Aircraft Restorers Wanted!

All restoration work at the museum is done by volunteers. The crew currently consists of about 12 members including four certified Airframe and Power plant mechanics who are directed by Restoration Chairman John Burgin, an Airframe and Power plant mechanic with an Inspection Authorization. The museum's restoration shop has full machine shop, woodworking, fabric covering, sheet metal and welding facilities and limited painting capabilities. Aircraft that arrive at the museum may be restored to either static or flyable condition depending on their state of condition and loan or donation status. The museum maintains no flying aircraft, but an airplane received in flying or near flying condition will be repaired to acceptable aircraft standards. Military loans are automatically static only displays, and very badly damaged or incomplete airplanes are usually only restored to static display status due to the high cost of proper aircraft grade materials.

Volunteering in the restoration department is an excellent way for aspiring pilots and aircraft builders to get real hands-on experience and gain knowledge not usually available just for the price of showing up to help out. Even those with little or no aircraft experience can be valuable as there is always sanding, cleaning, and occasional lifting of pieces that may not be very heavy, but just simply require more than one person.
You will find the crew working every Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and in the evening from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. If you would like to join the crew you can contact Mike Callahan at 833-8226.

Recently Completed Projects

Bell UH-1H Huey
The museum’s Bell UH-1H Huey, now displayed high on a stand on the west parking area near the museum entrance, was restored and prepared for mounting by the restoration crew during the winter of 2003/2004. Jack Martin, Jack Gerhart, Alan Moseley, and others readied the helicopter, repainted it, mounted the stand in place, and finally placed the helicopter in June of 2004.

American F-86 Sabre & Mikoyan/Gurevich Mig-15
Alan Moseley with help from Sam Winefordner, Matt McKee and others, readied the North American F-86 Sabre and the Mikoyan/Gurevich MiG-15 in time for display to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Korean War. Completing the exhibit was a large military tent loaned from the Army National Guard and Jim Chamber's Korean War-era Willys Army jeep, complete with the GI trailer. The exhibit also allowed visitors access to the unopened wing of the museum for the first time. When opened permanently, the wing will more than double the display area currently available.

(On loan from the U.S. Air Force Museum)

An F-106 Cockpit simulator (left) and F-101C Cockpit simulator (right) were cleaned up and painted by a restoration crew headed by Alan Moseley, and currently are on display in the museum. These simulators are on loan from the US Air Force Museum.

Fokker DVII
The Fokker DVII replica was originally built in France to be used in the 1969 movie "The Blue Max." Donated by Frank Ryder of the former Replica Fighter Museum in Guntersville AL, it had been damaged due to a ground loop, so was restored as a static display. The entire lower wing was damaged beyond repair and was replaced with one built by Norman Ponder. About six feet of the upper wing was damaged and rebuilt by several volunteers including Dennis Flowers and Rusty Hood. The tedious, time-consuming job of replicating the original stitching on the wings was performed in part by most everyone in the shop (including a few stitches by a visiting newspaper reporter!), but a great majority of the stitching was done by Larry Tillery. The fuselage was badly bent just forward of the cockpit and had to be straightened with some tubing also being replaced by a crew headed by Ralph Zorn. Wiley Burch headed the crew that made new sheet metal for the forward fuselage, restored the cockpit to a more authentic configuration, built the radiator and repaired the damaged wheels and landing gear. The engine was missing, so the crew moved the propeller and "crankshaft" to its proper position at the bottom of the radiator. A shaft with bearing and propeller hub were built by Mike Callahan. The dummy Mercedes engine visible above the cowling and the Spandau machine guns were products of Norman Ponder. Most of the airplane, except the elevator, horizontal stabilizer, vertical stabilizer and rudder were recovered. Paint, including the camouflage pattern on the bottom surface of both the upper and lower wings, and markings were done by a crew headed by Alan Moseley. Total time of restoration was almost nine years.

