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Special Parts ?

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
I made a post yesetrday in another thread showing the "special" nature of the vinyl graphic on Valkyrie's canopy skirt - a small piece of the plane that was carried into earth orbit and back. Someone responded that pieces of his airplane had come from parts of a C-5A which obviously had special meaning to him.

Which raised my curiosity....What other things have people put into their aircraft that have special meaning? We can all be sentimental about things, and many make or install special bits and pieces from previous aircraft (or from other meaningful parts of their lives) in their RV's.

Anybody else care to share?

For instance, I have used the same key ring for the keys of each aircraft I have owned - the ring is the same, only the keys change....

Paul
 
I have a trim tab made from a piece of "My Gal Sal" - a B-17 that spent 50 something years sitting on the icecap in Greenland.

Sal has been restored for static display. The aircraft's owner and sponsor was planning on using Sal as the centerpiece of a museum, but the city is apparently dragging its feet on meeting some committments, so the aircraft remains in more or less private storage.
 
A small fortune of my hard-earned cash...
Liters of salty sweat...
CC's of blood...
Sleepless nights...
Endless hours that should have been spent with my family...
All are precious to me!
 
I don't have anything sentimental in my plane but I am building with some tools that are. My grandfather built planes on Long Island during WWII. He gave me a bunch of tools a few years back that I really didn't know what they were for until I started building my -10. The countersinks I use now were the same ones that were used to build planes over sixty years ago. He died, at age 95, the day returned from LOE this year and the tools have even more value now. I was hoping to take him up in my -10. I took him up at age 93 in a C172.
 
what he said

tinman said:
A small fortune of my hard-earned cash...
Liters of salty sweat...
CC's of blood...
Sleepless nights...
Endless hours that should have been spent with my family...
All are precious to me!
i'll second that
 
Well... I've got a piece of noseart from a B-17 on my glovebox that looks a lot like the gal who financed the plane. I think I'd be breaking Doug's rules if I posted her, though. She's in a little racy. Put it this way -- my kids tease me that I should have named the plane "Beautiful Butt".
 
I'm a retired Marine. I have a bottle of sand from the landing beach at Iwo Jima and I'm planning to use a bit to make my own non-skid. Iwo Jima is a sacred place for Marines.

Jekyll
 
Well not really a "part" but I think my Dad's (who passed away in 2001 just before I started this project) Pan American Captain's wings are going to find a home in the RV.

Jim
 
The names of the two planes I built (a SeaRey and my 7A) have been named after my beloved companion bird, Oliver, who I lost back in 1998. He was my pet macaw and he enjoyed flying with us in our Cherokee. He would sit on my shoulder and just loved flying. He actually flaired his wings as I flaired to land. After I sold the Cherokee in 2000, to build the SeaRey, I decided to name it Oliver II. My 7A is named Oliver III. Ollie still flies with us in spirit. The colors of the Cherokee, SeaRey, and 7A were all Madrid Red and Insignia White with Yellow and Black trim. I also have a woven key fob that has held all the plane keys. It was a gift from my mom.

Roberta
 
My friend, Bob Farkus, rents the bay next to mine. He was a C130A crew chief (Vietnam era) He donated a military 8 day clock (works perfectly) and a Grimes style post lamp from the C130 he maintained for my 8A project.
Charlie Kuss
 
chaskuss said:
My friend, Bob Farkus, rents the bay next to mine. He was a C130A crew chief (Vietnam era) He donated a military 8 day clock (works perfectly) and a Grimes style post lamp from the C130 he maintained for my 8A project.
Charlie Kuss

Why can't the military use 7 days like the rest of us? :D

Seriously...what's an 8 day clock? Even Google's stumped on this one...
 
jcoloccia said:
Why can't the military use 7 days like the rest of us? :D

Seriously...what's an 8 day clock? Even Google's stumped on this one...

Wind it and it's good for 8-days.

Jekyll
 
jcoloccia said:
...Seriously...what's an 8 day clock? Even Google's stumped on this one...
That's how long it is supposed to be able to run on one wind. Wind necessary just once every week.
 
