WA

Editor's Corner

MARCH 1999

Editor's Corner 2 President's Message 4 Treasurer's Trove 4 Chairman Charlie 5 Events 6 Scholl Award 8 Fifty Years Early 9 Member Photos 10 Texas Twisters 12 Formation Tips 15 Formation Pearls 16 From the Archives 17 Gear Wrench 18 ANR and Helmets 19 Radio Discipline 19 Interview with an Astronaut 20 T-34's in Miniature 23

O F F I C E R S

Charles H. Nogle, Chai rman of the Board (Illinois - 2 1 7 - 3 5 6 - 3 0 6 3 )

Lou Drendel , President (Illinois - 6 3 0 - 9 0 4 - 5 4 4 0 )

Terry Brennan, Vice President/Editor (Oregon - 5 0 3 - 3 6 4 - 3 6 3 1 )

Jim Nogle, Secretary (I l l inois- 2 1 7 - 3 5 9 - 7 9 9 0 )

Bob Farrell, Treasurer (Cal i fornia- 9 1 6 - 3 9 3 - 3 3 7 5 )

Julie Clark, Membership Chai rman (California - 5 3 0 - 6 7 7 - 0 6 3 4 )

D a v e Holt, Merchandise Manager (Oregon - 5 4 1 - 3 8 2 - 4 0 4 0 )

D I R E C T O R S

Bill Cherwin (I l l inois- 6 3 0 - 9 2 2 - 1 0 8 8 )

Dick Tews (California - 5 3 0 - 2 7 5 - 3 4 2 8 )

Ken Wil l iamson (Pennsylvania - 8 1 4 - 2 3 7 - 2 1 0 5 )

Fred W o mack (Tennessee - 6 1 5 - 6 8 1 - 3 9 5 6 )

Terry Brennan, Vice President/Editor, MentorTB(gworldnet.att.net 3474 El Dorado Ct. S., Salem, Oregon 97302

I've recently returned from the T-34 Association board meeting held at Charlie's hangar in Champaign, Illinois, where the main topic of discussion was the upcoming 50th anniversary celebration of the first flight of the fabulous Mentor While mention will be made elsewhere in this issue of the events and the excitement surrounding the birthday party, I want to spend a few lines encouragmg those of you qualified wingmen who have not recently flown at OSH, to help pull off the most significant formation flight of T-34s in EAA history.

Lou mentions in his column that there will be designated territorial leaders calling all qualified wingmen in their particular region, to encourage their participation in both practice sessions prior to the Sturgeon Bay event, and for one day only at the airshow. Why have I emphasized the words "one day only?" Very simply, many of our forma-tion qualified pilots have avoided the Oshkosh grind because they have wanted to do other things at the show. Fair enough. There is no reason for anyone to feel compelled to fly each and every day when they would rather do something else, and you will dis-appoint no one if you choose that route. Those who do make the practice and partici-pate in the anniversary flight will receive commemorative patches and belt buckle as well as being given reserved parking on the warbird flight line during the convention.

When your regional leader calls you, we ask only that you indicate a willingness to make the really big formation on the specified day, probably Thursday, and nothing more. Now for those of you who did not get to Sturgeon Bay last year and for those of you who did, as you can tell by now, we have renewed with the good people of Door County for another session. Much has been written about the splendor of the area in previous issues of the magazine, and all that was said is true. This is a delightful place to practice and play. We have been assured that a fuel truck will be on sight this year and plenty of rooms have been reserved at the Best Western Maritime Inn, where we headquartered last year. Rooms will be held until July 1, giving you ample time to make plans. Call between now and then to confirm your reservation. The phone number is (920) 743-7231.

The big band dance will be held again this year in the EAA hangar with the B17 and other military aircraft of the era stationed outside the door. There is something magical about the smell of aviation fuel and the sound of Glen Miller music that causes all of us to wax nostalgic, whether we were around then or not. It will be a wonderful time, I assure you. Paul Spanbauer, president of the local chapter, and the rest of the EAA folks have committed themselves once again to making the T-34 visitors feel like hon-ored guests in this, one of the nations most beautiful vacation destinations. Please join us, and bring your wife or husband to share the fun.

The March issue of our magazine is chock full o f news and reports on a variety of related subjects. Look for an account by Steve Aune on the activities of our own Texas Twister contingent down in Galveston, Texas, for last November's Lone Star Museum Fly Day. This group is extremely well organized and the quality of the formation work they do is a credit to the association. In the area of restoration and maintenance, con-tributions from Ron Hoffman and Bob Mahanor deal with important landing gear con-siderations and with the gorgeous restoration of Eddie Gomez' latest airplane, respec-tively. It may have taken a while to put Eddie in the air guys, but what a work of art. Check this one out at OSH!! !

Rob Parrish, who normally occupies himself with what goes on between the ears, has sent along a pair of articles for this magazine. The first deals with the always impor-tant issue of hearing protection in the noisy cockpit environment and specifically as it applies to incorporating ANR technology in helmets. Rob's second offering is one we might all have written at one time, (though perhaps not as eloquently) suggesting that

Cover: Rob and Michele Parrish over downtown Houston. Photo by Bill Stutler

developing the proper psychological frame of mind may be as helpful in mastering the skill of formation flight, as is learning the techniques themselves.

Membership chairman Julie Clark, was recently honored as the recipient of the Scholl Award for showmanship on the air-show circuit. Read the details inside and, if you are not at once familiar with her name and stature in the airshow community, you will agree that she is a worthy winner of this prize, named for the late Art Scholl, who was a bit of a showman himself Congratulations Julie on this fine achievement.

In this issue, Bruce Lamont revives the long dormant T-34s in Miniature series he started some time back, with details o f three metal versions of the Mentor which are available from a compa-ny in New Jersey. Bruce also offers information on the very use-ful combination ratchet/box wrenches that are available today and he describes a few applications where they will perform without peer.

My buddy, Dave Holt, (a guy who is known for putting a death grip on any project he gets hold of) has finned up the plans for our west coast get-together, to be held in June this year at Jackpot, Nevada. This event should prove loads of fun for all who attend and Dave, crafty writer that he is, forges a pretty good case for showing up. This gathering will also provide the west/southwest formation group a chance to fly together in preparation for the big show at OSH.

Speaking of the big show at OSH and the 50th birthday of the T-34, association president Lou Drendel is obviously excited (as all board members are) at the prospect of pulling off the largest airborne gathering of T-34s in history. His ideas, once imple-

mented will go a long way toward providing the crowd with a memorable look at our favorite steed on this historic anniversary.

Lou's second life as an aviation writer and illustrator affords him unique opportunities to mingle with the who's who of the aerospace world and one of those opportunities surfaced recent-ly when he interviewed astronaut Rick Hauck, while assembling the information for his book on the space shuttle. This enlight-ening exchange, while not directly related to the T-34, is sure to entertain you. Due to its' length, we will print half this issue and the remainder in the June Monitor.

In the chairman's column, Charlie laments the loss of friends and fellow warbird pilots in a recent series of tragic accidents. I am reminded of the lines from the Peter, Paul and Mary song that questions, "When will they ever learn?" In each of these cases with the possible exception of the Carl Schmieder accident, pilot error claimed these fine gentlemen. Please fly safely.

Finally, your editor offers a few words on perfecting station keeping while flying formation, and while it would be folly to suggest that anyone could ever be perfect at the discipline, it is always possible to improve. Don't wait until Sturgeon Bay to sharpen your skills.

Enjoy this issue of the Mentor Monitor, and remember that this vehicle, like the association itself, depends upon your con-tributions to survive. Please let us know what is happening in your comer of the country via letter or E mail. As mentioned here many times before, no contribution is considered trivial and all will be printed and shared with the membership. We look for-ward to hearing from you.

Ever wonder what your T-34 would look like as an F-34? It's obvious our Editor has too much spare time on his hands!

