waterbomber

My eldest friend Björn Löwgren died a few weeks ago.

I knew him since the late -70s when me and my brother Martin, began frequenting Skå Airfield some 30kms outside Stockholm. Björn was not only my good friend, mentor, supporter, source of inspiration etc. He was also way ahead of his time, at least in Sweden, by starting collecting old aircraft, an activity that most people considered as collecting junk.
Times have changed and thanks to his hindsightness he has made veteran aircraft community a whole lot richer than it would have been without him. His appearance at numerous airshows with P-51, his AT-6´s SE-FUZ and –CHP, Vampires, Hawker Hunters etc. has inspired generations and his efforts is shown in a small, but active Swedish veteran/warbird community that owes a lot to Björn.

 

Björn was very keen on supporting me with my efforts to get a flying PBY to Sweden.

The PBY can be regarded as a “Big dipper” or the asterism of stars known as Ursa Major, better known as Great Bear.

Björn means Bear in Swedish and the work on 64064 will continue in the loving memory of a truly great personality, invaluable asset to aviation, and a good friend.

You are sorely missed Björn.

 "Still going strong, Håll dom igång"

/David

 
Björn and Åke at the helm of 64064.


One of the two Fairey Fireflies (SE-CAU) that Björn saved from the firedump.


Michael Åström and Björn when he checked us out on the Broussard.


Singleseat Hawker Hunter SE. DXM (as in Martin, one of his sons)
Öyvind accompanied by Björn.


Björn and I Picking up Seabee LN-IKK/SE-AXR at Kjeller nearby Oslo in 2003.



Björn and his lovely supporting wife Christina in 64064 on 26 Nov 2006 when we had our first look.

Unfortunately, the actions of Sr Aranda made it impossible for Björn to see it flying here.
This winter I will continue eliminating the contractual dispute I have with Sr Aranda with legal help. I am now looking forward to be able to concentrate on bringing 64064 back into the air in spring/summer 2012.


PS Make sure to get your regular PSA checks and get a second opinion. "If there is doubt, there is no doubt"

/D

Winter is slowly loosing its grip and its about time to get started in Ocana and get 64064 going.
Its is now more than 2 years since I got my hands on her and dispite some documents that are missing the whole project looks more promising than ever. Stay posted! Thanks for checking in.
Found some nice links that I´d like to share:

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675035339_PBY-Catalina_engine-is-repaired_guns-are-loaded_crew-dresses

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675074722_United-States-pilots_sea-rescue_wreckage-on-island_damaged-hospital

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675074718_Lieutenant-M-N-Vetter_rescuing-downed-pilot_PBY-Catalina_F4U-Corsair-fighters

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675057626_aerial-submarine-patrol_convoy-of-ship_half-sunken-freighter_cockpit

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675035349_PBY-5-Catalina_plane-taxies_check-oil-on-engines_50-caliber-gun-crew-on-ramp

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675041126_Bob-Hope_entertainment-troupe_American-comedian_Mullinex-field

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675063034_PBY-Catalina_crewmen-standing_airplane-parked_airplane-in-flight

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675076024_PBY-Catalina_United-States-submarine_Japanese-flags_looking-through-binoculars

This time I went all alone with the intention to get 64064 in a hangar for the first time in a very long time.



I also met Jesus! He works in the bar and he is my friend:)



In order to increase the clearance between th wingfloats and the hangar roof i lowered the floats and realized in time that I would have to move my Renault....


I got rid of the waterfilled barrels and hooked up the venerable Landrover.


L/H wing, will fit...


R/H wing will fit...


The tail will fit if I lower the tail 1,5m..


The engines will have about 10cm clearence aswell, looking goo so far!
By some reason, I still havent figured out why. The landlord decided that the hangar would be to crowded so consequently I would have to remain outside.... Two days of work in vain...


The LR was put to work again.

The barrels hooked up.


All covers returned to their locations and prepared for one more Spanish winter.

To sum up 2010 the propellers are now ready for delivery... Finally and the engines are installed. When we return in April/May we will  install the propellers and prepare her for engine runs, preoiling etc. The previous owner also had some surprices up his sleeve when he refused to produce the proper documentation for the engines... The spring will show how this delicate question will be solved. There are several issues in the contract that he refuses to honor and I will try and stay out of the court but if he continues to be unreasonable this project may take much longer than anticipated.