OK, duh....

I'm a child of the 70's and not very familiar with actually having to wind anything up. For years I thought clockwise meant "blink your eyes once a second"...
 
Memory items

I have an old wet compass I flew behind for about 600 hours which never let me down, so I guess that counts. But the real important "stuff" is to remember my dad. The earliest memory I have of him is when he took me through the Aeronca factory where he worked as a welder. I was three or four years old.

Dad was a veteran of WWII and a patriot. His last job in the USAAF was to destroy the aircraft left in England after the war. His crew "salvaged" 3200 of the finest planes to ever put air under their wings--something he really didn't enjoy. The last planes were 16 P-38's, sent over in cosmolene. His orders were to uncrate them, clean, assemble and pre-flight them, then destroy them. Ah, the logic of it all.

I used many of his tools in building my 9A, all marked with the last four of his service number, 35370908. N908BL is added to the list of planes he helped build to replace those 3200. His Tech Sgt stripes will ride along for good measure.

Bob Kelly, proud son of TSgt Myron Kelly
 
special rivets

I have some special rivets for my 8A. I served in Vietnam with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. We have a reunion every two years. This year I took about 100 rivets to the reunion and asked the guys to hold them in their hands for a while and perhaps say a prayer over them for me. They signed a special logbook. I will install the rivets on the top skin on the first row so that I will be staring at them when I fly.

One of the guys I served with was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously. His mother installed a rivet in my plane for me. So did his platoon commander, who is a retired one star general from the USMC reserves and who was awarded the Navy Cross in the same action.

My good friend, Col Joe Kittinger who holds the world record for a parachute jump (102,800 ft), was the first guy to fly a balloon solo across the atlantic, and was a POW in Hanoi, has agreed to install a rivet also.

Another friend who as a young paratrooper jumped into Normandy on D-Day has also agreed to set a rivet for me.

I have a starter buttom made for a WWII Spitfire (perhaps also for other planes) but have not yet decided where to put it.

Next month I will end my military service at a change of command ceremony at NAS Fort Worth, when I step down as the CO of a naval reserve intellgence unit. I will be taking rivets for the members of my command to handle.
 
Special Rivet

As a young boy I spent all my spare time in the garage with my dad. I learned car repairs, woodworking and a whole myriad of things from my dad. When he was last up in the area (I live in the south west chicago suburbs and he is retired in Arkansas) I had him help set a rivet. Its nothing that any one would know about but I could see the twinkle in his eye and knew he really wanted to help. At 83 I don't know how much longer I will get to enjoy him on this side of the big hanger in the sky, but I'll know that rivet is there and remind me of many fond memories.
Paul
N694BP - reserved
 
We snuck in a couple Hi-Locks, Titanium Bolts, TriWings and a few other odds/ends meant for 747's and DC-10's (we're all old Airline Guys Here)....in some oddball an unimportant places. My smoke switch is a fire switch complete with cover that says "fire" from an old 3 holer (27). My heavy duty extruded firewall hinge came from a 747 fan cowl...and my air vents are NOS classic 747 freighter cockpit vents. I have some metal laying around that I got at NASA Langley (haven't made it into an RV yet) but we'll see what I can find to do with them. No...they aren't off of the shuttle, but there is a LOT of other really neat planes that NASA plays with down at Langley.

We also have quite a number of other airline or military "things" floating around our shop for customers...some of the more intersting ones:

Current RV8 panel complete with new F-16 Stick Grip (still has all the nice weapons labeling on it) and F-14 Throttle grip.

Past RV customer we did had a stick grip his dad picked up from an ME-109 he shot down in WWII and then salvaged parts from - we rebuilt that grip for his plane. Pretty neat.

Another customer had a clock from the B-17 his dad flew, and another had a wind up clock from a downed Russian fighter in Korea.

Current RV-10 panel on the bench has some "replaced" air vents from Air Force one (747 which the guys nephew or someone works on it).