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE by Lou Drendel

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the birth of the T-34. In 1949, the prototype Model 45s gave the country its first looic at what would become the T-34. It was an auspicious beginning for what would become a career of training many of the most famous aviators of our time. At our recent board meeting, sever-al ideas for commemorating the 50th were advanced. Dave Holt, our very capable and creative merchandiser, has come up with some great ideas. We have a 50th logo to publicize the year. This logo will be applied to hats and golf shirts. Those of you who fly in the big formation at Oshkosh will have your name, position, and the event date embroidered on this cap. You will also get a special, unique, cloth name patch for your flight suit or jacket. The Association will make a limited edition commemorative watch available, and there are other surprise items in the works.

THE event of this year will be Oshkosh. It is the goal o f the T-34 Association to put up a formation of at least 50 Mentors. In order to accomplish this, we will begin organizational efforts right now. We have divided the country into 4 major geographic areas for the purpose of organizing "The Big One". Four region-al leaders will recruit, organize, and train at least 12 participants. These 4 regional flights will train together prior to Oshkosh and become familiar and comfortable with their leaders and their positions. When we get to Sturgeon Bay and Oshkosh, they will be assembled into "The Big One", under the overall direction of our Oshkosh leader. Terry Brennan will organize the West, Northwest, and Southwest. Fred Womack will handle the mid-South, Bill Cherwin will organize the mid-West, and Dan Blackwell, Sr. will organize the East and Southeast.

This plan goes back to some of the earliest (and most fun) formations we put up at Oshkosh. In the early days, the forma-tion evolved through the efforts o f regional leaders who came to Oshkosh with their formations already trained. They usually flew together and their experience showed in the discipline of their formations. The advent of our formation program encour-aged and created a lot of new wingmen, but it also diluted a lot of the regional cohesiveness, since we presumed that a wingman was a wingman was a wingman, and could fly in any position.

This, of course, is the ideal, and may be realized when the overall level of experience rises far enough.There is, however, something to be said for the security blanket of familiarization. When you know the strengths and weaknesses of your formation partners, you are more confident and probably fly better position yourself With that in mind, we are passing the torch to our regional leaders, with the mandate to come to Oshkosh with well-trained flights. The basic formation will be flights of three. We will build on that. We will presume each leader will show up with a squadron of at least 12 airplanes, in four flights of three. With a couple of spares and a top cover, we will exceed the goal of 50 Mentors on our 50th Anniversary.

This presumes that you all have renewed your FAST creden-tials. Every Check Pilot, Leader, and Wingman has been mailed the appropriate renewal forms. I f you haven't already done so, I urge you to renew.

Finally, on a personal note: We were all saddened by the

untimely death of Carl Schmieden Carl died at the controls of his T-6. Details of the accident are unconfirmed and no cause has been determined at this writing. Carl was one of the most dedi-cated and safety-conscious proponents of formation flying. He was the original Chairman of FAST and oversaw the early orga-nizational efforts. He was also Chairman of the Warbird Forums at Oshkosh. He will be sorely missed.

TREASURER'S TROVE by Bob Farrell The T-34 Association would like to take this opportunity to wel-come these NEW M E M B E R S and will look forward to their par-ticipation in all future Association activities.

John Aldous, Jacksonville, FL Darrel Berry, Camden, TN Robert D. Cannon, Scottsdale, AZ Dr. Daniel H. Haymore, Twin Falls, ID Donald P. Johnson, Mableton, GA Joe Mahanor, King of Prussia, PA Doug Porter, Western Springs, IL Ken Reed, Dallas, T X Pamela Salisbury, Santa Fe, NM Chuck Schooley, Boynton Beach, FL Glenn and Matt Wimbish, Burlington, NC

Enclosed with this issue of the Mentor Monitor you will find a membership roster for the T-34 Association. If you notice any incorrect information, please let us know immediately so that we can correct the data base. Please notify us at 916-393-3375 or 916-393-1841 fax or 2238 Glen Ellen Circle, Sacramento, CA 95822

T-34 OFFICAL M E R C H A N D I S E W E B PAGE:

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NOTES FROM CHAIRMAN CHARLIE by Charlie Nogle

The last three months have been brutal to the warbird com-munity. Four fatal accidents have occurred during what is nor-mally the dormant winter months. First, there was T-34 Association Life Member, Bill Knight, who went down in Maryland. Fuel starvation on final approach to landing was the cause, and not Viagra as was announced by the national media.

Bill was known to most T-34 Association members as he reg-ularly attended Oshkosh,Sun & Fun, and Tico. After several years with the T-34, he moved to the SF260 and then to his final ship, an RV-6. This was custom built for Bill and decked out in military markings. Bill was noted for his movie credits, two being "Bom on the 4th of July" and "Wall Street". Bill was noted for his cheerful and friendly manner and was great at remember-ing names. He was en route from Florida to New York to spend Christmas with his son. Bill was 56 years old and I believe he was a Naval Aviator in his younger days. The Monitor would welcome input from anyone who knew Bill well.

The next accident happened on January 23, 1999 when Carl Schmeider and a passenger were killed in Carl's North American T-6. The accident occurred near Phoenix, Arizona while on a routine formation flight. Weather was not a factor. Carl was a great friend of the T-34 Association and was well known and respected for his EAA-WOA chairmanship of the Oshkosh Forums. Carl lead the T-6s at Oshkosh for the last ten years. He was also was a main player in the formation of the FAST pro-gram.

The third and fourth accidents happened Friday February 4th, 1999. Bill Jones and Greg Weber were two-shipping in their own T-28s en route to a COG (Children Of the Gods) get together in the desert. The accident report indicates the area weather was overcast but VFR with mountain tops intermittently obscured by clouds, snow, and light rain. 1 have been told that the two air-planes entered a blind canyon by mistake, with Bill in the lead. They impacted a mountain near the top in cruise configuration.

Bill was a friend of the T-34s and known by many Mentor owners. At least a half dozen T-34Bs that came out of Davis Monthan storage were acquired by Bill and resold to T-34 Association members for restoration and modification. His main occupation, however, was keeping the Wright R-1820 engines running with parts supply and overhaul services through his Van Nuys engine rebuilding facility. His company is known as Aircraft Cylinder and Turbine. Association member, George Byard, was "best friends" with Bill. They were partners in the engine business for many years and after George retired they remained very close.

I did not know Greg Weber, so I can't give much information on him other than he was the Vice-President of North American Trainer Association and a Seattle area businessman. My heart and sympathies go out to the friends and families who have suf-fered the greatest loss of all.

50th Anniversary for the Mentor: The first Model 45 flight occurred on December 2nd, 1948. Two more Model 45s were constructed in 1949 for a total o f 3 prototypes, and the design was labeled the Mentor. In 1950, 3 more prototypes, YT-34s,

were built under USAF contract and delivered in a ceremony at Randolph A FB with Walter Beech making the hand-over. Betty Skelton and Bevo Howard demonstrated the Mentor during 1949 to the public and the military. Using 1999 as the official anniver-sary is certainly a compromise, but it does represent the year that the design was first exposed to the public The first T-34 As were not delivered to the USAF until early 1954.

Oshkosh Commemoration Plans: Your T-34 Association Board is working hard on the 1999 Oshkosh event to celebrate the 50th year of the Beechcraft known as the Mentor. The plan is for 50 T-34s, in one grand flyby. Sounds simple enough, but the realities of it are very difficult to say the least. We had 80 T-34s at Oshkosh last year, so we should have the ships in atten-dance, but the tough part is having 50 plus formation qualified pilots there to fly them in the waivered air space. This is a one time shot so please give the Association a helping hand so that we can make this significant achievement together. We are plan-ning some neat gifts to the participants to commemorate the event and their involvement in it. We hope you will be a part of it!

The plan the Board has developed at our February meeting is to have four elements of 12 ships each, plus one overall leader and one top cover. The goal is to get the four elements together, individually, early in the summer for a good solid practice ses-sion under ideal conditions. Our hope is to have one 12 ship ele-ment from four different regions of the country . You should fmd more details elsewhere in this newsletter... We will then marshal our forces in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin just before Oshkosh for final practice.

