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Tom sent in this picture of her back on the ground after 16 years on supports. Thanks to some long hours and outstanding support from a number of USAF personnel from the 725th AMS, the tires were serviced and the aircraft lowered. The tire and wheel from Raytheon went on easily, and it seems to be in excellent condition. As of this report both the nose tire and MLG tires have about 100psi and all are holding air. The brakes are now back on the wheels (Kurt Buelow got them back on single-handedly, and he wisely left out one disk per side to avoid it seizing up again). Currently they are working on the interior cleaning, clean up the former "bird-house" in the tail, re-install panels, and eventually give it all a good pressure wash. As you can also see in the pictures is that the struts appear to be in good shape and holding pressure. There is some corrosion to the "scissors" on the nose gear that will require replacement or repair but for the most part, it looks like the jet is ready to tow.

From the finance side of the house. Herman Lane continues to donate monthly (sometimes weekly) and currently has the lead. We have also had more repeat donors for 2008 and several new donors. On behalf of the entire team, I thank you all for those donations and encourage to continue getting the word

We spent $459.30 and sent Tom and his crew 15 EA-3B hats and ~40 patches, books, and etc. This purchase was to thank them all in Rota for a job well done. Currently we have $12,250 remaining for the move, restoration, and plaque for 146457.

(4) A-3's this year (1-TA & 3 EKA). I bring this up to you to remind you that what you are doing, providing dollars to display an aircraft, is noble and honorable! Thanks to you all and the volunteers working on this aircraft, our legacy will live on for years to come. This Whale is going to be a beautiful display right off I-10 in Mobile, AL.

Thanks to some long hours and outstanding support from a number of USAF personnel from the 725th AMSt, for the first time in some 16 years, EA-3B Skywarrior 146457 will be spending the night on her own wheels.

The tire and wheel from Raytheon went on easily, and it seems to be in excellent condition -- Thanks to Coyote Woltman and all his folks who made that happen. We had some difficulties jacking the mains up and off the support, mainly due to the fact that with so much equipment removed from the plane, the CG is well aft, but the two wing jacks managed to lift the plane up off the support and carefully back down onto the Hangar deck.

Due to the age of the rubber, we were reluctant to put too much pressure in the tires, but tomorrow, the USAF techs will be back to top them up a bit, once we get through the night with some assurance that they will continue to hold air.

There's still a good ways to go before I can breath easy, but today was a significant one -- Thank you to all who played a part in today's effort.

SITREP for the first week of April 2008

This week, we met a key milestone -- both main gear wheels are now turning.

On two mornings this week, Chief (ret.) Kurt Buelow and I met at the Hangar. We originally were intending just to do some prep work for deep cleaning -- removing the seats from the backend and pulling up floorboards. We accomplished those tasks in less time than we had anticipated.

While I was finishing inside, Kurt began "just looking" at the starboard mainmount brake assembly, and to make a long story short, in less than two hours, we had that brake fully dissasembled and the starboard wheel able to rotate on the axle -- a key accomplishment if we are going to be able to roll this aircraft to the port for it's trip to the states.

The next day, we tackled the port brake, and it too, is now dissasembled, and that wheel is also able to turn.

Both brakes were severley corroded/rusted, but the metal is intact and with some cleaning and grinding down the rust buildups on the face of the disks, we should be able to reassemble the brakes back on the wheels with minimal problems, and hopefully, keep the wheels turning with the brakes back on. Removing the bolts from the brakes was not a major problem -- amazingly, they were not badly seized or corroded, and the safety wiring was fully intact. Two of the starboard bolts did shear off, but they are not adjacent and should not be a problem, except from an 'esthetic' standpoint. We have saved the sheared tops of the bolts and perhaps we can glue them in so it looks complete for display purposes

Just to see what sort of effort would be required, we also tried the bolts on the nosewheel "U-Bracket" that we will need to remove to change the nosetire, and those bolts too, were easily loosened.

As for the next week, barring any operational tasking, the local USAF unit (725th AMS) has been asked to send some experts over Monday morning to discuss the suitability of their jacks for the nose wheel change, as well as looking at putting some air into the tires and the main gear struts to see if they will hold pressure. That will be a key determinent as to whether this plane can roll on it's own.

We have a handful of active duty volunteers who have come forward asking to help in cleaning up the plane. I have a shop vac on loan from the Auto Hobby Shop, and will set them loose on the crew compartment, as well as the Hell Hole and tail areas. It'll be nice to be able to send some young, agile folks into those areas, instead of trying to wedge us old retirees into spaces we used to scramble into with no problems.

We have a connection to Supply, and should be obtaining tape and barrier paper in the next week or so.

One item we have discussed and have come to a conclusion about is that we believe that folding the tail is counter-productive. Most ships able to take the plane should have adequate headroom available, and the effort involved in folding the tail here, and then re-erecting it (all manually) there would not be worth it. We found that the plane was better balanced too, during the crane lift, than it would have been with the tail folded. Another aspect is that the process of sealing off that area from a weather, customs and agricultural standpoint is far simpler if the tail is up, than if it is folded, thereby exposing much more area to the elements.

Bottom line -- we are feeling more confident about things, and are making progress.

April 3, 2008

Gentlemen,

Report from the on-site lead, Tom Brennan, in Rota, Spain indicates we are making significant progress with the move of 146457. On Monday morning, Public Works (PW) will receive material to begin fabrication of the steel support structures needed to support plane on back of k-loader and in hanger. Supports are scheduled to be complete on Tuesday. The final logistics planning meeting is at 0900 on Tuesday, 18 Dec in PW Conf Room with the planned move at 0930 on Wednesday, 19 Dec. Tom and the other volunteers in Rota (especially the former A-3 crews and maintainers) have folded the wings, inserted jury struts, and have given the bird a thorough cleaning. By this time next week, 146457 will be once again located in Hangar 5 (the former VQ-2 hangar) and will start the next phase.

Our great friends, Raytheon Flight Test Operations and NAVAIR, located a spare non-RFI nose tire and have given that to us for the move. The nose tire has possibly arrived in Spain and most likely will be available this week for use on the Whale.

Our donations crested $9,000 this week. Though it sounds like a lot of money at first, it really is not enough to move this aircraft without significant help from various organizations and on-site volunteers. For example, just to ship the wing struts and nose tire cost us $1,350; to move the A-3 just 3 miles, the cost is over $5,000. Fortunately, NAVSTA Rota found the funds to pay for that portion of the move.

Please continue to spread the word and encourage your VQ/A-3 buds to donate to this cause and help raise the funds to move her to Mobile.