After we got about 9 1/2 years of dust and crud off the Curtiss, we began disassembling it. There are a number of flying and landing wires that needed to be removed. It was amazing how taut the rigging was after all those years, as Reg says it has never been apart. Next we removed the top wing, stood her on her nose and removed the bottom wing. John and Reg are discussing here on whether it will fit into a Dodge MiniVan.
Once the wings were removed we opened the two side doors and the rear door and gently slid the Curtiss in tail first. The elevators were against the back of the front seats and when we carefully closed the rear door we had about an inch and a half. We wrapped the wings in blankets and carefully loaded them, one on either side of the floats. We paid Reggie and thanked him for his assistance and we headed home.
We had left Lake Havasu that morning at 6AM and drove 600 miles to pick up the Curtiss. It is now about 4 PM when we started back. The plan was to drive out of traffic somewhere south of San Jose and spend the night. We would then get up early and drive home on Friday. John keeps saying "We can be home tonight Bob!" I am concerned about John, he is 84 years old and I am only 64 years old. I should be the one with the energy but John keeps bugging me so I concede and agree to drive home tonight. Around 3 AM Friday morning we arrive in Lake Havasu City, just 21 hours from when we left. We were tired but we had our baby home.
Friday morning I called Scott and told him we were back in town. He says come on down. I brought the Curtiss down to Xtreme Power Systems where we will bring our Curtiss back to flying status and with electric. Scott is anxiously waiting when I arrive. Scott had never seen the plane, only pictures. He seemed empressed and we immediately unloaded it around in the back. The Curtiss is too big to fit though normal doors. Once inside the air conditioned area we were to work in (Havasu in the summer runs over 100 degrees every day) placed the wings and fuselage with floats on tables that Scott had set up anticipating our arrival.
Scott immediately began cleaning the Curtiss with a spray cleaner and microfiber clothes. He followed up with Pledge Clean and Polish. WOW! When he completed one part he moved on to another. Soon the Curtiss looked like the day we finished her. AMAZING. This 20 year old airplane looks great.
It is now time to begin the disassembly process. The old Gas engine, fuel tank and lines, throttle cable etc. all need to be removed and cleaned up. The 4.2cc Sachs engine, motormount, and tank weighed over 8 lbs.
Scott is shown here removing the rudder. Notice how shiney the Curtiss is. The fiberglass cowl has been removed. A new one will be made that will allow easy access to the batteries that will power the Curtiss.
Next we removed all of the flight surfaces, checking linkage and replacing the 20 year old batteries, switches, receiver and servos.
The servos of choice twenty years ago were FP-S134 Futaba giant scale servos. They were the best we could get back then and boasted a massive 112 in.oz of torque. We are replacing them with Coreless digital, titanium geared Hitec 5955TG servos with over 300 in. oz of torque. 1/3rd the size, 3 times the torque. New servo trays were fabricated to accommodate the smaller more efficient servos, better linkage was assembled for push rods for the ailerons but the original pull pull system for the elevator and rudder remained the same.
Here John is preparing to open up the wings to replace the servos. Scott checked out the radio system on the Curtiss and found that all servos worked but they were so old and slow it confirmed our thoughts about updating all of the electronics. The original aircraft wing was covered in light weight ceconite with nitrate dope and finished with butyrate dope. The servos were sealed inside the wing, so in order to change them, we had to cut into the wing, remove the old servos, build a hatch and new removeable servo tray and install our new servos. What a difference in speed the new servos make.
Doolittle's Curtiss is undergoing restoration by the Smithsonian too! Click here to see