Oshkosh Warbird Picnic: I will be putting on the EAA-WOA picnic again on Tuesday evening. Hopefully I can continue this for some time into the future. But it will come one year at a time. 1 am stepping down as an active Warbird Board member after 20 very rewarding years. This started in early 1980 and will end this August. I have during these years tried to represent the interest of the T-34 folks to the very best of my ability. Members of the Warbird Board are supposed to represent all interests, but I am sure I have been known as the most parochial of the bunch. EAA-WOA is a great organization and will continue to be sup-portive to the T-34 members and their planes. Association mem-bers Fred Womack, Vic Barrett, and John Baugh are on the Warbird Board and will represent our interests very well.

FLYING IS A D ISCIPLINE S A F E T Y IS A N A T T I T U D E

T H E S K Y IS N O T T H E LIMIT T H E G R O U N D IS!

T-34A

EVENTS MARCH 26-28: Freeman Field, IN. Arrive Friday afternoon or Saturday AM. Interested parties contact Bob Beckman 740-983-3417 days & fax 740-983-2838 eves, e-mail Lipstick7@aol.com for more information. As in the past, we will have lots of for-mation flying for experts and novices alike, plus gunnery com-petition, etc. APRIL 11-17: EAA Sun'n Fun, Lakeland, FL MAY 21-23: Castle, CA Formation Clinic. The clinic will be a "multi-cultural" event for members of NATA, CAF, T-34 & WOA communities. Liaison thru Jets are invited with qualified IP and Check Pilots on site. Ground marshaler training will also be provided. For those new to formation flying or in need of a refresher, there will be a formal ground school held Friday morning with flying activities scheduled to start Saturday morn-ing. Contact Jim Booth (707) 963-1893 or t6booth@ hotmail com.

JULY 10-11: Geneseo, NY JULY 7-11: EAA Arlington, WA JULY 28 - AUG 3: EAA Oshkosh, WI SEPT 16-19: Reno Air Races, NV OCT 8-10: EAA Copperstate, PhoenixAZ

T-34/WARBIRD FLORIDA GET-TOGETHER

APRIL 9-11

1999 T-34 ASSOCIATION WEST COAST FLY-IN

JUNE 24-27

George Baker Aviation invites you to fly into the new T-34 /Warbird facility in New Smyma Beach, Florida. Plan your trip to Sun 'n Fun to arrive in K E V B (formerly 345) about Noon on Friday, April 9. George and Ginny Baker are your hosts and look forward to your visit. There is no special agenda but there will be formation flying, good food, beautiful airplanes and wonder-ful people. Let's plan a mass formation departure to Lakeland on Sunday. The Holiday Inn Hotel in New Smyma Beach is holding a num-ber of rooms for the fly-in until March 26 at $89/night, Enterprise Rent-a-Car will be on hand to service those who have made prior reservations. Holiday Inn (New Smyma Beach) 1-800-232-2414. Enterprise Rent-a-Car 1-800-325-8007. If you have other questions and require additional information, call: George Baker Aviation 904-427-2727, Dick Russell 904-760-6188, Bob Mahanor 904-467-2119

by Dave Holt The date and place for the T-34 Association annual West

Coast Fly-In has been officially set! Jackpot, Nevada is the loca-tion with June being the time! The fly-in has been moved from September to June this year to better prepare those headed for the fiftieth anniversary of the MENTOR, held the following month in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Mark the time now and make preparations to head for Jackpot, Nevada on Thursday, June 24. This will allow for lots of flying, socializing, and more flying on Friday and Saturday, with departures on Sunday morning, June 27.

This is a special year for all who fly and are associated with the marvelous Mentor, the T-34. It was 50 years ago that Bevo Howard and Betty Skelton flew the Mentor in her public debut at the Cleveland Air Races. Soon after, in 1954, Cactus Pete's was built in Northeast Nevada. This unique spot has transformed over the years from a roadside stop with four parking spots for cars, to a 35 acre complex featuring four award winning restau-rants, two wings with deluxe hotel accommodations and, yes a casino! Big name entertainment is always there, as well the availability of tennis and a golf course. Cactus Pete's has made a special T-34 Association rate for us, $65 plus tax. This is a first rate facility. When you call 800 821-1103 to hold your room, be sure to mention the Association to take advantage of this tremen-dous discount. This block of rooms will be held until June 6, 1999. They will be released to the general public after that time.

Three blocks from Cactus Pete's facility (a short walk indeed...) is the tiedown area for aircraft visiting Jackpot, Nevada. Avgas is available at the same spot, all of which is at the north end of a 6,500 foot paved runway. 06U (Jackpot/Hayden) can be found thirty-one miles south of Twin Falls, Idaho and Just west of the Utah border and Salt Lake City, Utah These wide-open spaces are well clear of any controlled airspace and the local community enjoys the aircraft activity. Unicom is 122.8. Jackpot, Nevada will be wonderful and unique experiences for all that attend, so don't miss out! Call toll free / 800 821-1103, mention the T-34 Association West Coast Fly-In for the dis-counted rate, and we look forward to seeing YOU at Jackpot, June 24-27.

STURGEON BAY JULY 24-27

We have been assured that a fuel truck will be on sight this year and plenty of rooms have been reserved at the Best Western Maritime Inn, where we headquartered last year. Rooms will be held until July 1. Call to confirm your reservation. (920) 743-7231.

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SCHOLL AWARD GOES TO JULIE CLARK

Julie Clark receives the coveted Art Scholl Award from Judy Scholl. Photo by TNT Photographies

Veteran Pilot Julie Clark o f Julie Clark's American Aerobatics, Inc. and the Mopar T-34 Acrobatic Team, received the prestigious Art Scholl Memorial Showmanship award during the 30th Annual International Council o f Airshows Convention ceremonies in Las Vegas, NV. The Art Scholl Showmanship award is presented each year to the air show performer who best exemplifies Art Scholl's commitment to air show as an enter-tainment venue.

In presenting the award to Clark, Wayne Handley, last year's Scholl Award recipient, observed that Julie has integrated many of the same qualities into her air show routine that Art Scholl emphasized as important to the overall showmanship of an air show act: strong and compelling music, pyrotechnics, an attrac-tive and unusual airplane, and her dog.

Clark said, "I feel very honored, because in my opinion, this award only goes to the very best performers in the industry. In this business, the Scholl Award is the ultimate award for the air-show performer. I'm very fortunate to be part o f this elite group."

The 1999 airshow season marks Julie Clark's 12th season rep-resenting Mopar - DaimlerChrysler Motors Corporation Parts and Accessories Division and Julie's 20th season as a solo air-

show performer. Upon hearing of the presentation to Clark, Larry Baker,

General Manager of Mopar said, "Julie's devotion to excellence is evident in each of her shows, and her commitment to success has set seemingly insurmountable standards for others. This recognition as the premier performer in the industry is an honor that only few can dream o f "

In addition to her corporate support from Mopar, Julie also received product endorsements from 15 leading aviation compa-nies.

With 20 seasons as an airshow performer and 22 years a pilot for Northwest Airlines, Captain Clark has earned not only the admiration of fans everywhere, but also a long list of awards and honors. General Aviation News & Flyer's 1997 Reader's Choice awards named her "Performer of the Year", as well as being named "Favorite Female Performer." Julie is the recipient of the "Bill Barber Award for Showmanship" and was inducted into the Forest of Friendship" at Amelia Earhart's residence in Atchison, Kansas for her exceptional contribution to aviation.

"When 1 was giving my acceptance speech for this award," said Clark, "I was happy to be able to share some of my person-al stories about Art Scholl. He was a friend and a mentor. He took me under his wing and helped me a lot in the infancy of my airshow career. I'm very proud to receive this award in his honor."

