches and then riveting everything in place. The cover hinge attachment is now complete. John Jowell
SNB Update March 29, 2011I went to Guymon yesterday and worked on the C-45. I finished up some riveting on the new skin on the right engine nacelle and tightened a loose screw in the right main gear wheel well. Next I removed the remains of some screws that had been twisted off that hold the right engine oil tank cover in place. With all holes clean and clear, I replaced the covers. John Jowell
SNB Update March 26, 2011After a major home repair/remodeling project and the arrival of our first grandbaby, I was able to go to Guymon yesterday and resume work on the C-45. I assisted Gregg Downing and his helper Andrew in riveting new sheet metal to the lower inside portion of the right engine nacelle. We probably pounded somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 rivets. John Jowell
SNB Update November 16, 2010I went to Guymon Tuesday, November 16 and worked on the C-45. Gregg had me help him install the new sheet metal on the lower inside part of the right engine nacelle. We made some reinforcing straps for areas where the rivet holes were enlarged. We started riveting the new piece in place. We should be able to finish on the next trip. I have attached a before and after picture. John Jowell
SNB Update October 5, 2010I went to Guymon 10-5-10, and worked on the C-45. Work Done: Connected the linkage to a valve on the right engine lubricating oil system. Connected and safety wired the connections on the oil temperature sensor to the right engine lubricating oil system. Checked and tightened hose clamps on the right engine oil system. Safety wired the fittings for the left engine lubricating oil system temperature sensor. Checked and tightened hose clamps on the left engine lubricating oil system. Cleaned and prepared fittings for the top connections to the right engine lubricating oil tank. One of these days!!! John Jowell
SNB Update September 21, 2010Col. Flowers and I went to Guymon and worked on the C-45. We made preparations to install the right engine oil tank which included replacing some hoses, flushing the tank, cleaning some fittings and adding chafing material to the hold down straps. After prep, we installed the tank in the airplane. Remaining work includes connecting the fittings, connecting the ground wires and and replacing the cover. John Jowell
SNB Update August 30, 2010On Monday, August 30, I went to Guymon and worked on the C-45. I reinforced the three remaining attachment points for the landing gear door braces. Also did some riveting on the fairings at the right wing/fuselage joint. John Jowell
SNB Update August 17, 2010Col. E. Ross Flowers and I went to Guymon and worked on the C-45. We turned an elevator cable bolt around that was rubbing on an aluminum bracket and we set the tension on the elevator cables. We then safety wired the two turnbuckles on the elevator cables and checked all bolts to make sure cotter pins were installed. We looked for but could not find 10 anchor plates for the right engine oil tank cover. These have been ordered and should be here by next week. I have attached a couple of photos. John Jowell
SNB Update August 12, 2010David Albracht and I went to Guymon today and worked on the C-45. We vacuumed the areas under the floor boards and back toward the tail section. We checked the pulleys and hardware for the elevator cables and found all bolts secure with cotter pins installed. We found two bolts holding the tail wheel bracket that did not have cotter pins. We installed cotter pins in these two bolts. We added a reinforcing strip to a fairing on the right wing that butts up against the fuselage. Photos are attached. Temperatures soared today so it was pretty hot in the hangar even with a portable A/C operating. John Jowell
SNB Update August 9, 2010David Albracht and I went to Guymon Tuesday and worked about 5 hours on the C-45. On our last trip we discovered the elevator cables were crossed so we realigned the cables, secured the pulley bolts, attached the elevator control arm and painted the new aluminum parts with aircraft green primer. Photos are attached. John Jowell
SNB Update July 8, 2010On Tuesday, David Albracht and John Jowell went to Guymon and worked on the C-45. We completed riveting the braces to the tail cone.
SNB Update April 29, 2010Col. E. Ross Flowers, David Albracht and John Jowell went to Guymon yesterday and worked on the C-45. We continued working on the wing skins inboard the right engine nacelle. Also, we started working on replacing some brackets in the tail section with new brackets. Photos are attached. John Jowell You can check the restoration history on the DewLine Squadron website, www.caf-dewline.org , select SNB Update on the home page. SNB Update March 3, 2010Col. E. Ross Flowers, David Albracht and John Jowell went to Guymon yesterday and continued work on replacing wing skin on the right wing of the C-45 yesterday. We each put in about 4 hours. Slowly but surely, we are making headway. JJ SNB Update January 12, 2010On Tuesday, January 12, Col. E. Ross Flowers and John Jowell went to Guymon and workedabout 5 hours on the C-45. We continued riveting the new skin on the top of the right wing. It is very slow and tedious work because it is so hard to get to. SNB Update January 5, 2010Col. E. Ross Flowers, David Albracht and Col. John Jowell went to Gymon yesterday and worked on the C-45 about 6 hours. We began replacing the upper skin on the right wing on the inboard side of the engine nacelle.
SNB Update December 22, 2009From John Jowell: On Tuesday, 12-15-2009, Colonel E. Ross Flowers, David Albracht and I went to Guymon and worked on the C-45. We added a support to a cracked piece that attaches to the top skin in the right wing tank area. We also repaired the Schrader valve on the left main landing gear strut and inflated it to proper specs. Photos are below.
SNB Update July 29, 2009The group of John Jowell, Ross Flowers, David Albracht, and Greg Kinnan made the trip to Guymon to work on the SNB. It was a lot of fun actually putting pieces back onto the bird and not finding anything to remove or repair. The following was accomplished:
I had a problem with the card in my camera, so the pictures taken are not available. Greg Kinnan SNB Update March 14, 2009Colonels E. Ross Flowers and John Jowell drove to Guymon yesterday and put in 6 hours working on the C-45. The following was done under Gregg Downings supervision in preparation to install the fuel tanks in the left wing:
Painting the SB2CVolunteers of the West Texas Wing have spent the month of February '09 painting the SB2C. Prep work started the first week of February, and on Saturday Feb. 7 members of the West Houston Squadron turned out in force to sand the old paint, removing the oxidized layers and smoothing it for the new paint. This continued on February 14th, and the first round of masking was completed as well. Mark Allen spot primed as needed and shot the white the next day. During the week he shot the gray, and on Feb. 21 the West Houston Squadron headed south again to do the final cleaning and masking in preparation for the dark blue. The photos below were taken on February 21, after the white and gray and before the dark blue.
Update March 9, 2009The painting is done, the cowling and canopies are back on and the plane is ready for the Brownsville Airshow on March 14.
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