Fairchild PT-19
The Fairchild PT-19 was one of two that came to the museum in terrible condition. Both airframes had been sitting outside for many years resulting in severe rust, corrosion, and wood rot. It was decided to take the best parts of both and build a static display. The wood spars of the center section of the wing were so rotten that they simply crumbled as the landing gear, rudder pedals and other attachments were removed. They were rebuilt by a crew headed by John Burgin and Ralph Zorn and then re-skinned with plywood by a crew including Jack Gerhart and Raymon Ross. The left wing had been stored indoors and was in fairly decent condition, but the right was rebuilt by Norman Ponder using the original hardware. The fuselage was restored and covered by a crew headed by Raymon Ross. All cloth boots were replaced with new units made by Sam Winefordner, who also made the new cockpit padding. Paint and markings were done by a crew headed by Alan Moseley. Total time to restore was ten years.

The BT-13B came to the museum from Beale AFB after the museum at the base was closed. A static display, it had been sitting outside for some time and had deteriorated. The metal fuselage and wings were in good shape as Beale is in an arid region, but the wood and cloth parts were dry-rotted and an elevator was missing. An elevator was procured, but it had some areas that were totally eaten away by corrosion. Norman Ponder replaced the corroded areas of the elevator and rebuilt the ailerons using a portion of the original spars and the original hardware, but replacing all other plywood parts. The engine and prop were cleaned and repainted by Kristina Godwin, Katie Welch, and Erin Welch under the close eye of Alan Moseley. The elevator and rudder were recovered by Larry Tillery. The paint on most of the metal parts was dull, but repainting was avoided by buffing the fuselage, wings, horizontal and vertical stabilizers. Total time to restore was two years. The BT-13B is currently on loan from the US Air Force Museum.

Current Projects

1936 Aeronca K
Larry Tillery is busy covering the 1936 Aeronca K, while Raymon Ross is working on the mechanicals. Raymon completely rebuilt the engine, fabricating several new internal parts. We hope to run the engine, but it will not be flyable when finished.

“Big Windy,” a Stearman crop duster
Jim Fuqua of Winfield has donated “Big Windy,” a Stearman crop duster in need of a full restoration. It is currently in pieces, but is very complete. When finished, it will make a fine example of a vintage agricultural plane and will complement the museum's Huff-Daland. This particular plane worked the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta from the late 1940s to the 1980s, flying out of Belzona, Mississippi.

The recently finished PT-19 and BT-13B are displayed with the AT-6 in the new wing of the museum. The museum is searching for a PT-13 or PT-17 Stearman to round out the WWII training aircraft collection. Later model Air Force trainers on display or currently being restored include a T-37 "Tweety Bird" and a T-33 "T-Bird."

Aeronca Sedan
The four-seat Aeronca Sedan was the first airplane that had all metal wings. The fuselage is still cloth-covered and it is on EDO floats. It is in relatively good condition and will only need paint and cleanup to be ready for display. This airplane was donated in 1998 in flying condition.

F-84F
The museum has two F-84F aircraft. This particular airplane was acquired through a government surplus program in 2000 from the campus of the Wallace State Community College in Hamilton, AL. It is complete, requiring only repainting. The second F-84F is on loan from the Baggett family, and is in Alabama Air National Guard, 106th Observation Squadron markings. It is disassembled and missing some parts.

A-12
The A-12 was the single-seat forerunner of the SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft. Number 60937 was delivered to the museum from the Lockheed "Skunkworks" in very good condition during February of 2000. Due to its mostly titanium structure it will not suffer from corrosion as much as aluminum aircraft, but will require upkeep of the paint and markings. It is, of course, a static display having no engines and only traces of the cockpit internals. It is on loan from the US Air Force Museum.

Restoration Shop

The Aircraft Restoration Facility is a 7,000-square foot building constructed by the City of Birmingham and Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 152.