Art Scholl was killed while filming a flying sequence for the aviation film "Top Gun" off the California coast on 16 September 1985. A long time ICAS member, he was a renowned acrobatic pilot and consummate airshow performer. He flew his Pennzoil Chipmunk aircraft before an estimated audience of 80 million over 20 years and appeared in more than 200 motion pic-ture features, documentaries and television commercials. His exacting, exciting and always entertaining performances were a reflection of the best in our airshow industry. He was a dedicat-ed, professional innovator, constantly experimenting to promote and give even more unique value to aviation entertainment. His participation in an air show has lasting impact and his sense of timing left the audience wanting more. His showmanship in total performance, from ground marketing and personal representa-tion to display content and conduct emphasized his determina-tion to have a major impact on the overall success of any air show in which he took part. He set standards for the airshow industry.

Julie Clark's Mopar T-34 Aerobatic Team is headquartered in Cameron Park, California.

W I N G S

FIFTY YEARS EARLY by Bob Mahanor

In the December 1996 issue I wrote a report on the progress of Eddie Gomez's T-34 restoration. The estimated time to finish the airplane at that time was Oshkosh 2054 in time for the 100th anniversary of the T-34. At the speed of completion with the mechanic we had it with, although the workmanship was excel-lent, it became doubtful it would be completed then

Enter George Baker. George who has been restoring big iron

warbirds for many years. He recently has fallen in love with the T-34 and is building a " B " for himself, agreed to complete Eddie's project. He got his boys to work on it full time and what do you know? They completed it 50 years ahead of time. Eddie and George will be showing it at Sun 'n Fun and Oshkosh '99 for the 50th anniversary of the T-34.

Much appreciation to Charlie and Judd for their support and parts for the completion of this six year project.

Best regards to everyone in the T-34 Association. See you at the "Big Five O"

You can't go much deeper than

this in a restoration

George Baker, Bob

Mahanor and Dicl<

Russell in front of George

Baker's facility at New

Smyrna, FL.

What more could you want in

an instrument panel.

All photos courtesy of Bob

Mahanor

Eddie Gomez's A45, N34EG, ser# 53-4132 (see page 9). Photo courtesy of Bob Mahanor

Hal Fenner's A45. N2AU, ser.# G-26 at Oshkosh. Markings are Japanese Home Defense Force.

Harold Wilson over Galveston Bay with Moody Gardens and the Lonestar Museum in the back-ground. Markings are Indonesian Air Force. Bill Stutler photo

10

T-34 "MENTOR"

Custom print by Lou Drendel. The cover of the March issue of the MENTOR MONITOR maga-zine is one of the finest of Lou Drendel's works.

A limited number of these original prints are now available through the T-34 Merchandise Program. Each one of this special edition of 250 prints will be numbered and signed by the artist and by Charlie Nogle.

These prints are 18" by 24" and will be shipped in a rigid tube, ready for framing, for $75 plus shipping & handling.

Credit cards gladly accepted. Phone orders 541-382-4040 Fax 541-382-4143 Dave Holt Director, Merchandise T-34 Association

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TEXAS The Texas Twisters Invade Galveston, TX

for "Mentor Madness" TWISTERS

Text and photos by Steve Aune, B.C. The Lonestar Flight Museum held its Annual Fly Day on

November 6-7, 1998 in Galveston, Tx. In conjunction with Fly Day, an invitation was extended to the T-34 Association mem-bers to come and perform at the event, hence the title "Mentor Madness".

The Texas Twisters picked-up the gauntlet and responded to the challenge by fielding eight ships to do formation fly-bys! Members participating in they day's activities were: Flight Leaders Lee Lakey and Rob Parrish; Wingmen/woman Ralph Parker, J.D. Phillips, Landon Cullum, Jay Cullum, and Michele Parrish.

The Texas Twisters flew multiple sorties throughout the day's activities for the appreciative crowd and fans. The formation fly-bys with smoke were the highlight of the day. Afterwards, the Texas Twisters were introduced to the crowd and fans and were greeted with a warm round of applause in appreciation for their performance.

After the day's activities, the Twisters were invited to a recep-tion to honor the opening of the new library at the Museum. Refreshments and hors-d'oeuvres were served with a great deal of story telling and hangar flying mixed in. The Texas Twisters had rooms overlooking the beach in Galveston and sampled the excellent cuisine and seafood the area has to offer.

On Sunday the weather was thick as soup and the Twisters spent the better part of the day watching the weather channel! Sunday afternoon several o f the Twisters made a break for Sugarland, TX (the Parrish's home field) and spent the night in Houston. More good food and comraderie.

On Monday afternoon the clouds opened up just enough so the rest of the Twisters could make a run for home. The flight home was beautiful! A solid, smooth white bed of clouds was our carpet ride home. Twenty miles from Wichita Falls, a nice big hole opened up and the Twisters dropped through. Home again, safe and sound, after another exciting weekend adventure doing what we all love to do. Until next time.

J. D. Phillips in formation over Galveston, TX

Ralph Parker and Lee Lakey visiting with Bob Waltrip, owner and CEO of the Lonestar Museum. All photos courtesy of Rob Parrish

T-34 pilots at "Mentor Madness" l-r: J.D. Phillips, Lee Lakey, Ralph Parker, unknown, Landon Cullum, Michelle Parrish, and Rob Parrish

Texas Twisters in formation: J.D. Phillips - 711 Landon Cullum - 676 Ralph Parker - Thunderbird #1

13

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FORMATION TIPS by Terry Brennan

As the hype builds for the 50th anniversary formation pro-gram at OSH 99, all involved are committing to a level of flying excellence like the Wisconsin crowd has not seen previously. Establishing the team program, as described in Lou's letter, should go a long way toward shaping up many if not all our pilots before the Sturgeon Bay practice sessions, compounding the overall experience and ultimately providing for a better show.

For those of you who will have the opportunity to practice with five or six or more aircraft in the same group prior to SUE, the big show will come off, at least in your element, without a hitch. I f you are one of the many formation qualified pilots around the country who want to fly the big show but will not have the opportunity to practice even once with the others in your "local" group, you must make the best of what limited opportunities do come along. One of the best ways I know of, to hone your hand eye coordination beyond the scope of a typical session, is to find a willing partner and practice line abreast flight.

O f all the formation alignments, line abreast is the most dif-ficuh to fly. Because when an aircraft flying line abreast falls back or moves ahead even a short distance, it immediately appears to be out of position, there simply is no such thing as a pretty good line abreast formation. It's either Sierra Hotel or it's just plain Sierra. Hanging in there when line abreast is a real challenge.

Most o f us have seen the Blue Angels perform the line abreast loop and while it looks easy enough to those on the ground, ask a Blue and he will tell you that the loop maneuver is the toughest o f the routine. Same reason, zero tolerance for error.

With no margin for error, it stands to reason that this is the ulti-mate formation discipline. Practice with care and follow the technique described below. It is best to partner up with another '34 driver but not absolutely necessary, if proper care is taken and the procedures thoroughly briefed ahead of time.

Like the Blue Angels leader, who flies the line abreast loop without aileron input, so too must your leader eschew any aileron input. Line abreast flight means straight ahead, wings level only. Once positioned in the wingman spot and established on heading, pull your airplane out and ahead with at least ten feet o f wing tip to wing tip clearance. Fly the same altitude as lead and position yourself alongside, jockeying to a position that is directly opposite the lead airplane. Both these concepts will seem at once foreign to you after spending many hours in the wing position with the proper step down. Fret not however, for now you should be able to look down an extended centerline of your wing spar cap and line up the spar cap of the leader's wing. Another good reference is the leader's wind screen bow. When you can see only one o f the posts, you are in position and should attempt to stay there.

I guarantee you will get a stiff neck, and you may embarrass yourself, at least for awhile, but with practice, you will develop a much stronger sense o f just what it really takes to stay in posi-tion. This new found awareness translates into better station keeping ability wherever you are assigned in the element. While we do not plan on any line abreast flight at Sturgeon Bay or at Oshkosh, a little practice in the position will make you a better overall formation pilot.

below: The winning T-34 formation at Sturgeon Bay '98. Photo by Rob Parrish

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FORMATION PEARLS by Rob Parrish

The goal is to put at least 50 Mentors in the grand formation at Oshkosh this summer. This is to help us prepare for this momentous undertaking, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mentor. Bill Cherwin has written about the higher intellectual functions involved in flying formation. We must not only be a good pilot but we must apply 110% concentration and exercise discipline, none of these requirements come easy.