One of the most remembered was from an 87 yr old Glassair pilot who was a true "Flying Tiger" in WWII. Had some "piece parts" from his old P-40 (I think that's what it was...but it's been a few years now) put into his plane. Man did that guy have some stories....I wish he'd write a book or do a video or something. Those people are almost living treasures and I wish more of their stories would get recorded for posterity.

Anyway, NEAT THREAD!

Cheers,
Stein.
 
Special parts going into my 8A

I am still working on my 8A and probably will not be finished for at least 18-24 months. However, there are two items that will be on board when I make my first flight. First, I have some sand from the spot where the Wright Brothers first took flight. I gathered it into a little film container on the 100th anniversary of their flight. It will be part of a non-skid surface. Next, I have a titanium skid block from Michael Andretti's Indy Car in which he finished 3rd in the Indianapolis 500 in May, 2006. Michael came out of retirement to drive with his son, Marco, who eventually came in 2nd. My son, Patrick, was the data acquisition engineer on Michael's car. Since he was a little kid, Patrick wanted to be a race car driver. He drove go carts, went to professional driver schools and was eventually nationally ranked as a teenage shifter kart driver (his teamate was Scott Speed, who now drives Formula One in Europe). Three years ago, Patrick was involved in a horrible automobile crash (not in a race car). He was ejected from his vehicle (even thought he was belted) and struck his head on the pavement. He was not expected to live through the night. After a week in a coma and months in rehab, he started to recover from his huge brain injury. The neuro surgeons and the neurologists said that Patrick could never drive a race car again because another blow to the head would probably kill him or put him in a vegatative state. Patrick did not give up, however. He decided to try to become a race car engineer. He has done well in his studies in the mechanical engineering department of Auburn University. He worked on the Auburn SAE race car team, designing and building an award winning formula race car. Then, he got a summer internship with Andretti Green racing in Indianapolis. This past summer, they actually hired Patrick and made him Michael Andretti's personal DAG (data acquisition guy). Words cannot describe how proud I am of Patrick. Seeing him working in the pits during the Indy 500 was a real thrill. After the race, Patrick came home for a weekend and told me he had something for me. Then, he put this little titanium skid plate in my hand and told me how he retrieved it from Michael's car after the Indy 500. When N888SV takes to the skies it will have that titanium skid plate firmly fastened behind the tail tie down ring.
 
Special Part in the Doll

I decided to turn the space below the right switch console into a storage space (glove-box). I took a piece of aluminum left over from my first homebuilt project, a Pitts S1S, to make the door.

Storage space in the RV-8 is limited at best. I find this small space to be very useful. Inside I store the Phase I and II flight restrictions, a case of audio CD's, a small flashlight, a pair of reading glasses, spare fuses, a yellow high-lighter marker and a pen, Kleenex, aspirin, chapstick, gum, a Waco area sectional with the Crawford presidential P-49 restricted area displayed, and my Air Force nomex flying gloves.

On the outside of the door is a clear plastic pocket that displays the Doll's FAA registration, radio station license, and airworthness certificate.
 
N number

My Dad's Harmon Rocket-his seventh airplane that he's built is N251BR for Beryl Rich. I finished my RV-6 and managed to get N251AR for Aden Rich. I sold my RV-6 to a guy in Ontario, Canada 1 year ago. When I deregistered the plane I was able to get the number back-for 10 bucks. It will be reserved for my new project-A Rocket EVO-N251AR. So we will have two Rockets will very close N-Numbers. BTW this project will make the 11th for the family! Dad has been building since 1980!
 
During the war a machinist friend of my dad's carved a ring from a nut recovered from a downed Stuka. He carried it throughout the Italian alps and eventually Germany during WWII (He was in the 10th Mountain Division). I will be incorporating it someplace when the time comes as well as the crossed ski logo from the 10th.
 
Special parts

Will be awhile before it's installed but my RV-4 will have the panel placard for the tailhook extend / retract control from my old Navy airplane, an A-6 Intruder.

