The resurrection of an LTA-6G. by Walter H. Orth Jr. Photos courtesy felipe marrou of vtm productions

Transcription

1 Killer Mosquito The resurrection of an LTA-6G by Walter H. Orth Jr. Photos courtesy felipe marrou of vtm productions The story of N544NR s restoration began in 2000 when I purchased this aircraft as a project. The project had begun in the mid- 90s, but the previous owner had run out of money, time, and ideas. It was recovered from Venezuela in the early 90s as a gate guard at an Air Force base. It had two right wings, no center section, and parts and assemblies that looked like they had survived from the Middle Ages. Other than the cockpit, which was mostly restored, nothing else had been done. The good news was that it was housed in a restoration hangar on the property of Vinny Tirado Jr. in rural southwest Miami, Florida. Work had ceased several years before, and Vinny was finishing a restoration of his AT-6D. He and his son Vinny III, an airline pilot, owned and had been working on it for more than 10 years. Vinny and I came to an agreement to restore this airplane and shook hands... game on! I immediately began to study and research how T-6Gs were used in the Korean War and have collected a substantial library of facts and pictures about how they were deployed, the armament used, and what they looked like. My long-suffering 15-year crew chief, Harry Adams, is a wounded Marine veteran from the Korean War (Chosin Reservoir), and he was thrilled that we decided to make it a part of that history. Harry saw them in action in Korea. I also researched with the help of Dan Hagadorn, who at the time was at the Smithsonian, where my G initially came from. We found it began life as an SNJ-4 BU 27485, serial No , on March 31, 1943, at Pensacola. It was assigned to various Navy training commands, its final unit being VN9 at Saufley Field. It was placed in storage in September of In 26 SEPTEMBER 2013

2 Walt Orth Jr. and Harry Adams 1947 it was transferred to the Venezuelan air force via lend-lease along with a number of other aircraft. It arrived in Venezuela with 6,748 total airframe hours, and it was modified via North American field modification to T-6G standards. The aircraft was struck off charge in 1983 with 9,642 total hours logged. It then became a gate guard at an air base at Coro, Venezuela, and it was rescued by Vinny and Luis Santos in 1992 and transported to Miami. First steps in this restoration were to inventory parts on hand and determine what was needed. We had two right wings and no center section

3 28 SEPTEMBER 2013 not good news. We initially found a brand-new Navy center section that Jerry Walbrun had at Leeward Air Ranch in Ocala, Florida, that he was willing to part with. We found an overhauled South African left wing at Lance Aircraft and sold my additional right wing on Trade-A-Plane. My remaining right wing was overhauled by the Air Force in the 50s, so we now had two military overhauled wings... good progress. We then determined what could be refurbished, what needed to be replaced, and so on. Since this G had the cockpit upgrades, we set about to convert Jerry s old center section to a G, which involved plumbing, flushing, and inspecting the fuel tanks, installing senders, etc.. If you have not plumbed and added bladder tanks to a T-6G, you are in for a treat a tough job. The new tanks that I had made were by a Wisconsin outfit I found at Sun n Fun some years back; the outfit could make them to specs and certify them legitimately. I made an early decision that neither un-reconditioned parts nor bogus aftermarket parts should be used in this aircraft. I wanted to do it once and forget it. No way was I going to depend on 70-year-old fuel bladders. Many thanks to Tim Savage who gave me very detailed digital

4 pictures of what the inside of this center section should look like. It was a big job, but we got it done with a lot of people s help and input. The overhauled zero-time engine was installed in Vinny s shop in This had been the same engine I pulled from my trusty old T-6D Oldtimer for overhaul some years back, replacing it with another overhauled engine from Covington Aircraft Engines. This engine ran right up to TBO with no problems, so I knew I had a winner. I had flown that airplane and engine for 13 trouble-free years. I also procured two brand-new, neverbefore-used T-6 dash-12 prop blades, overhauled a hub, and mounted them on the engine. I hired an aviation electrician who did all the electrical work. I overhauled and marked all necessary flight instruments, cockpit lights, etc. Gradually the project began to come together. On the Fourth of July, 2009, we towed the airplane in the early morning to Wings Over Miami Air Museum at Tamiami Airport to finish the restoration, painting the wings and assembling the aircraft. We got a lot of looks, and many people drove by taking pictures and waving. You don t see a T-6 being pulled backward with no wings down Mi- 29