Terry Brennan has emphasized one of the most difficult aspects of formation flying; holding position when in the num-ber four echelon position. Bill and Terry have thousands of for-mation hours and offer invaluable insight into the needed skills to fly in formation at Oshkosh.

Michele and I have both become formation rated in the last five years. Michele got her rating at Sturgeon Bay last summer just in time to fly in "The Show" last year. We thought that from our recent neophyte perspective we might be able to help the aspiring formation pilot not only get the wingman rating but sharpen his or her skills to make "The Show".The obvious steps are buy the book, watch the tape and practice. The book is the T-34 Formation Manual and the tape is Formation Flying, The Art. Good in - the - airplane instruction is a must for the beginner. My first formation experience came years ago with Sky Warriors. After we bought N44007 Michele flew in the back seat as I struggled to learn formation skills. She heard me complain that I was too fast or too slow, too high or too low. The fear of bend-ing metal is real in the beginning, at least it was for me.

To overcome the fear one must practice and in the practice one must do it wrong a few times. Now don't go out, bend metal and expect me to pay the bill. What I mean is learn that there are safe ways to fly which make allowances for our failings. Learn down and out is safe and undershoot a few join-ups to practice safety.

After all, formation flying is defined as flying in relation to another airplane. The definition says nothing about relative posi-tion or speed. However, we have strict requirements about posi-tion in The "Show". Ultimately, holding position must become automatic. In achieving proficiency with practice we offer the following pearls.

1. Visual reference is easier to assess when close to the ref-erence airplane. Thus any experienced formation pilot will affirm, closer is easier.

2. For every throttle change there is an opposite, but unequal change.

3. The rudder is an important control tool in formation fly-ing, When used by Two in an echelon. Three will have an impos-sible task, however the rudder is the key to smooth cross overs and maintaining wing tip clearance.

4. Music scan in 4/32 time to check instruments and change radio frequency - but when overhead in a show pass, hum a monotone.

5. Though in learning one must be aware of the flap-aileron-engine latch line, the automatic formation pilot must take in the whole picture.

6. Know the cockpit. It is impossible to fly close formation

and look for the smoke or light switch. 7. Love it, want it and do it often.

See you at Sturgeon Bay, Michele says the briefing is over.

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REMEMBER: to receive your 1999 Formation Card, you must 1) Be current with your T-34 Association dues. 2) Have sent in your Formation Activity Report Form for '98 or '99 and 3) Send a $10.00 check payable to the T-34 Association with your FARF to: T-34 Formation Records, 25801 NE Hinness Rd, Brush Prairie, WA 98606.

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16

FROM THE ARCHIVES Dear Terry

I see that you are printing pictures of some of the more promi-nent T-34A. I thought that the one I am submitting might be one of more historic interest, although I'm certainly not the owner. .This particular flight goes way back in time to October 21 ,1957 . It was out or the NAS Glenview, Illinois. The 7V designates that the A/C: was assigned to Glenview. Pilot was Major George F. Kubal and the passenger was Major Bob LeJonstein. We were on two weeks active duty at the time flying F9F-6s (Cougar). It might be of interest to some of the T-34 Association members to note the Bureau Number of 144066.1 also flew Bureau Numbers 144022 and 044021 during this period. Someone may own one or these A/C.

In passing it might interest you to know that I started my flight training in Bend, Oregon. The Navy sent a group of us Cadets (I don't remember how many) for the CPT. The contractors name

was Tilse Flying Service, We took our ground school at Bend High School and the flight instruction at Bend Municipal Airport. I'm sure that it is much larger than it was then. My first instructional flight was an December 18, 1943 in a Piper J3 with the big Continental 65 hp engine. As I recall we stayed at the Altamont Hotel. The flight instructor was a Mr. Paul Koenig. Every time I see Dave Holt's name in print I want to write him about this but I haven't gotten around to it. So much for the wan-derings of an "Old Timer".

Best Regards George F. Kubal

p.s. In the last issue of the Mentor Monitor you mentioned an artist Archibald McLachlen who was collecting pictures of T-34s for a year 2000 calendar. I sent this picture to him. I just got off of the phone with him, he's going to use the picture in the calen-dar. I'm also buying the original painting he's done of it. It's a small world.

T-34B, N3483F was owned by the Glenview NAS flying club at the time this photo was taken in 1987. Flown by Col. George Kubal, with Medinah Temple Potentate Gene Strutz in the back seat.

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THE GEAR WRENCH by Bruce Lamont

If your house is like mine you have probably seen that show on TV where they tell you how to make all sorts o f neat things around the house. The host then refers to these items as "GOOD THINGS".

Well for those of us who work on our aircraft, autos, or any other projects 1 have found a good thing. It's the "GEAR WRENCH" marketed by K.D. Tools. It has an open end wrench on one end and a ratcheting box wrench on the other. If you have owned box ratchet wrenches in the past they have been large clumsy tools that were built by riveting together two pieces of steel with two ratchet units in between, and looked very little like a wrench.

The new wrench by K.D. Tools is built like most combination wrenches we're used to. Open on one side, and box on the other. The other great thing about it is its size. Overall size of the box end is equal to a standard combination wrench. They feature all metal, flilly hardened construction, with a polished mirror finish. A standard box end wrench requires 30 degrees of movement to turn a fastener. The gear wrench has a fine tooth ratchet in it and can make as small as a 5 degree movement. If you are working in a tight spot that can be a very good thing.

These tools are not made to break loose those hard to budge nuts and bolts; but once you break them loose the usefulness of the gear wrench is apparent. This is a real help when you are removing a self locking nut or a corroded bolt that is tough to turn right down to the last thread.

My local tool dealer has these wrenches available in two dif-ferent size sets. The small set includes 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, and 9/16. The larger set includes the above sizes as well as 5/16, 5/8, and 3/4. The four-wrench set sells for around $33.00 while the seven wrench set sells for about $55.00. The seven wrench set also comes with its own storage box.

They are also available in metric sizes for those of you who need that sort of thing. They range in size from 8mm to 18mm, and available in four and seven wrench sets. Every time some-one comes into my hangar and sees me using one of these wrenches the first question is what is it?, and the second is where can I get one? No matter which set you purchase the first time you use one you will know that you have found a "GOOD THING"! I'll bet even Martha would like it.

(If you can't find these wenches in your area, call or e-mail me and 1 will help you get a set.) 541-842-1173 tel/fax e-mail war-birdsql3@juno.com

Long bolts and threaded rods are not a problem for the Gear Wrench

The thin head and shank allow the Gear Wrench into the tightest areas.

LANDING GEAR MAINT by Ron Hoffman, Whidbey Island Navy Flying Club

The T-34 has a telescoping spring assembly on each on each of its landing gear retract rods, the IBP calls it a plunger assem-bly. I have found these frozen solid on several T-34s. When the plunger freezes it can no longer provide the cushioning effect that it was designed for and each actuation of the gear will trans-mit increased torsional stress to the landing gearbox.

In time the gearbox can become loose in its mounting with resultant elongation of the mounting holes. During your next drop check, a good way to check your plunger is to stop the gear at the halfway point and attempt to gently move the wheel up and down while observing the spring to ensure that it is moving in and out and not frozen solid.

The lubrication chart does not show this point but I would definitly shoot some lube here. Also check the small pin that goes through the tube, 1 have found a broken one and several that were missing cotter pins. Long as I'm on the subject 1 sug-gest that you also check your gear doors on pre-flight. If they are hanging down instead o f flush with the wing your gear is not properly rigged and it would be a good idea to find out why.

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by Rob Parrish An uncluttered brain is a beautiful thing to see. Unfortunately,

most of the time when I open the head, especially if it is for trau-ma, the brain is anything but uncluttered. We developed evolu-tionary when head traumas were less severe than now. The forces encountered falling while running are much less than forces encountered falling while flying. Helmets offer some pro-tection for head trauma and laws that require helmets always decrease the incidence of head injury.