Doug Seward
Rv-4 wings
 
The precision of the ages

My grand dad was a tool and die machinist for the US mint in Philadelphia during The War. My dad waited until I started the RV8 project to pass on grandpa's dial micrometer and a set of inside and outside calipers, complete with original wooden storage boxes. These instruments were probably made in the 30's, and the quality is unbelievable. They don't make tools like that anymore. The micrometer is smooth as silk. No wonder my RV8 tracks straight as an arrow with the ball centered. :)

Love ya, Grandpa.
 
I've always liked the tactile feedback provided by Boeing's standard landing light switches. These are the type with three little bumps on them. (Similar ones were also used on all of the Air Force trainers and fighters I flew). I bought one of these switches to operate the landing lights on my RV-8.

The "XL" in my N-number (N18XL) is, at least partially, a direct tribute to the Air Force's "XL" tail-code at Laughlin AFB, Texas, where my professional flying career truly began. I owe a lot to the Air Force and to the great instructors at the ol' XL Ranch.

The letters also remind me to uphold the highest building standards I can -- to "excel," so to speak.

I'm noodling around with the idea of installing a fake "Master Arm" switch someplace on the panel as a rememberance of my A-10 days. We'll see. It might cause too many raised eyebrows at the FSDO... ;)

Buck Wyndham
RV-8 N18XL (wings almost done)
 
BuckWynd said:
I'm noodling around with the idea of installing a fake "Master Arm" switch someplace on the panel as a rememberance of my A-10 days. We'll see. It might cause too many raised eyebrows at the FSDO... ;)


Just use that placard for your electrical master.
 
special parts

I have toggle switch guards from a C-141 that I flew. I also flew the DC-9 and DC8 and used some DC circuit breakers from these aircraft. I currently fly the Boeing 767, but do not have any parts from that aircraft. HMMMMM..
Naahhh, too new an airplane... :)

Cheers,
Patrick
 
Special Parts: Terry Darley

My 6A has a small box full of special mechanical and electrical parts that came from my late brother's tool boxes and scrap collection. As each one was selected and installed, I pondered the special times Terry and I had together, often with a small tear and a lump in my throat.

Being seven years younger than me, I got to teach Terry guitar. It didn't take long before he was an accomplished musician. Later he played in bands, hosted concerts, and became a DJ with his own syndicated Radio Show down in Texas.

Terry spent a number of years erecting large TV/Radio towers and antennas. Some were as high as 1,000-1,500' tall. He could strap onto a tower way up there and work all day without holding on. Of course, the tales of bee swarms, sudden thunderstorms, and the occasional stray helicopter almost hitting him made the heights less of factor.

Later Terry Darley was an avionics tech for Raytheon (Beech) here in Atlanta. He held STC's for a number of special devices and was so good he had several new Beech aircraft assigned to him directly from the factory to customize.

Terry was an avid Harley customizer and a member of a Christian motorcycle group, "the Tribe of Judah", that regularly ministered at Daytona's bike week and Sturgis. The day he died he had a dozen Harleys at his house in various stages of repair. His funeral procession had the normal hearse and cars plus about a miles worth of Harleys and friends in leathers. The speakers at his service included traditional and bikers.

Terry was killed while working on a corporate jet. While working on an avionics issue, an A&P who was struggling to get a jet tire changed asked for help getting a tire off a rim. Terry held a wrench for him as he removed the bolts around the split rim. Finally, the 200 psi tire exploded killing Terry instantly. Seems like the A&P had not let the pressure out!

So, knowing that a few parts that Terry had handled are in my RV is so special for me. Thanks for asking! Great thread!
 
Not parts but we named our plane "Vita"

My wife and I named our plane in memory of her mother that passed away the same year the plane was born. Everybody called her "Vita" which means life, and she had a thing for Betty Boob..

