Wings open

Today was relatively warm so Leah and I got back to work.  The knifes came out and the fabric started flying.  All in all the wings look good.  Bud Brown used a solid trailing edge about 2" wide which is showing minimal warping.  I don't think its enough for me to bother trying to get it any straighter.  He also obviously spent a lot of time with (probably) epoxy filler on the leading edges and sanding to get them very smooth. 

We did find a good size mouse nest in the left wing but it didn't appear there was much damage associated with it.  This wasn't completely surprising as we had found some evidence of mice during the condition inspection last summer.  But the good news is these wings won't require much more than some sanding and a little wood sealant before they are ready to cover again!

News from Oz

Ken Caldwell emailed me the other day bringing to my attention that there is Cherokee news to report from down under.  The Australian Vintage Times newsletter reports that Cherokee VH-GLV has been purchased by Peter Raphael who is working to get it re-registered and airworthy again.  I'll update GLV's roll call post with more info from the article but I was impressed to see that it has over 1300 hrs on it.  This very well could be the highest time Cherokee II in the world.

 

Ken also sent some pictures from the 1966/67 Australian Nationals in which -GLV competed.  I'll put the story from the competition on the roll call post.  Thanks Ken!