One of the other problems encountered, however, in wearing a helmet, is the lack of adequate hearing protection in noisy war birds. The military and NASA have had ANR (active noise reduction) for years; from army tank drivers to NASA T-38 pilots, helmets have ANR. In the past, civilians have been unable to find a helmet with active noise reduction. This has now changed-

My military surplus, HGU-33, was recently fitted with elec-tronics from Headsets Inc. The results are astounding. Though the noise reduction is not as good as my Bose, it is excellent. Communications are superb and 1 am now able to wear a full hard hat in the airplane. For some time, David Clark has had a skull cap that fits their ANR headset, but this arrangement offers no temporal bone protection and from my perspective is unwieldy. Furthermore, dental structures are not preserved for post crash identification.

The Headsets Inc. and Amarillo Systems come with instruc-tions. I actually installed the system in the old helmet cups myself using a microsoldering iron and the diagrams which Headsets Inc. provided. There was some trouble initially, fitting the electronics in the helmet earcups but with minimal persua-sion, the circuit boards fit right in. The important parts to note are the microphones in each earcup must face forward and one must obtain a tight fit around the ear to obtain maximum active noise reduction.

Flightsuits Limited, well known to everyone, has recently begun marketing an active noise reduction system for installa-tion in older helmets. At last comparison. Headsets Inc. was about one half the price compared to Flightsuits.

We obtained Michele's helmet with active noise reduction from Comtronics Engineering Limited in Almond, Wisconsin. This uses electronics very similar to that in the Headsets Inc. sys-tems. Comtronics however, has new helmets and, o f course, can tailor-make helmets for those with special cranial vaults.

If your old helmet has found its way to the shelf and has been replaced by a Bose headset as mine had, you may want to try an active noise reduction system from either of the above men-tioned companies.

Bob Stevens

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100IC0UT4, You're flifti!

i R U N N i N G f l OM,®* l t-V^T' •

by Fred Womack Recently one of my friends shared a story with me concerning

an experience he had while flying formation into our Oshkosh annual Fly-In. The large formation approaching Oshkosh con-sisted of several flights. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc. as they arrived over the field, someone in the formation announced, "Number two, break now!" He was, o f course, addressing only his flight, but all number two's in the formation broke. While the resulting gaggle pleased the crowd, the pilots were confiised, thinking that they were following their leader's directions.

This story reminded me o f several experiences I had while flying formation. Once during a routine night refueling forma-tion, the tankers had begun their turn up the refueling track with fighters approaching in the tankers' six o'clock position. One of the fighters had already connected with his assigned tanker. The others were moving into position on the other tankers. Then, on the command frequency, someone called out, "Breakaway, breakaway, breakaway!" This term is used when a crewmember observes a potentially dangerous situation. The formation began to break up as the tanker pilots followed procedures by applying power, climbing to the top of the block altitude.The fighter pilots reduced power and descended to the lower part of the block alti-tude for separation. Had the crewmember used the correct call sign, only the tanker/fighter combination that experienced diffi-culty would have had to disconnect. Instead, all tanker/fighters were forced to breakaway. An even more hazardous situation was created when they had to rejoin on such a dark, moonless night.

My second story involves a flight to Oshkosh, flying an enroute formation with several friends. Everything went smoothly until after our refueling stop in Illinois. After takeoff, we switched to the formation frequency. Soon we encountered a couple of other pilots on this frequency carrying on a casual conversation as if they were on a telephone. Needless to say, if anyone in our flight had had an emergency, we would have had difficulty communicating with our wingmen. There are times when radio communication is necessary. But conversation about your dogs, cats, or grandchildren should be limited to hangar-flying. Not only can this kind of unnecessary conversation be a safety factor, it is certainly discourteous to your fellow pilots.

Some years ago NASA performed a study using subject pilots from around the country. They were placed in a NASA simula-tor, given time to become proficient, then tested in certain areas. One such area was a pilot's reaction time when confronted with, for example, an engine fire. In the first trial, the reaction time of these subjects was measured as they performed certain critical-action items. In the second trial, just as the subjects began to per-form their critical action items, they received a message in their headsets, resulting in a significant decrease in the reaction time to complete these items.

Based on this information, we can say that radio discipline is extremely important. The more noise or distractions coming through the headset, the more reaction time is required to per-form during an emergency. So if "Blue Four" needs total con-centration to remain in formation, any superfluous conversation would constitute a dangerous distraction to him.

19

INTERVIEW WITH AN ASTRONAUT - PART I by Lou Drendel

1 began work on my Space Shuttle book in 1984. (It will final-ly be published by Squadron/Signal Publications this year.) During a visit to the Johnson Space Center, in January of that year, I had the opportunity to interview Rick Hauck, who had flown aboard the Shuttle (STS-7, June 1983) as Pilot. His cre-dentials included a BS in Physics from Tufts University in 1962, designation as a Naval Aviator in 1968, 114 combat missions as an A-6 pilot aboard USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), followed by Navy Test Pilot School and test work on the A-6, A-7, F-4, and F-14. He qualified as an Astronaut in 1979, and worked as project test pilot for development of the night landing aids and techniques for the Space Shuttle.

As a pilot, 1 was most interested in how the Shuttle flew com-pared to other airplanes. Hauck's comments follow.

"Let me preface this by saying that NASA has interesting ways of naming their crewmenibers. The gu> in charge is the Commander, and because he is in charge of the crew, they don't call him the "pilot", even though he sits in the left seat. They call the second-in-command the "Pilot", even though he occupies the co-pilot seat. On my first mission, I was pilot and did not fly the Shuttle aerodynamically. 1 flew the Shuttle during the initial phase of proximity operations (formation flying on the SPAS satellite), and Crip (Captain Robert Crippen) flew it during land-ing. 1 have flown the Shuttle in orbit, and 1 have flown all of our simulators in their aerodynamic modes, plus lots of landings in the Gulfstream 11 landing simulator.

The launch of the Shuttle is really a hands-off affair. It is done automatically, while the Commander and Pilot monitor the instruments. Launch is accomplished in several stages. The first stage is on the solid boosters, and those first two minutes of ascent are pre-programmed open loop flight trajectory. That is, rather than getting feedback from where you are, and tailoring subsequent commands to put you in a certain place, there are commands stored in the computer that say; at this time, at this altitude, at this airspeed the thrust vector nozzles and some of the flight control surfaces are pre-programmed to place you in a cer-tain box in the sky. It's not a tiny box....in other words, the wind, or the performance of the rocket boosters can affect your posi-tion. But once you are off the solid rocket boosters, then the closed-loop guidance system takes over to make sure that we hit a very specific spot in the sky at a specific altitude.

There is a period of time during the launch sequence where we actually "push over" into a shallow dive to accelerate enough to provide a margin of safety so that, in the case of an engine failure, we could still achieve orbital velocity. That is altogether characteristic of our philosophy in NASA. We always attempt to incorporate some redundancy in the system as a safety factor. This push over doesn't occur until after the solids are gone and you are beyond most of the atmosphere."

I asked Rick to compare handling characteristics of the Shuttle in space and aerodynamically.

"When you are in non-atmospheric flight, you are using the reaction jets to maneuver, and that is something that is pretty basic to the Shuttle. Airplanes can be maneuvered using the

flight controls because the air passing over them is affected by their movement, enabling us to control pitch, yaw, and roll of the airplane. In space, there is no air and the flight control surfaces are absolutely useless, so you've got to use Newton's principle of action-reaction. (For action there is an equal and opposite reac-tion.) We use a total o f 38 jets, with 870 pounds of thrust each. There are also 6 vernier jets with 24 pounds of thrust each. When they are fired, they cause the spacecraft to move in the direction opposite of where they are pointed. Incidentally, when the pri-mary jets are fired in the dark, they create a flame about 20 feet long, which is not visible during daylight firings. These jets are oriented along the primary axis o f the Shuttle, some facing aft, some forward, some up, down, and sideways. The are normally fired in a "pulse" mode, and by firing pairs of them, you can translate the spacecraft forward, aft, sideways, up or down. Or, you can rotate it around any axis.