Airplanes aren't the only things restored at the museum, sometimes the tools to used to help restore them must also be restored. Efforts are under way to organize and establish the woodworking shop and the sheet-metal shop. The machine shop at the museum is almost entirely self-sufficient. The machine tools make parts for each other, aiding in restoration of themselves, other machinery, and the airplanes. The machine shop currently has three mills, three lathes, a drill press, a metal shaper and piles of tooling and accessories for these machines.

The most recent machinery arrivals are a big Van Norman 22L milling machine and a Steptoe-Western metal shaper. The Van Norman was in good enough shape to go to work immediately. The Steptoe-Western shaper was donated by Jim Fuqua of Winfield, AL in decent condition, but went through an extensive restoration to restore it to like-new condition. It has already begun work doing those special jobs that only a shaper can do and others that can be done with other machinery, but which require very expensive tooling. It will soon be cutting gears for the radial drill that is being restored.

The woodworking shop is equipped with a small bandsaw, a radial arm saw, a couple of small lightweight table saws, a small jointer, a small shaper, and a planer that is still being finished. A huge 3’ bandsaw has been donated by Larry Shipman. There is also a 24” throat scroll saw on loan from Mike Callahan. We are searching for a big heavy table saw to finish the shop. Norman Ponder has had the shop working hard lately building exhibit accessories.

The sheet-metal shop is slowly coming together. Current large sheet- metal tools include a 3” Pexto shear, a rotary slitting shear wrangled by Wiley Burch, a large sandbag, an English wheel, a small brake donated by the late Ralph Zorn, and a homemade brake. Jerry Cornelius of Addison, AL donated a huge 10’ box-and-pan brake. The museum is looking for a large shear (8’ or more) and a set of slip-rolls. Small sheet-metal tools include rivet squeezers, bucking bars of every shape and size, riveting hammers, snips, etc…

Current machinery restorations include the large sheet metal brake that has been sitting outside for some time and a large Dreses radial drill, estimated to be 100 yrs old. The museum also acquired a WWII-era aircraft tug currently being disassembled and cleaned.
The 1930's vintage Van Norman #6 Universal Milling Machine was uncovered in a huge lot of items donated to the museum at the closing of the "Aircraft Instrument Co." founded by Glenn Messer and later operated by Warren Drummond until his retirement in December of 1999. It looked far worse than its actual condition due to years of accumulated dust and grime. It was disassembled, cleaned, stripped and repainted by Mike Callahan. Also, found in the area nearby were several attachments, accessories and cutters. It is currently an operating and very valuable tool that has made several airplane parts and special tools.

Complaining to a local machine shop owner about the limited capabilities of the 9" Logan lathe, graciously donated by area aircraft mechanic "Dusty" Shin, resulted in the gift of a huge WWII-era 1943 American Pacemaker 24"x 72" lathe by Curtis Shipp, owner of Curtis Machine Shop in Birmingham, AL. Mike Callahan, aided by a few volunteers, undertook the task of stripping and de-rusting the big lathe. Placing it in the restoration shop was quite a job itself, as the machine weighs approximately 12,000 lbs., but was handled by the crew and the museum's mobile crane. It was primed and painted in place. The electrical connections were made by donated efforts of Reeve Electric. The big 25 hp motor makes short work of large diameter turning chores that would take hours using the smaller machines, and the machine is exceptionally accurate due to its enormous mass.

The South Bend model 10L Toolroom lathe was discovered in the old maintenance shop in the basement of Birmingham's City Hall. Obviously unused in years, it was sent to the museum largely through the efforts of Geoff Morgan. The flat belt was missing and it was covered in a mixture of sawdust and old oil, but after cleaning it revealed itself to be in pretty fair shape. Built sometime between 1939 and 1943, it is another WWII-era piece and, judging from the latches on the cabinet drawers and the olive green military paint on the inside, it was probably part of a truck-mounted military mobile machine shop. It is very accurate and nicely bridges the gap on turning projects between the 9" Logan and the huge American Pacemaker.

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