NV707RVVITA1.gif
 
B-52 Parts

I have a Fire Axe, a First Aid kit, and a wind-up clock from the last D-model B-52 to fly from Carswell Air Force base. I was an Electronic Warfare Technician and we had the task of stripping all the usable parts from the BUFF before it's last flight to the Davis-Monthan Boneyard. One aor all of these parts may eventually make it into my cockpit.
 
Ashes

Well, I don't have any exotic parts that I have used in the RV-6, but I do carry the top to my fathers ashes....

When I finished the rag & tube Cub-type replica that my father started but died before completion, my mother asked if my brother and I could scatter his ashes over the sea near where we lived. Easier said than done, because when we opened the urn to tip the contents out, the wind caught the lid and blew half of the ashes throughout the cabin. Some time later, when doing an annual inspection after circumnavigation the continent ( 8,500 miles) I found the lid wedged down near the tailplane. I figured that was a sign, and when I sold the aircraft in order to finish the RV, I placed the lid from my dad's urn in the glovebox....

Martin in Oz
 
I have a toggle switch from a Supermarine Spitfire which was originally used to activate a camera. It will activate the Nav lights on my 8 which is in part dedicated to the Spitfire, Hurricane and pilots of the Battle of Britain to whom the people of Great Britain will forever be indebted.
 
Time Flys

My 8-day clock was removed from a retiring US-2B while I was stationed at NAS Norfolk in '69-'70. It has always been a prized memento and reminder of my days as an "Airdale." For years, it was displayed on a shelf or a mantle any place we called home. Though my RV sports 2 GPS's and a digital transponder with all the built-in clock and stop watch utilities I'll ever need....I just had to install it. Yes, it still keeps time.

img0021edited20ry5.jpg
 
When I was maybe 5, I declared I wanted to build an airplane. My uncle made me a set of wooden wheels, and told me I could do it--just took a while.

I set every rivet with my C-frame with a wooden mallet that he used in his shop.
 
"Special Parts" request

I'm still working away on my 7A emp, so I have a bit of time to come up with just the right sentimental special part(s).

Perhaps one of you fine folks can help me with some info.

Back in the 60s when I was in the Air Force, my first assignment was working in ECM on SR-71s. (It wasn't called the "Blackbird" until a bit later.) My question is this... is there any way I might go about getting some sort of "special part" from a mothballed SR? It could be a switch, anything from either pilot or RSO panel, a guage (whoa! Any guage would be phenomenal), even a chunk of wire? Any small bit would be great.

I know this might be a tall request; and any suggestions are highly appreciated.

Regards all -- Tom from Sacramento
 
Tom:

Try DRMS - Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service. Might be one in Sacremento. This is an agency that sells surplus equipment.

http://www.drms.dla.mil/

If that doesn't work, you could try a midnight visit to the San Diego Air and Space Museum. I believe they have a Blackbird on a roost. :D

Jekyll
 
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seaplaner said:
I'm still working away on my 7A emp, so I have a bit of time to come up with just the right sentimental special part(s).

Perhaps one of you fine folks can help me with some info.

Back in the 60s when I was in the Air Force, my first assignment was working in ECM on SR-71s. (It wasn't called the "Blackbird" until a bit later.) My question is this... is there any way I might go about getting some sort of "special part" from a mothballed SR? It could be a switch, anything from either pilot or RSO panel, a guage (whoa! Any guage would be phenomenal), even a chunk of wire? Any small bit would be great.

I know this might be a tall request; and any suggestions are highly appreciated.

Regards all -- Tom from Sacramento

Guy named Shul, somewhere in Marysville area, might be able to help you.

Check out this website for more info, and contact.

http://www.sleddriver.com/

Mike
 
Special Gift

My grand dad used to race cars in 32 and 33. He has always had this clock in every car or van that he has ever driven. I knew it was a 8 day clock from after WWll. Well when I asked him if he still had it and that I wanted to put it in my plane he said I could have it if I could find it. Well I found it and took some picks of Gramps (Will be 94) Jan 1. He told me stories about watching airplanes flying in the 20's an never had the desire to fly. He just liked watching and driving race cars. He STILL has never flown. OH what he is missing. And also the stories of B-36's doing low level runs in Kansas.
Bruce Pauley
Rowlett Tx
Emp done ordering Wings
http://www.mykitlog.com/bpauley
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Memorial Day seemed an appropriate time to install some special rivets in my RV8A project.