One of the important objectives of STS-7 was the exploration of the formation flying characteristics of the Shuttle. We had never flown any formation with the Shuttle. In fact, we had never really done any significant manual control o f the shuttle on orbit, and one of the best ways to see how well anything flies is to see how well it flies in formation. We released the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS) with the remote manipulator arm, then flew around it, and we were really pleasantly surprised at how well the Orbiter flew."

The absence of atmosphere and the ability to move in so many different ways made me ask about the flight control system in the Shuttle.

"The only difference between our control stick and that of a normal airplane is that we have yaw left, yaw right in addition to pitch up, pitch down, and roll right, roll left. (In an airplane yaw would be controlled by the rudder pedals, and is limited.) The Shuttle is all fly-by-wire, and you can change the non-atmos-pheric flying characteristics by typing in changes to the autopi-lot, and you can do this while in orbit."

The other famous "fly-by-wire" airplane is the F-16.1 asked if the Shuttle had a semi-hard stick (non-moving) as in the F-16.

"The Shuttle stick actually moves and is not a 'Torce" con-troller as in the F-16. We program the autopilot with the rates we want, then hit the stick to get those rates. The computer will sense accelerations of velocities or rates and give you that pitch rate, or yaw rate, or translation speed. And although we are trav-eling around the earth at 25,000 feet per second, or 17,500 miles per hour, we measure velocity changes in fractions of a foot per second as we move very slowly around the satellite.

In addition to the spectacular pyrotechnics they provide at night, those 860-pound thrust normal jets are real attention get-ters because of their sound. We, of course, are very close to the jets in the nose, and when one of them goes ofi", it sounds like a cannon and it shakes the whole spacecraft! While we were doing the fly-arounds of the SPAS, we would often have firings of sev-eral o f those jets in sequence, and believe me, it was like a war going on out there! With all the noise and the shaking and rat-tling of the vehicle, there was no doubt in anybody's mind that something was happening!

For 9 0 % of the mission we were inverted, with the nose point-

20

ed in the direction we were going. We have a mode on the autopilot which will keep the vehicle oriented top to the earth by automatic firings of the vernier jets. The vernier jets are very smooth and you really don't notice them firing at all."

Some o f the most dramatic Shuttle photography was taken on this mission, with pictures of the Shuttle being shot from the SPAS pallet. In most o f these, the Shuttle tail was pointed at the earth, and I wondered what the purpose of this attitude was.

"That has to do with orbital mechanics and its relation to for-mation flying the Shuttle. You are in orbit because your cen-trifugal force is enough to balance the gravitational pull o f earth. If you slow down even a small amount, you will tend to fall towards the earth. If you speed up, you will tend to extend the highest point of your orbit. Changing our speed a couple o f feet per second will cause us to change the shape of our orbit. Let's say we are right in front o f ....that is, preceding the satellite in the same orbital plane, and we want to join up on the satellite. Your first thought is; O.K., I want to slow down, and let it catch up. But if you do that, you will tend to fall towards the earth, and the satellite will (relatively speaking) eventually fall behind and above the Shuttle if other corrective maneuvers aren't made by the Shuttle. So you have to add more energy to get back up to the same orbital altitude. We have developed techniques to compen-sate for that, but they are not all intuitive. In other words, if I want to go over there, does it make sense to thrust myself in a different direction? On earth, no; in space, yes, and that is why a whole new set of control options and rules have to be learned to fly in space. On STS-7 we were looking at what were the most fuel-efficient and easiest ways to fly the final stages of ren-dezvous with a satellite. The photo that shows the Shuttle tail to the earth has us on the same velocity vector (V-BAR.. .same alti-tude and orbit plane) as the satellite. That was one o f several tests that we scripted and tried with the Shuttle on that mission. It was realty very basic flight testing, designed to answer the question. How do we move this object to close proximity with that object?

On the morning o f the fifth day in orbit, John Fabian took the arm, lifted the SPAS out of the cargo bay, and released it while we were flying in what you would consider a conventional man-ner that is, belly to the earth. Bob Crippen, flying the Shuttle, thrusted us down away from the SPAS. That caused us to fall towards the earth and accelerate ahead o f the satellite. Then he flew up to the V - B A R to put us in the same orbit again. While he was doing this, he rotated the Shuttle so that we could keep the SPAS in sight, and that is how we came to be in the tail-to-the-earth position. Once in that position, we decided to stay that way for one orbit, just to see how difficult it would be to main-tain position on the SPAS. We had the rendezvous radar to assist us, and though it is very, very dark during the 35 minutes o f "night" on each orbit, the SPAS has lights, and we were able to maintain our relative position easily. After one orbit. Crip flew in to rendezvous, and John grabbed SPAS with the arm. After lunch, Sally Ride released SPAS with the arm and I flew the Shuttle around the satellite. We had two objectives during the afternoon session. The first was to fire one of our reaction jets at the SPAS. Both the Shuttle and SPAS are instrumented to docu-ment the pressure field of each reaction jet. We could estimate this on earth, but it was important to verily it in orbit. Now, we

are probably not purposely going to fire one of these jets at a satellite we know it will disturb it ...but if it happens, we want to know what kinds of reaction to expect. So we did that at var-ious distances, form 50 feet up to 200 feet. After that, using the SPAS on-board controls, we commanded it to rotate, putting the arm's grapple fixture in a non-optimum position. We did this to simulate rendezvous with a satellite, which we had no control over, and would have maneuvered the Orbiter to a good position to grab it.

We typed into the computer system the maneuver, which would align our primary axis with the satellite's primary axis to put the grapple fixture in a good position, then I translated us through a 120-degree arc to place the Orbiter in a good position to capture SPAS "

Hauck and Crippen reported on this mission in a paper pre-sented to the Society of Experimental Test Pilots annual sympo-sium in September 1983. Their paper gave the following description of the controls o f the Space Shuttle:

"Three sets of flight controls are located on the flight deck: at the commander's seat, the pilot's seat and at the aft-facing star-board on-orbit station. During on-orbit formation flying, the aft station is used for flight control.

Two hand controllers are located at the aft station. With his left hand, the pilot can command Orbiter translations in three axes: up/down, forward/aft and port/starboard. With his right hand he can control Orbiter rotations in pitch, roll and yaw. A three-axis Attitude Display Indicator (ADI) is mounted outboard of the starboard window. The crewman may select as his refer-ence for this display one of several coordinate systems: The local vertical, local horizontal (LVLH), defined by the instantaneous vectors pointing toward earth center and in the direction of Orbiter velocity; the FNERTIAL, defined REFERENCE, takmg as its inertial reference the Orbiter X , Y, Z axis at the instant a pushbutton is depressed. Centered between the two aft windows is a rendezvous radar display providing range to target, range rate, elevation and azimuth o f target, and elevation and azimuth (line of sight) rates. Rendezvous radar confrols are located on a vertical panel outboard of the attitude indicator.

During proximity operations, one pilot was actively confrol-ling the Orbiter from the aft station, while the other pilot was seated in the starboard pilot's seat, monitoring Orbiter systems, making any necessary inputs through the computers to the auto-matic flight control system, and acting as the prompter for the timeline. One o f the mission specialists was at the port aft station to either control the robot arm during payload release and grap-ple operations, or to control the T V cameras for documentation or ranging (triangulation) purposes. A second mission specialist was seated in the commander's (port) seat, monitoring via telemetry the satellites health and commanding changes in the satellites attitude. The third mission specialist floated some-where in the middle of the other four, taking both motion and still pictures o f the operation.