Thanks for watching and a merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all!

Dear Spectators!

As you all can see we have not been very busy lately, atleast not in Spain. This is because the aircraft is basically ready to get the propellers (waiting in Portugal) :) ) installed and then commence the engine tests taxying etc. A few weeks ago I took the desicion to mothball FMC for the winter as it is most unlikely that she will be flyable before it gets too cold and instead try and gather parts and energy for april/may and try and get her flying then... I am planning to go to Ocana in a few weeks to make sure she will survive the winter. Two days ago I had the opportunity to get a good areal view of Ocana as we passed by in the 330. As you can see from the picture it is not very detailed but alteast the city and the correctional facility is there clearly visible. The airfield is located between the intersection and the bottom of the picture.  We were passing overhead VTB VOR at FL400 " M.81 The picture is fair for being  taken by a mobile camera...

This time me Peter and Jörgen paid a short visit to Ocana to wrap her up for the upcomimng engine runs. We got the last hoses connected and also installed the oil coolers and the rear cowlings and starts to look rather complete.



The day before we left we got an appointment with the Airforcemuseum an got a close look  at the fwf installation on their Canso. This aircraft is quite fun to study as it was not civilianized and converted to have the F/E removed so all the original installations are intact.



A closeup of the oilcooler installation. Note the funnel located just below the oilfilter. Obviously an attempt to make "green" oilchanges..



The Nitrogen pressure in the brake accumulators disappears and we decided to give the hydraulic system a thourough check and cleaning and replace a few gaskets.



First oilcooler in place. The remaining installations took one day per engine.


Fightingface of #2 sans prop.


Installation near completion.



With only three days in Spain this time we could not afford letting the weather influence us too much. When we woke up in the morning it was raining so I purchased a 8x12m cover and made us a tent, It was working perfectly at first but when the rain stopped it started to get windy... Atleast we did not get wet.


The rain was only gone for a short while so the cover proved to be a very good investment!


The CO2 Fireextinguisher weighed the same as when last checked, 7610g.


All wrapped up and ready to go, as soon as the props are here.



The second oilcooler was quite a lot easier to install as soon as we had figured out how to. Jörgen can install one in his sleep now!

#1 also ready to get her prop.


Celebarating another sucessful trip with some food and wine at El Commendador at plaza mayor en Ocana.

Michael Åström is back. He and and Jörgen Eklöf were anxious to see how the engines survived the first weeks of the summer. No birds had nested in the firewall fwd area of the 1830´s. Good for us. (and them)


 We started to install the cowlings that had recieved a "paint overhaul by the guys at SAESA..." This part apparently came off 64017 (N285RA now in Israel) some time in the past.


After the first working day, Tuesday 29th, we finally had got going, after tracking bags and arranging things. Here, Mike, Jörgen, Hjalmar and I relax after a hot day in the Spanish sun. Enjoying lifes beer necessities.
The tires got their own set of covers made by Rolf Halvarsson.


The 400GPH engine fuel boost pums are located in the Pylon. After cleaning and checking they have been reinstalled with new hoses. My father, aircraft engineer by trade (ret) is in charge of the installation.


Jörgen is summarising, finding out where to begin.


Hjalmar closing the panels after installing new fuel hoses.


Cleaning the hoses and connectors of Eng#1 (L/H) took the better part of two days.
Eng 2 was much quicker to do.


Most of the systems got connected and as usual we brought a list with things to purchase and to do with us home.


Roberto Yanez took a few hours off to visit us and take a some excellent pictures.


The early mornings and late evenings are best for working. This time of year the temperatures get as low as 25C .. The mid day peaks were about 39Cish. As you can see wee did not get the propellers this time either but I hope that after next trip we will be able to get them installed and be able to remove the barrels in the nose...
Do you see the light?!

Me and  Mike got three new happy guys from ALG joining us for a few days this time. Verner, Sebastian and Andreas. Seen here just boaring from Copenhagen where we flew with Cimber Sterling.


This is what I would have wanted to see when arriving in Cuatro Vientos on monday evening....
This is actually tuesday afternoon after spoiling a perfect workingday discussing with Raoul about obvious things in the contract that he doesnt feel like fulfilling, like paying the year old parking fees etc. I was informed that the engines were ready to load on the truck on monday evening.... The first truck was to arrive at 1630 but wwe never saw it. Someone told me he had arrived ther and turned around when he saw the engines.