After attending a Memorial Day ceremony together I was honored to have two very cool friends join me in my shop to set some special rivets.

colemanandkittingerfk2.jpg




On the left is Bill Coleman, who as a young paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Div. jumped into Normandy the night before D-Day. He was captured during the D Day invasion and spent a year in a POW camp.

On the right is Col Joe Kittinger. Joe has a list of accomplishments way too long to list here..an overview includes the record for the highest parachute jump 102,800 feet, first person to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic, retired USAF fighter jock with 3 flying tours in Vietnam and a 4th tour as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. Joe is a big fan of the RV series aircraft. It was he who advised me to build an RV8.

I am in the middle with an RV "building" grin.

I am honored to have a rivet set by each of them in my RV and to have these friends such as these.

Happy Memorial Day, lets all remember why we celebrate this day.
 
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Too neat!!

Tony,
My heartbeat went up and my eyes a little glazed.....very beautiful tribute. Thanks and pass my congratulations and thanks for their sacrifice on to your two friends.

Sincerely,
Pierre
 
Paul,

No special parts yet but in 1996 my father passed away suddenly with a heart attack, he left me a 200+ Case pocket knife collection that I have sold one at a time on Ebay to finance my airplane. The knives have paid for the wing and fuselage kit and all the incidentals that go along with them.

I consider this my "special part".....
 
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tonyjohnson said:
On the right is Col Joe Kittinger. Joe has a list of accomplishments way too long to list here..an overview includes the record for the highest parachute jump 102,800 feet, first person to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic, retired USAF fighter jock with 3 flying tours in Vietnam and a 4th tour as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. Joe is a big fan of the RV series aircraft. It was he who advised me to build an RV8....
Not to mention that Joe Kittinger is the only person to have ever exceeded Mach I in freefall.

No airplane, no engine, no nothing except a person in a defective pressure suit!

http://www.balloonlife.com/publications/balloon_life/9510/prefligh.htm
 
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tonyjohnson said:
Memorial Day seemed an appropriate time to install some special rivets in my RV8A project.

After attending a Memorial Day ceremony together I was honored to have two very cool friends join me in my shop to set some special rivets.

colemanandkittingerfk2.jpg



I am honored to have a rivet set by each of them in my RV and to have these friends such as these.

Happy Memorial Day, lets all remember why we celebrate this day.


What an awesome post! It's not just the passion for airplanes that drives us, it's even more so the company we keep in the sharing of that passion!

It just doesn't get any better than that, does it?....
 
Tony, you are a lucky guy!

I don't know Mr. Coleman but I do feel I know Col. Kittinger...

About 13 years ago our EAA chapter had an Air Fair day at KDCU on Memorial Day weekend, and part of that day's activities was Joe providing rides in the New Standard biplane. Because of the busy ramp and taxiway activities, he asked for someone, and I was assigned, to be a ground safety crewman to help him while he was taxiing the big biplane with very limited forward visibility. It was a full day but very rewarding as I also helped him when he checked and added oil and did other maintenance checks between flights. At the end of the day I got a ride in the New Standard biplane and thoroughly enjoyed it. What a skilled pilot he is!

But what really impressed me was what happened a year later at the Moontown airport near Huntsville. I didn't know Joe was going to be there but when I spotted the big biplane I went over to take a look. Much to my surprise he came up and spoke to me remembering that I had been his ground safety guy the year before. What a gentleman he is!

Tony, you are very lucky to be a friend of Joe Kittinger. I hope you give him some stick time in your RV-8 when it flies. Our country needs more people like him. And I feel confident that if Bill Coleman is hanging around with Joe Kittinger, then he is cut from the same cloth.

Thanks for sharing this photo with us.

Don
 
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