SIGNATURE RESTORATIONS  

A T-6G soon arrived to take its place alongside the SNJ-5 and AT-6D in the queue. “This particular T-6G was purchased as a flyer, it had a relatively low time engine, and externally the aircraft looked pretty good. We sold it as a full restoration and began to dig into the aircraft to get it torn down to the same point as other two aircraft on the line.”

Midwest started by completely disassembling and rebuilding the fuselages and cockpits with new components. In order to do this, every item was removed from the tubular sections, which were then inspected. Any damaged sections were replaced as necessary before they were media blasted and repainted with epoxy. All of the other components were stripped and repainted with epoxy. The instruments were shipped out to be overhauled and have the dials refaced in the original yellow. All of the hydraulic and vacuum lines were replaced and the fittings replaced with new AN hardware. Hoses were also replaced, and all hardware is plated per the original factory specifications. For World War II production aircraft, this means that the hardware will be silver in color. “Since hardware is no longer widely produced in CAD I, the silver color, we send it to an aerospace plating company that provides us a yellow tag signifying it meets FAA requirements,” says Savage. “When it comes to the fittings, we chose to replace them with AN standard fittings. The aircraft were originally built with AC fittings, which are no longer produced. We made this choice for ease of maintenance. When an AC fitting fails it is tough to find a replacement and most aircraft in service have a mix mash of AC and AN.”  << 1 / 3 >>