Get another then! I replied. Well we will have to wait one hour was their reply and after 15 minutes they said that I will have to comeback tomorrow at 8.... At this stage I was a bit irritated and eventually got another company to come and pick them up. We left Sebastian, whose knowledge in the spanish language was somewhat limited, to supervise the loading and transport.


I and the others went to Ocana and picked up the tires and Verner and Mike stayed to open up the camp while I and Andreas continued to Antonio at Palomino Perez tireshop in Yepes to install the two new tires that Steve at Desser tirecompany had supplied.


Sebastian and the truckdriver finally arrived and they had a very interesting conversation as no one spoke each others language, but that didnt keep them from trying, The driver also found out that talking on th phone while driving i Spain costs 150Euro...


By Wendesday evening engine #1 was ready to be installed and I could pick up my new tires from Antonino.


The guys doing the final checks on the engine before we hang it.


Slowly and smoothly the engine gets in place. As you can see the engine installation on a Cat does not require any cranes.


YESSS!


One engine and one new wheel installled, we were half way.


Thursday morning. Last working day and a lot to do. Excellent weather maybe a bit chilly for May in Spain, 9C...


Mike and Andreas doing the final checks on eng#2 before...


Rain and hail started... Hmmmm.


After an hour or so the rain had passed and the following showers somehow managed to go beside us.
I am a bit pussled that the NG Mechanics dont get cold when not dressing properly....


Getting there! Mike who more or less was born in a nacelle of a DC-3 feels right at home.


Getting the cowling in place.


The covers that Rolf Halvarsson has made fits perfectly!


New tires and bearings.


The plan is to mount a camera here for the filming of the ferrryflight.


Mission completed and still daylight!

One thing missing though (among others) Props! What about the propellers? Well... They were supposed to be ready in November 2009. I didnt hear anything from Aerohelice in Portugal and when I contacted them in December they said they needed parts and promised to get back to me ASAP. January passed and they said 6 weeks. 6weeks passed and they promised to deliver 23rd of April. I replied that I will come 11th of may, please deliver then.... I didnt hear from them and they did not reply either. Less than a week before our departure I got hold of them on the phone and they said something about "problem.." and promised to get back to me., they didnt but after trying a few times more they replied that due to urgent work for the Portugese aiforce they had to postpone my prop delivery until end of June... I still do not know when I will get them but the first set of props took 5 months to get...
 
I guess that I just want to share my frustration. Obviously my goal to participate in the inaguration of the Airforcemuseum will not be achievable due to this, F***!


Friday morning. Leaving the apartment for this trips last try to meet with Raoul for meeting at 10.
Will not bore you with details but when I started this project I was warned that making business in Spain is somewhat different than what we are used to and even the locals nod their heads when I mention Raouls name.. Its all very interesting though. 

So whats happening or not in Ocana?
Well a month has passed since we had the meeting with CAA and agreed that I present a maintenance plan  via SAESA. Nothing is  happening as SAESA is stalling the progress so I had to cancel the trip we planned for  in the beginning of April. 

The engines have to have a corrosion check before we can install them. This inspection was made last summer by Daza, the engine specialist at SAESA, who dismantlied, inspected and reassembled them, so there should be no problems there.... Just need the signed statement.. This was more than a month ago however and the papers are still at SAESA and CAA has not recieved any documents for approval yet... The plan is now that I and about 8 friends go to Ocana on the 10th of May and install the engines, newly overhauled props and do the initial ground tests before we can commence flying... tha critical part is now to get the papers through SAESA for approval. CAA seems very cooperative and are very plesant to work with. The goal is to be finished with most of the work so the flight testing can commence before the end of May/ beginning of June.... It is still possible to achieve but the planning can not withstand much more delays.

One intersting thing that I have come across is the issue of where to register EC-FMC.... one issue is fees. For example a certificate of airworthiness for an Annex 2 aircraft up to 15000Kg MTOM is in Spain: 145 euros, in NL you ger either 75 or 100% deduction on the airworthiness fees on Historic aircraft. In Sweden you end up paying approx 3000Euros.... No desicion has been taken yet but I hope that I can convince the Swedish authorities to adopt a resonable attitude towards operators of historic aircraft and harmonise the fees with other EU countries.. (well put huh?) Lets see if we have any luck!

