RE: ESM F6F Hellcat Info?
Hay Bubba John,
Mine was a twin tailed lady...and loved how she handled in the air. One of the most honest and best handling aircraft I ever flew. Light on the controls and those round engines sounded sweet to my ears. Fully controllable on one engine, at almost any speed and if my memory serves me right...not much altitude on one either-but I never lost an engine. On the ground she could be a beast...but if you were diligent and attentive, she would dance with the best of them. I must have gotten a couple of thousand hours in a C45G...on one of the rebuilt models from the early 50's. Super H wing tips, high speed gear doors, wrap around windows, crew and cargo doors and a 10-2 gross weight-with incidence change in the stab. She had short exhausts, a high tail wheel, aluminum control surfaces, and a main spar strap-w/good radio's and a new instrument panel. She had 400 total gal. fuel capacity-with Super H wings+ nose tanks, and could fly non stop-L.A. to Denver if I had to, with full IFR reserves. I learned a lot about flying in this bird and I have some fond memories of watching sunsets as well as sun rises in the Twin Beech.
I had a buddy that flew a single tailed version of the Twin Beech. It almost looked like a round engine Queen Air...not the T-Bone...(another sweet flying Beech) and from what I was told, the tri-geared single tailed Beech, had a higher useful load, then the standard tail dragging D-18/C45.
I managed to fly the 208 Caravan up in Alaska...God Bless...they actually paid me to fly it! It was a Ryan Air bird, and flew out of Nome and Bethel with her, in the mid 80's~90's as well as C206, C207's, 185's and 402C. They also had a DH-2 Beaver on anfibs...and it was a fight to fly the DH-2. Now that is one tough airframe... : ) ...and everyone wanted to fly the Beaver.
There are some folks out here that say a real airplane has two wings, a round engine and sits on its tail...and to be honest...I wont argue that one...ever. But one wing, a round engine and sits on its tail...works for me too.
I worked on the F6F elevator today and getting ready to re-install it. I had to re-drill the hole for the "U" connector control wire and remove the old hinges-not a fun job & still doing that chore. I will be finished with the elevator and rudder (I pray) by weekend. Then I'll remount my new engine and ready the airframe for painting. The new engine does not fit the current holes in the fire wall...so I will be plugging up the old ones and re-drilling new ones for the new 36cc engine...plus resetting the throttle cable...Ug.
I sent Vicky an e-mail and she is working up some stencils for me and a price. Thanks for the contact and she answered me in one day... : )
Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui