Dakman

The only way to make a fortune in aviation is to start with a bigger fortune. Come the elusive lottery (big) win, then funnier things have happened. Oh, and if I do win guys, you'll be the first to know! (Sometimes I can tell AWFUL lies..................!)

Bodge Deep, there was a single-axle flying control trailer at Rougham Airfield (Rougham Tower Association), at the rally there, weekend before last. Couldn't get close enough to "clock" it properly, but it looked "in period" and in good condition, AND doing the job it was designed for.

Interesting these wartime aircraft weights. In the 70's the max take-off weight was 12,700kgs/27,998lbs, yet the max landing weight was 12,200kgs/26,896lbs. So in wartime the allowable take-off weight was more, and the allowable landing weight was less. Explanation? Well, only a guess, but wartime Daks were fresh out of the factory with smooth skins, less wrinkles, (I kid you not), and therefore with only a couple of coats of paint were more likely to stay airborne in the case of one engine failing, (airframe drag etc.), at the higher weight. Also the margin of performance on one engine was probably not that required post-war in civvy-street. The remaining engine, also being younger, was more likely to deliver design power in a more reliable manner for longer when being thrashed in order to stay airborne on one engine. Ours were literally a wing and a prayer! As to the higher post-war landing-weight, well, over the years the centre-section/fuselage girders were massively reinforced, to the extent that these over-engineered items quite routinely had cracks in them which were merely x-rayed at intervals, no big deal. The outer wings were monocoque, and the fillets around the joints to the centre-section each had 376 nut-and-bolts, (far better than one big bolt!), and were reinforced as time went on. When a wing was replaced, the bolts were torqued-up, we flew one circuit waggling the ailerons, we landed, the bolts were re-torqued, varnished and maybe covered over with a fillet. They were never touched again. Also, ours were modded with good disc brakes, whereas wartime Daks had nasty unreliable drum brakes. Geez, if I'm boring you with all this, please say!!!!!!!!!

Thanks a lot for info guys!

Yes Jack, I was Fleet Captain for Intra Airways in Jersey in 1976, and was on them '73 to '81. The info I posted was from the tech manual volume of an almost complete DC-3 start-up kit I still have at home. Having flown more modern stuff subsequently, I still reckon she's my favourite!

Standard Dak has a main tank of 168 I.G. and an auxiliary tank of 167 I.G. in each wing, giving a total of 770 Imperial = 924.7 US gallons. So recommended fuel amount mentioned above was 120 US gallons below max capacity. Consumption averages out at 80 Imp / 96 US gallons per hour, so to dry tanks it could stay airborne for 9 hours 37 mins, but leaning out and cruising at 1850 RPM, (only if engine was well-tuned and props well-balanced) instead of the normal 2050 RPM would extend this. We never (obviously) flew to dry tanks; I personally never liked to land with less than 120 I.G. (90mins) sloshing around in there somewhere for Public Transport work, though it was normal to always run the auxiliaries dry and switch over just as the engines began to cough, (fastest hand movements to be found on the DC-3 flight-deck, even though you were always poised ready with the electric booster pumps on, and engines hardly missed a beat!).

Anyone able to tell me the empty weight of the standard Sankey? All to do with 750kgs gross allowed on my sons "new" type driving licence. Also its MAM would be useful. Thanks in advance.

Just so happens I have a drawing-room clock keeping accurate time in the hallway, with a brass plaque saying it was presented to my grandfather by Siddeley Deasy on the occasion of his marriage in 1917. He later won a medal for his work there, designing and carving large wooden propellers.

Intra/JEA had seven DC-3's, G-AMPY, G-AMPZ, G-AKNB, G-AMHJ, G-AMYJ, G-AMRA, G-AMPO. When Tony B says "pulled all the boxes out", he meant the serviceable RADIO boxes, swopped between aircraft as needed so they could fly! Engine failures were common, (cracked cylinder heads, literally NOS with probably 3 or 4 engine lifes (1200 hours) on them already, ally gone crystalline), and made the front page of the Jersey Evening Post at least once a month. And yes, at the age of 26 I was in charge of all the crew training, and enjoying every minute of it!

That would be a year after I started with them then! If you look carefully, you can see a WWII "trolley-acc" (battery cart) under the nose to provide power during maintenance, and even during start if needs be, in the absence of a motorised ground-power unit or, more usually, the aircrafts own internal batteries. I also once had to use the geared handle that fitted in a bayonet holder under a zeuss-fastened panel at 8 o'clock as viewed from the front of the engine, which, after pulling a T-handle to lift the starter brushes away from the commutator, wound up the inertia starter flywheel, (2 men on handle), and when it was judged we could go no faster, we yelled "MESH!", whereupon the pilot would use whatever was left in the batteries to mesh the starter with the engine. It invariably turned it over much faster than by normal batteries alone, and woe betide any hapless pilot who hadnt primed enough or too much, or had forgotten to switch the magnetos on! You then had to start all over again....... And yes, in those days it didnt matter who you were, if you were around, you got roped in. Health & Safety would have a fit if they saw two men exerting themselves so close to the soon-to-be-whirling propeller. We only had 3 gearboxes and handles for the whole fleet, as not all engines were so fitted, and I count myself lucky to have been one of the few people ever to have had to do it in anger for the return leg of a day-trip from Jersey to Cardiff, cos smart-**** here suspected a dodgy starter motor at the outset, and took a handle and gearbox with him, just in case! Just to gild the lily, we once had one where the fuel-priming system was also out of action, so we placed a ladder against the cowling in front of the wing, procured two china cups full of petrol, (it melts plastic), and at the moment when the guys had reached full speed on the handle, leaned across at the top of the ladder and threw both cup-fulls down the air intake, threw both cups away as far as possible in a safe direction, SLID down the ladder, pulled it away, shouted "MESH!", and the old darling sprung into life. Not unlike running an old MV really!.........

I can certainly recommend them, having had claims experience with them. Several years ago, my Militant-I was on axle stands near Worcester while my wheels were miles away in the Forest of Dean being refurbished (powder-coated) and fitted with brand-new 1500x20's. The uninsured workshop was torched, (they were after the owner, not the tenant!), and what with quenching etc, nothing was salvageable. Footman James paid up £1200, no hassle, which in those days enabled me to replace the wheels and tyres. This I did not expect, given the location away from the truck and circumstances. Needless to say, I am still with them. I speak as I find.............!! :-)

I THINK it escaped to the USA and became a Basler tri- or twin-turbo DC-3. Oldest one we had, (1942), and always felt as if it had been looked after, (ex-BEA).

If anyone DOES find an outlet for bioDIESEL, before you try it beware the substantive rumour that it will collect any dross in the tank and deposit it in the fuel filters, thereby blocking them. And dont think that having a clean tank to start with will cure the problem, 'cos this stuff will scour the coating that the tank is lined with during manufacture. If you are aware of this and are prepared to carry spare filters until all the dross has been carried forward, then there are no other reasons I know of not to try it. It will certainly better-lubricate your injectors and pump than the standard forecourt rubbish!

Cut my teeth in films, so to speak, by being paid handsomely for hanging around with the special effects guys on "Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" which was filmed at Booker (Wycombe Air Park). Later, (much later), thats me flying the DC-3 at the beginning of "The Eagle Has Landed", which also saw me having dinner with Jenny Agutter after filming in Exeter. The old Dak G-AKNB was painted in water-soluble camo,(Tony B will remember that), the surface finish of which was akin to sandpaper, which really hobbled her performance on a hot summers day, and I well remember stopping a cricket match near Hurn Airport as we staggered off to the west one summers evening before turning left and proceeding down Bournemouth high-street with probably a bit more cargo on than the load-sheet alluded to! The paint was left on as we needed the aircraft straight after filming was finished, and by the time the film company came to remove it, it had baked on so hard in the summer sun that it cost them a fortune to remove it! Before that, as an early teenager, I used to go to Pinewood Studios to look after a club glider they used in "Man in a Suitcase", and actually appeared on screen with Richard Johnson and another glider in a turgid James Bond spoof called "Some Girls Do", which vanished, deservedly, without trace. The moral there is that if you are going to appear in the movies and want people to recognise you, don't come on wearing a huge pair of sunglasses! Perhaps my greatest claim to fame was appearing in "Thunderbird 6", the only cinema film ever made with the earlier puppets, where a real Tiger Moth was used for some of the flying sequences. Only downside to that was that Lady Penelope was flying it, so I had to dress up accordingly, (only from the waist-up thankfully, but that was bad enough!). I thought I looked rather fetching, but enough already! (And probably too much.........?)

Followed the link, and didn't expect to find a fully-functioning site, all up and running. Someone's been VERY busy on our behalf! Heartiest congratulations on this marvellous addition to our hobby! :tup: On a technical note, most of the videos pause for a couple of seconds as the rate of play visually overtakes the rate of download. Viewing a second time is OK. Is this a function of my piss-poor broadband connection, or the graphics card on my new computer, (Processor Intel® Core™ 2 CPU T5500 @ 1.66/1.67 GHz, Ram 1024, 32-bit system, HDD 80 Gb). And no, I'm not one of those clever #~^*s who know what all that means! Maybe that question needs Jorisamising or whatever.

Yes, that's my old lady, and I used to sometimes go out to the barn just to start her up and listen! As for the two stonking great ruts in the car park, well if you must insist on creating such a great swath of perfectly smooth surface, how could I resist landing on it. Perhaps a bit more substrate next time, the old gal started to sink, so I diverted to Croydon.

Yes, me old, INTRA '73 to '81, I was the "last man standing" on the Dak. Now, that wouldn't be Tony B of a certain ...... Air Charter Co. would it?

A belated Hi to all on here! (See reply#54 in Professions/Trades on "Tell Us!" thread). http://www.hmvf.co.uk/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=38&topic=4817.msg50342#msg50342

Here goes! Joined here 18 months ago, posted once (insurance). Sold all my heavies 12 months ago after taking early retirement (and the insurance money) due to a severe back problem. I didn't want to be tempted to work on the trucks and make matters worse. Work-wise, I did 3 years as a bus driver,(1/2-cab Bristols, crash box, power-assisted nothing, still have all-types PSV), then got my first flying job on DC-3's in Jersey, going on to Viscounts, then 2 years on Twin Otters in Antarctica for HMG, followed by 5 years on inter-island Trislanders and Islanders. I then returned to the UK to do 13 years on BAe 146's for TNT Airways, followed by 5 years as an A300 Captain, from which I retired. Ambitions? To get fit, (already signs, against all prognoses), get my flying licence back and become a volunteer pilot for what is left of my old DC-3 fleet at Air Atlantique, Coventry, (surely all here will understand why!), and get back into heavies (carefully!) AND collect my Final Salary pension in 18 month's time! (Yes I know, lucky me). I've met TooTallMike and cohorts on the Bethune/Souchez trips with my 5-Ton Reo and 2-stroke Diamond T, and was a member of the Jersey C.I.O.S, so will be known to a few on here. I've owned about 12 MV's in the past 20 years, and must say I feel quite at home amongst all this mayhem and madness, and especially the camaraderie shown in sorting out other people's problems. Long may it continue, and good luck to All Here!

I was with Historic Commercial Recovery for several years. Only left when I sold my heavies recently. Never had to use them, but got a pro-rata refund when I left with no deductions, and even a Christmas card! Seems like a friendly family-run business. (http://www.h-c-r.co.uk) "Experience of service" seems what people want, so here goes. I've always insured with Footman James. Several years ago I removed all 6 wheels and tyres from my MK 1 Militant G/S and took them from the storage near Worcester to a workshop in the Forest of Dean to have the perished Russian (!) tyres removed, be blasted and powder-coated, and have a brand new set of Good Year 1500x20's fitted. The place was torched soon after in a drugs-related (!) arson attack; nothing to do with the workshop owner, who being "one of us"and not in a commercial business, had not got around to insuring his new premises. I now had a Militant on axle-stands, and no useable wheels, (water-quenched) or tyres. I obtained more wheels and tyres by a mixture of donations and purchasing, and had the powder-coating done again. It all cost me £1200 in THOSE days, all told. A claim was submitted, and I got £1200 from Footman James, no ifs or buts, which given the off-site circumstances, I thought was totally amazing. So, there you are. No connection with either company, I just "speak as I find!". ;-)