All components are othervise ready to be installed, I have recieved two brand new tires with tubes, (8000USD...) and things are looking really good as long as we can ger the paperwork done with.

Time goes fast and this time we had to concentrate on getting as much as possible done so that we can get on with the installation of the much anticipated engines which seems to be ready for installation on our next trip in April.... We arrived on friday 19th and worked over the weekend until monday. On tuesday we had a scheduled meeting with DGAC (CAA in Spanish) and an uncheduled meeting with SAESA... More about that below. 


After thurough cleaning we began installing the arrray of fuel hoses situated in the pylon. We have, as you probably read before had all hoses newly manufactured and now the fuel system is basically completed.


We have had a lot of valuable help from the guys at the airforcemuseum. Palle, one of the very competent craftsmen working there, made theese jack fittings for 64064 one afternoon.


After much exercising and lubricating one gear at a time, we completed a seies of complete gear swings and emergency extensions.


Only minor adjustments of an uplock swich was necessary. Eventhough the gears are heavy, the little hydraulic pump on the wall behind the copilot, struggled on and showed no signs of giving up. Swinging the gear without tires was however easier on the poor thing. The gear on a Cat is quite impressive and interesting to look at when moving.


Niclas and Antonio at the tire shop in Yepes about 10km from Ocana who has a powerful tiremounting machine. It was not sufficient and could not do without the brute force from Niclas the Gute (Gute is a strong man from the island of Gotland whose inhabitants are famous for their medieval ways :)


Saturday 20th of march was cold and windy, not nice at all, especially when the rain came..


That did not stop us from doing what we had to do....´


Nicklas enjoying himself.


L/H MLG worked fine aswell.


After three days of work the hydraulic system is happy again and fully acceptable for flying.
Our meeting on tuesday with DGAC was sucessful and we summarised quite well what we had acomplished and how we shall proceed. Next time we go we will install the engines, the meeting with SAESA ironed out a few "misunderstandings..." concluded that the engines will be ready for installation by then. Will be very interesrting to see if it will work this time.. On the same trip we will also x-ray all attachment fittings to reveal any cracks/corrosion. As it looks now we only miss the propellers which probably will be delivered one of the last days in april.

Soon we will start moving after a(too) long absence from doing something in Ocana. On feb 9th me and my good friend Björn visited Madrid in order to give some TLC to 64064 and to have a serious chat with Raoul (previos owner) who does not want to honour the contract we have and most important meet with the DGAC ( Spanish CAA). On the day we arrived the meeting with CAA was cancelled, according tp Raoul it was them that did not have time but I have my doubts... We went down to Ocana and could just confirm that the aircraft was prettymuch in the same shape as we had left it 2 months earlier..

The first time I was here looking at the Catalinas EC-FMC and EC EVK was on the 26/11-2006, I couldn´t in my wildest dreams imagine that I would still be coming back here in 2009. As it seems now The weather is deteriorating very much from what we experienced only a few months ago and since the props still are at the overhaul shop we just have to wait for them to be brought back to serviceable condition again. This means that there will be no flying this year unfortunately. The good thing is that by the time we will be ready, probably some time in february, the weather and daylight will have improved so our ferry flight will be much nicer. Me and Mike are back in Spain this time and are removing some more equipment thet will need to be looked after before we put them to use. Roffe at the Airforcemuseum made a beautiful set of covers for the cockpit and the nacelles, maybe they do not do much difference after sitting exposed to the elements for 10 years without any covers but it sure looks much nicer. The canvas comes from Pierre at Segelshoppen in Stockholm, he can help you with any thing  you need for your boat. We got the nosewheel in return from our good friends in Holland with PH-PBY and installed it as we jacked the plane for the checks on the MLG, wheels and brakes. Now to some more pics.



Mike is missing some of "his" equipment at the FE position but doesn´t seem to mind very much.


L/H MLG Servicing.


The hydraulic system is located om the R/H side in the cockpit. In this picture you can see the pressure regulator to the left in the center of the picture, via a check valve it feeds the brake accumulator. Below the checkvalve is the overpresure regulator (1200psi) the return from the filter (below left) goes back to the tank in the R/H nacelle.


Two out of three hydraulicpumps.


Gear selector valve is situated under the instrument panel.


8weeks ago we had +30C and +50C in the tanks. Yesterday I had to buy a hat and longjohns (not in the picture)
At least it is not raining..


