Now there’s a title to conjure with. With the industrial strife that is running our way I need to consider my next job if things don’t work out. A common line of flight deck conversational banter in the small hours seems to be, ‘What would you do if this job went t*ts up or you lost your license?’
Sometimes the answers are illuminating with the some of the most unlikely pastimes imaginable floating to the surface. Plumbing was recently a favorite but of course that was assuming that a license/medical was lost. Others have included going ‘back to the city’, ‘doing something serious with the web’ and ‘developing the current sideline – a fitness studio.’ None of these were my choices by the way, just a samples from my colleagues in the seat next to me.
If I managed to keep my license and things got bad, I would try not to get killed in the crush to fly this kind of machine like Dickie Martin managed to for the bulk of the latter part of his life. This is ‘work’ I would happily do until I ran out of marbles or expired from breathing in dope fumes as I splashed the stuff across rag wings. Fabric work – now there is an idea. The taught drumming of Irish linen, the silvery, plastic sheen of Seconite… hmmm.
Mr Boeing has always made rather good flying machines…..
THIS AIRLINE (BOEING PAC AIR) AND A FEW OTHER SMALL AIRLINES
WERE ROLLED INTO WHAT IS NOW “UNITED AIRLINES.”After 8 years and 18,000 hours of toil the Boeing 40C rolled out last week end as a finished airplane. We now have to wait a few weeks for the snow to melt to fly this baby.
We received our Standard Airworthiness cert form the FAA last week and completed the engine pre oil and fuel flow tests for the 1st of the taxi tests to start when the snow melts bit. This is the snowiest winter in Spokane since1968!!
Factoids for the Boeing 40 project
The wings have 33,000 individual parts in them.
The airplane weights 4080 lbs empty and has a gross weight of 6075lbs.
We used 350 2″ brushes and 6 gallons of West Systems epoxy. 181 rolls of paper towels.
21 gallons of dope/reducer and 120 yards of 102 ceconite fabric used.
12 gallons of poly urethane paint for the sheet metal.It’s 34 ft long and 13 feet tall with a wing span of 44 1/2 feet. Wing loading 10 lbs per sq ft and power loading 10 Pounds per HP. Should cruise at 115 mph at 28 GAH. And 32 GPH at 120 mph. It carries 120 gallons of fuel in three tanks.
There were a total of 62 volunteers who worked on the project to some degree and 21 volunteers who did a significant amount of work and 9 that worked continentally over many years.
What a tribute to the dedication of both those who flew them, and those who spent thousands of man hours restoring this one. To be able to fly it must be a rare privilege.
These guys look like fun – The Flying Pembertons
More on the logistical effort from Antique Airfield.com
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