5 Mosquito units at the revetments on a forward airstrip in Korea. USAF armourer fitting smoke rockets beneath wing of Mosquito. Lt. George Beal with LTA-542 armed for bear at K-47, SEPTEMBER 2013

6 ami s streets very often. Work continued until it was finally completed in October of We had the FAA come inspect the aircraft, observe test flights, and present us with a standard airworthiness certificate in November of We now had an airplane rather than an expensive collection of parts. We continued to fly the airplane to work out any remaining bugs. By June 2012 we had assembled, mounted, and test-flown the assortment of armament that was collected and restored. The full combat load, as flown, consists of four bomb racks with fairings, two gun pods with.30-caliber barrels, and four rocket launchers with 12 aluminum 2.25-inch rockets (three each per rocket launcher) that I designed and had built to spec. These ordnance stores are all authentic Korean War collectibles. I have a working gunsight and operational armament panel per the TM. I also installed authentic left-wing rocket and gun cameras per spec for a finishing touch. This aircraft is restored very accurately to represent an LTA-6G Korean War aircraft as attached to the famous Mosquito Squadrons of the U.S. 5th Air Force. T-6G aircraft were earlier model AT-6 aircraft (A through F models) that were remanufactured post- WWII by North American or in the field. They were used as liaison (surveillance) and ground attack aircraft during the Korean War. On this aircraft are gun and rocket cameras installed in the left wing and gunsights in the cockpit, including a realistic and functioning armament panel. This is a very accurate representation of how they looked. These aircraft were assigned to the 6147th and 6148th TAC (Tactical Control Groups) attached to the 5th Air Force in Korea. This is a one-of-a-kind LTA restoration. Duty stations: Taegu Air Base, South Korea (August 1950 to October 1950) Kimpo Air Base, South Korea (October 1950) Seoul Afld, South Korea (October 1950) Pyongyang East Adrm, North Korea (October 1950 to November 1950) Taegu Air Base, South Korea (November 1950 to March 1951) Pyongtaek Adrm, South Korea (March 1951 to April 1952) Chunchon, South Korea (April 1952 to July 1953) Pilot/owner: 1st Lt. Walter H. Orth Jr. Crew chief: TSgt. Harry H. Adams Armorer: TSgt. Ralph S. Letts This would not have happened without the support, effort, and expertise of Vinny Tirado Jr./Phoenix Aviation Services of Miami, restoration leader. Other contributors include crew chief Harry Adams, Jimmy Tirado, John Classen, Lester Smith, Luis Santos, Bob Shively from RWS Engineering of Miami, Lance Aircraft Supply, and numerous other suppliers and observers. History of SNJ-4/T-6G BU Per Dan Hagadorn s Research of Aircraft Record Card Delivered March 31, 1943, NAA to NAS Dallas as SNJ-4 BU Postings: August 1943, NAS Pensacola, Training Squadron VN4D8, Barin Field January 1944, NAS Pensacola: Refurbished February 1944, NAS Pensacola Training Squadron VN4D8, Barin Field July 1946, NAS Pensacola Training Squadron VN9, Saufley Field September 1946: Placed in Storage August 1947 to May 1949: Six AT- 6Cs (SNJ-4s) and 20 T-6D Standards (SNJ-5s) were transferred to Venezuela. This aircraft was removed from storage and became YV-ARA upon shipment to Venezuela as part of a U.S. lend-lease arrangement. It most probably had a field conversion in Venezuela to a T-6G. Sadly, serial numbers of their aircraft were not retained and no specific history can be found. It is likely that this airplane was based at the Aviation School in Sucre, Venezuela (northern coast), then on to a fighter base near Maracay, Venezuela. This airplane was discovered at an air base near Coro, Venezuela, and returned to the United States in 1992 by Vincent Tirado Jr. of Miami, Florida. Walter Orth Jr. purchased this aircraft as a project in 2000 and commenced to restore it to flying condition. This aircraft was certificated by the FAA in November Current serial number: N544NR. A renumbering of the serial number usually occurs when an aircraft is remanufactured from an older model to a T-6G since it is viewed as a new airplane. This was not done in this case, for whatever reason, and it retains the original Navy serial and BU numbers. The Venezuelan registration number initially was YV-ARA. 31