OT - Boeing 40C; Oldest Air Worthy Boeing Airliner

[don Tomás]

Buddy send me this. Something for the plane buffs...
Tom



Oldest Boeing Airliner In Flying Condition


This is as it should be - passengers in a closed cabin, pilot in open cockpit so he will stay awake. The airplane is in Spokane, WA and is the oldest flying Boeing in the World.

After 8 years of repair and rebuilding and 8,000 hours of toil the Boeing 40C rolled out last winter as a finished airplane. They had to wait a few weeks for the snow to melt to fly this baby. They received their Standard Airworthiness Certificate from the FAA and completed the engine pre-oil and fuel flow tests for the first of the taxi tests.

Facts for the Boeing 40 project:

221 gallons of dope/reducer and 120 yards of 102 ceconite fabric. 12 gallons of poly urethane paint for the sheet metal. The wings have 33,000 individual parts in them. The airplane weighs 4080 lbs empty, has a gross weight of 6075 lbs. It is 34 ft long and 13 feet tall with a wing span of 44� feet.

Wing loading is 10 lbs per sq ft and power loading is 10 pounds per HP. It should cruise at 115 mph using 28 GPH, and 32 GPH at 120 mph. It carries 120 gallons of fuel in three tanks.

350 - 2 inch brushes were used to apply 6 gallons of West Systems epoxy, and 181 rolls of paper towels for cleanup.

There were a total of 62 volunteers who worked on the project to some degree. 21 of the volunteers did a significant amount of work, and 9 of the volunteers worked continuously during the 8 year project.

[TedH]

Very cool.

[Hillbilly]

I am glad to see they saved it.

I had the pleasure of watching the second highest time DC3 operate for several years...belonged to Florida Airmotive in Lantana Florida... well over 80,000 hours on the airframe... that was several years ago. Airmotive operated several DC3's and a gaggle of Beech 18's... living history at it's finest!

The DC 3 in the Air and Space museum had more hours.... but not by much.

[2ndovc]

I love vintage aircraft!

Sharp looking plane. I hope that ends up in some movie!!


jb

[airedaleman]

Airplanes made with wood and fabric and wooden boats rank right up there with fine firearms!

[JustaJeepGuy]

Just out of curiosity, I wonder how long it took Boeing to build the plane in the first place.

[J Miller]

It's cute. I wonder how many humans they can cram into the winged sardine can?


J e

[Kansas Ed]

It's cute. I wonder how many humans they can cram into the winged sardine can?


J e

Depends on the weight of the passengers...and in yesterdays world that was a lot more than in todays world.

My wife spent several years restoring this one....she sold it to a new home a little over a year ago...I do miss hearing that Jacobs radial snort and rumble to life...

Ed

[kimwcook]

Both of those are really cool planes.

[jeepnik]

It's wonderful to see that older planes are restored. While many end up in museums, those that fly seem to touch the soul. The oldest plane, to date that I have flown in is either (I don't know which was built first), a JU-52 or a PBY Catalina, both owned by the Spanish Air Force. But I'd love to go up in the Boeing. Maybe someday it will start making the air show circuit and sell rides.

[Ysabel Kid]

This is so cool! Could you imagine traveling in one of those when it was the state of the art?

Thanks for posting Tom!

[Kansas Ed]

For those who have not experienced it, radial engines in smaller planes are a wonder to watch come to life. The starter whines, then there are a couple of coughs followed by a sneeze, with the usual oil smoke from the bottom cylinders exhaust just before they catch. The whole aircraft trembles with the torque, like a drowned man coming back to life. Then the succession of hitting cylinders and the resultant roar of a living breathing dinosaur. I will never get it out of my memory. I hate to fly, but the starting of a radial engine never ceases to awe me.

My wifes Cessna 195 had a Jacobs 330 7 cyl. radial in it. For those that know the Jacobs, it is an unique engine in its design. What we didn't know when my wife bought it was that the Jacobs has an inherent engineering anomaly. It's known as the "Jacobs Cough". What happens is that because of the "intake manifold" design, certain cylinders can end up lean and will occasionally backfire. It will happen maybe once every couple of hours. This is standard operating procedure for the Jake, but let me tell you.....The first time I experienced it, we were at about 4000 AGL and I riding in the back heard the engine SNEEZE HARD....and for a split second (which seemed like 10 full minutes) the prop was arrested and stopped, before it continued on in its normal fashion....I think I said three Hail Mary's and the entire Lords Prayer...and I'm not even Catholic.

Ed

[kimwcook]

That was funny.

[Paladin]

That was funny.

+1
My 1st flight ever was a 195 dad and my uncles had rebuilt. Dad and I flew to the Oshkosh Air Show in 73 in a just rebuilt Stinson Voyager D. I love the old aircraft.

[adirondakjack]

Oldest plane i ever flew in was a '42? vintage Piper Cub. That day there was also a Stearman flying around, as well as a cessna 152, each buzzing low over the birthay party the owner of the grass strip was throwing for his niece. All the guests got to fly a buit that day. Buzzing in at 50' AGL following within 100 ft of the Stearman was cool, him throttled back almost in a stall, us motoring under power....

[jeepnik]

4000 AGL and the engine coughs. Not too bad, you probably had a pretty good glide ratio in that thing. What really sucks is less tha 100 AGL and the single turbine engine on the helo quits. No time for true autorotation, the pilot just pretty much flared it and tried to stuff the skids into the air frame.

[Rusty]

Don't worry Ed, even a coughing engine has just enough power to take you to the scene of the crash.


I like to watch 'em but I flew so much when I was younger I don't care to ever get in another one.

I might get in a DC-3 though. I wish someone would strst building them again. Fit it with a couple of turbo props and fly it for ever.

[bogus bill]

Here is mine in its better days. Well, its wood and fabric!

[bogus bill]

I learned to fly in a old luscombe 65 HP 8A. I think the instructor and me weighed almost as much as the plane! We had to hand prop that one, no radio either. I think it was built in 1946.

[gamekeeper]

Airplanes made with wood and fabric and wooden boats rank right up there with fine firearms!

+1 Thanks for posting.

[cshold]

Great looking plane’s indeed.

I’m kind of partial to the heavy’s of yester year.
This is a picture of my Great Uncle Paul. (center kneeling)
He piloted the B-17 during WW2 and numerous
other bombers, including the B-52 during his
Army & Air Force career.

[Kansas Ed]

I love pics like that!

Ed

[JReed]

Cool looking birds. Never been a fan of flying but then I have never been in a small fixed wing craft only comercial jets. I will say I do like helos so one of these days I will have to find someone to take me up in a small bird.

[piller]

Great pics and stories. I like looking at the old birds, but being one of the "Jumpin' Junkies" kind of spoiled me for wanting to be in them. I prefer to leave the airplane sometime in midfight. Jumped off of a Huey's skid one time at about 1500 feet. Six second static line and what a rush.