Connecticut Air And Space Center

[coptermech]

Here's some pics of a few of the current restoration projects we have going on at our museum. Our museum is housed in on the same property that Corsairs were built during WW2. The main building and all outlying buildings are still there!!! What a piece of history!! All work is done by volunteers 2 to 3 days per week. All the aircraft are in different stages of disassembly, restoration, and re-assembly. I'll add more pics as we make progress. Hope you enjoy.

Also, here are the links to the website, where you can get much more info.

http://cascstratford.wordpress.com/;

https://www.facebook.com/ctairandspace;

This is a replica of Gustave Whitehead #21 flying machine. His flight pre dates the Wright Brothers by 2 years!!! I know this is a sore point for historians, and more information comes out every day regarding his flight. By the way, This replica actually flew in 1984!!



This is our Cessna O-2A. This is actually my project. I just tookit over. The front engine and interior are both just about cleaned up and restored. The aft engine, as you can see, is next. It will be a near tear down, clean, and re-build. Unfortunately, we aren't restoring anything back to flightworthy.



This is a Sikorsky S-52. This one belongs to the U.S. Marines and is being restored for display at Quantico, Virgina



Another Sikorsky S-52. This one belongs to the museum. All components you see that are Zinc Chromate primed were all handmade by a few members, some of which aren't with us anymore. Sad to have lost the knowledge of these old timers.



Our T-38 Talon




And finally some component shots of our 1945 Goodyear Corsair FG-1D. A quote from our website:

"The Sikorsky Memorial Corsair was originally built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company under license of Chance Vought. She was simply known as Bu. No. 92460, built under contract no. 1871, finished in July of 1945. She was accepted by the US Navy on 7/22/45 and delivered on 7/23/45. She saw service with VMF 314 a training squadron.

During the ensuing years she bounced around from Akron, Columbus, Cherry Point, Atlanta, Jacksonville and was eventually mothballed with the majority of the FG1 fleet at NAS Litchfield Park. She was sold off the El Salvadorian Air Force Where she wore the Number FAS 217 (Fuerza Aérea Salvadoreña Corsair FAS 217). Some point early in her career she was placed in the junkyard. We don’t know exactly happened to cause this as records are non existent."

The wings:




FWD section between the engine and cockpit:



I will get better pictures next week. The cockpit is almost fully restored. It's just not in a good position for pictures. Hope you enjoy, and if anyone's ever near here, the door is always open and we love visitors.

[PaulBradley]

Some very cool projects there, Tony.

[coptermech]

We have quite a few more aircraft:

Bell H-13
Sikorsky H-19
Sikorsky S-60
Lockheed T-33
Cessna T-37 Tweet

And much more.

[Ian]

As and when I retire (or win the lottery) I have every intention of doing this type of thing at Duxford.
Good stuff Tony.

[coptermech]

Right now, we're limited to 3 days per week there. The property is still owned by the US government. Myself, I go down for roughly 4 hours one day a week after work. It's tough to get much accomplished in a short time.

Even had my son going there before he went in the Air Force last year. He lived it and I got to teach him a lot about aircraft.

[Gregers]

Great work. I have been involved in aircraft restoration too for many years but unfortunately I have very little spare time now and can't devote any to it at the moment. It would be cool to get that 02 skymonster ground running. Will you be doing that with any of the projects?

All the best.

Greg

[coptermech]

Great work. I have been involved in aircraft restoration too for many years but unfortunately I have very little spare time now and can't devote any to it at the moment. It would be cool to get that 02 skymonster ground running. Will you be doing that with any of the projects?

All the best.

Greg

Unfortunately, no. Most of the aircraft are on permanent loan, and we're restricted to what we can do.

As for the corsair, we just don't have the funds to make it flight worthy. It sat on a pedestal in front of a local airport for the better part of 30 years. Holes were drilled anywhere to cover up openings and the amount of corrosion was unreal. The airport is right next to the Long Island Sound and the salt air did a number on it.

[Gregers]

That's a shame. A great many aircraft get ruined that way unfortunately through unintentional neglect. I was involved in the restoration of a Jet Provost T3 that is now a ground runner. I spent many hundreds of hours on that one and enjoyed every minute. A static restoration is a fine thing to do but to me it's like having a dog that doesn't bark, not quite complete somehow but it doesn't stop me from enjoying doing the work or being proud that I helped keep the aircraft existing for future generations. Keep up the good work mate.

All the best.

Greg

[jssel]

What scheme will the O-2 be in upon completion? The H-13 intrigues also.

[coptermech]

The I-2 is staying the same. We're trying to keep everything as original as possible on all the restorations. The H-13 was from an aviation school. Its pretty much complete less the bubble canopy. I don't know the history behind the aircraft either, unfortunately

[jssel]

If you can obtain the serial number off the '13, I have a couple of resources from my Army Aviation days who might help if that is it's lineage. They were called the OH-13 or TH-13 in the US Army.

[coptermech]

Will do. Thanks. I'll be by there later on, so I'll try and get it.

[coptermech]

Here's a couple pics of the Corsair back on its feet!!! We had a car show at the museum called the Corsair Cruise and we rolled it out for display. Quite a nice turnout of cars also, approximately 100+ showed up, and all for a good cause!! All money raised went to the Corsair restoration fund. Well. on with the pics. I'll get more up as I can.

[Ian]

That looks very odd. No wings, no tail, no engine. But it's great that it's progressing!

[coptermech]

You'd be surprised at how many components you can break it down to. Also, the fact that it sat on top of a pedestal in a salt marsh from 1970 till 2008 kinda necessitated the complete tear down of it. Next time I get a chance, I'll snap some pics of how bad the parts of the structure were corroded and parts that were removed.