R/H MLG Brake.


Speaking of rain.. Roffes covers are being put to the test. W/O remark. Thanks Rolf!

So we got back on a sunday afternoon.Our friends from Austalia had the good taste of spending their time , waiting for spares in our vicinity and showed up just as we arrived. (I suspect thet they had a good look at the bar and only used us as an excuse...:) Anyway we got a helping hand from Norm, Pete and Chris that were preparing EC-EVK for the ferry to Oz on the folowing thursday. FMC or 64064 finally moved from under the olive trees (or something) and positioned herself nicely on the ramp under the power from the local Landrover.


This time my father Hjalmar grabbed the tools and started to prepare the aircraft for some skin repair.



Its now considerable darker than just a few weeks before and the temperature has dropped from a good 30 degreees during the day to a rather cold 18C...


After a rather uncomfortable night in the Cat in the sleeping bag we got up with the sun and got busy.


My friend Niclkas Amren is a very talented man in any aviation trade, Sheetmetal,hydraulics,restoring basketcases that hasen´t flown for 70+years, engines, 737, He is also father to newly rstored T-6 Checkér tail together with Stefan Sandberg, I guess he is the fater too.... Anyway, Igot lots of help from this guy, Thank you N!


Dad trying the avionics trade.



Inspired by the speed we were progressing we decided to powerup the hydraulic system. Armed with 20L of fluid 41 we started to pressurise the system with the handpump. The system made a funny noice and when I opened the connection to the pump quite a few liters of water left the system.... after a few cans of water had been replaced by oil, the system was full and our first hyrdaulic surprice was at hand. The leading edge appeared to be filled with hydraulic fluid and was dripping everywhere.


The return tube in the wing had burst in two places due to water freezing inside...


Fortunately the spare parts weren´t far away and we were still curious what was to come.


Dad thinks the avionic system of my cat is a joke


After reaching about 800psi a tube in the hydraulic corner on the copilotR/H side started spewing fluid everywhere. Armed with new tubes from the parts store we quickly replaced the old-4 hoses that were the weak spot this time and now things seemed to work for us. 


The jacks that we borrowed from SAESA didn´t work so we disconnected the MLG actuators just to see them work an d exercise the system.


There is quite a lot of hydraulic fluid to move when exersising the large actuators so we cranked up the electrical system to get the electrical hydraulic pump running and to our surprise most of the electric stuff was working ok.


Well what am I doing in the R/H watertank??? After retracting the actuators we wanted to see if they worked the other way too. One did and the other not. After consulting the manuals we discovered that the MLG uplock did not behave as it should. After unlocking the gear it is supposed to pressurize the upper side of the actuator to get the gear down. There was pressure at the inlet of the acutuator but nothing coming out of it as it should.  


Consequently I and Niclas removed the faulty actuator.


And took it apart in the workshop only to find a large spring that had broken and was jamming the uplockactuator, preventing it from moving the extra 5mm necessary to open the bypass valv inside it.
This is how the tank looks inside by the way.


And this i how I look trying to get out of the tank.


Hydraulics makes the tanks work aswell.


And here is how one tank looks from underneath, the scoop thing is where the water comes in.


Well the valve that closes the R/H door didn´t work ofcourse... after trying the foot way to close it we found the manual closing handle in the cabin.


The scoop that pics up 4500L water in 15sec.


Whats EVK doing in Cuatro Vientos?


When they tried to feather the props a day or two before their deoparture to OZ one didn´t come out of feater...


Water does not do good to mechanical stuff like props.


And the second one was maybe worse. I am not very religious but lets pray for cheaper avgas in the future so that we can keep thees aircraft alive, not sitting picking up water, meeting the coorosion death!.


Anyway as you can see there are no engines on 64064 still... ! How come? Well I actually ask the same but Daza was working with EVK and Tony, they said was in the hospital. Anyway No engines no props. Pete asked if they could have my props and if it was Ok if I got theirs after they had paid a visit to the prop shop and gotten a fresh OH, Next trip is in a few weeks just hop that we can get the engies and the props on this time.... Just got an SMS from Norm in Sicilly, plane is working fine! Well done!


The Airforcemuseum a bit closer completion.

...not dangerous - but skilfull! Nicke, "the plumber from Gotland". By the way, he's not armed, just Amrén...



Next step - get those engines installed...