The Crew Optical Alignment Sight (COAS), similar to a gun-sight, was mounted adjacent to the starboard overhead window, giving the pilot a precise means o f measuring the angular posi-tion in azimuth and elevation o f the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS), relative to the orbiter's -Z axis. For the most part, the formation flying task was accomplished with the SPAS posi-

21

tioned in the COAS reticle. Several methods were used to provide range cues: The ren-

dezvous radar was the primary aid, and it gave excellent range and range rate information. Minimum range for lock-on, howev-er, was about 70 feet. Inside this distance a pair of payload bay TV cameras were used to triangulate SPAS position. Cabin TV monitors provided readouts of camera elevation angles, which were then converted by the mission specialist (using a simple hand-held calculator program) to range. A third means of esti-mating range, which demanded only one TV camera, was avail-able as a backup: templates were constructed which converted the size of the SPAS image on the TV monitors to range.

The shuttle's Digital Automatic Pilot is used for manual as well as automatic vehicle flight control while on-orbit. This por-tion of the flight computer program is used to interface with the vehicle's Reaction Control System (RCS) je ts in order to achieve the desired flight control state.

Moding of the DAP is done via one of the two DAP panels located in the forward and aft portion of the flight deck. Any selection is made by pushing the desired pushbutton and its selection can be verified on both forward and aft panels by the illumination of a light internal to the pushbutton.

There are two DAPs, titled "A" and "B", loaded in the com-puter(s) at all times. The specific characteristics of these DAPs can be modified via Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) inputs. Activating DAP A or B is accomplished by pushing the appropriate button. Automatic (Auto), or manual (MAN), vehicle rotational control is also selectable. Automatic control is either simply an attitude hold mode, using the rates and deadbands specified for the appropriate DAP A or B, or an automatic pointing mode selec-table via CRT. The manual mode has three submodes that are selectable by control axes: roll, pitch, and yaw.

The submodes are discrete rate (DISC RATE), acceleration (ACCEL), and pulse (PULSE). Discrete rate is an attitude hold mode that uses the attitude and rate deadbands specified by the selected DAP A or B. In addition, if the rotational hand con-troller (RHC), is moved out of detent, it will command a con-stant rotational rate which is also specified by the selected DAP. The acceleration submode puts the vehicle in free drift. When the RHC is moved out of detent, the appropriate jets fire to pro-duce the desired rotation and continue to fire (causing the vehi-cle to continue to accelerate) until the RHC is returned to detent. Pulse also results in free drift, but RHC inputs only results in a discrete pulse of a size specified for the applicable DAP A or B.

All translational control is done manually and is independent of whether automatic or manual rotational control is selected. Various submodes of translational control are also selectable. Normal (NORM), which is selectable by axes, results in contin-uous firings of the appropriate jets as long as the translational Hand Controller (THC) is out of detent. Pulse (PULSE) yields one pulse of a size defined by the selected DAP each time the THC is moved out of detent. In addition the capability exists to select high Z (HI Z). This selection is a flip-flop, pushing the button selects it when it is off and deselects it when it is on. The normal number of jets fired when a -Z maneuver is requested is one forward and two aft. With HI Z this is changed to three for-ward and six aft.

Another translational mode is low Z (LO Z). Instead of firing

the thrusters aimed along the -Z axis when a +Z maneuver is requested, LO Z utilized the fore and aft firing +X and -X thrusters to accomplish a +Z translational maneuver. This is pos-sible since the X thrusters are not aligned with the X axis and are all canted toward the -Z axis. This selection is also a flip-flop. The intent of the LO Z mode is to allow flying the Orbiter in close proximity to another satellite without hitting it with Orbiter thruster firings. It is also very expensive from a propellant standpoint.

Another option available on the DAP panel is LVLH (Local Vertical, Local Horizontal). This is a manual mode that main-tains the vehicles attitude with respect to the earth vice inertial space when used with DISC RATE and RHC commands are being input.

The last selection available on the DAP panel is the capabili-ty to choose between normal (NORM), and vernier (VERN), jets. Since vernier jets are only capable of rotational attitude con-trol, no translational maneuver will be acknowledged when they are selected."

Earlier spacecraft had been very sensitive to solar heating, and had to be constantly rotated to prevent tremendous differences in skin temperatures. I wondered how the Shuttle was cooled, espe-cially if it was flown "inverted" for 9 0 % of the mission.

"We have heat build-up on the interior of the Shuttle as a result o f heat generated by the avionics and by human metabo-lism. That build-up is bled off through a series of heat exchang-ers that eventually dissipate heat through Freon in the radiators on the payload bay doors. The Shuttle was designed to be rela-tively unaffected by solar heating on the skin, and early missions proved that the design works in that regard. Of course, we still carry satellites that must be protected while they are immobile in our cargo bay, and that is one the reasons we spend so much time with our belly to the sun." To-be continued

Developmant

22

T-34's IN MINIATURE by Bruce Lamont

Well, its time again for a report from the guy that collects all those little T-34's. If you go back to June 1996 issue #69 you will see an article I wrote about a small T-34B diecast aircraft built in China and imported by Arch Inc.

Not long after that article was printed I got a call from T-34 Association member Mike Hodson. He told me he had seen the same diecast airplane done in Air Force colors, and in Julie Clark's Mopar paint scheme.

I looked a number of places but could never find them. Finally, in early December 1998 I found a catalog fi'om a toy dealer out of New Jersey. They were advertising the Air Force T-34, so 1 called to order and the person taking the order asked if I was ordering the Mopar T-34. 1 said no, but I will take one of those as well. It all got caught in the Christmas freight, and did not get here till December 29th. (I had ordered an extra one for a Christmas present)

The name on the box reads ARCH INC. "FLYING TIME SERIES" "ADULT COLLECTIBLE DIE-CAST METAL" The I/48th scale die-cast metal toy is fairly detailed for an item in its price range. It has an 8 1/2 inch wing span and is 7 inches long. It is painted in USAF (Silver) colors.

The one thmg that stands out is the 3 blade prop. The same way it did on the Navy model, but for the price you can't be to picky. It is made of die-cast metal, with plastic canopy, interior, tail, prop, augmenters. and wheels. A word of caution The nose gear and prop seem to be very fragile and will break if you do not handle it carefully.

The Mopar T-34 is a little nicer then either the Air Force or the Navy versions. The main gear wheels are larger, and the landing gear screw to the model, instead of being riveted like the A/F or Navy versions. The paint quality is also better. On the belly of the plane is Julie Clark's signature.

These are limited edition replicas. (That means if you wait till next year to order you probably won't get one). You can order by calling Apple Patch Toys at 973-702-0008 or Fax 973-702-1699 The USAF Mentor sells for $23.00 and is item # A9602. The Mopar T-34 sells for $25.00. Ask for the Signature series MOPAR T-34 item #A9801 I have seen one other distributor selling the Mopar T-34, but at a higher price, so Apple Patch has

the best price I have seen so far. Also they are the only ones I have seen with the A/F T-34. Anyone with information on any other T-34 collectibles please drop me a line at 33146 Foster Lane Cottage Grove, OR. 97424 541-942-1173 Phone/Fax or e-mail warbirdsql@juno.com

FOR SALE T-34B N6225V bu 144097, approx. 7,950 hours TTAF 0-470 225HP engine approx. 710 hours SMOH, 2-bladed prop, OSMOH. Newly reskinned ailerons, horizontals, elevators. New rudder, new tires, overhauled landing gear (all three). No radios other than TXP Canopies fair, excellent skin. $145,000.00 licensed experimental or $155,000 licensed standard category. Aircraft currently located Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona. Mike Hodson, 805-523-0205 fax 805-529-8020 1956 T-34B Only 1003.4 hours since release from the US Government in August 1982, 83.0 hours since complete engine overhaul with all new hoses and mounts, 83.0 hours since prop overhaul. King Digital Avionics with Gannin GPS. Very nice paint and glass. Painted in traditional Navy training colors, Hangared in Austin. Texas. Asking $155,000.00 Call Brad Lee at 512-477-4600 for all the details. New Throttle quadrants, baggage doors, battery boxes. "A" and "B" seats, 1947 PA-12 550 SMOH $23,500, Bruce Lamont 541-942-1173 evenings, e-mail warbirdsql3(ai|uno.com T-34 smoke system, complete with Weldon pump, injectors and all hardware, $1,650. New T-34B maintenance and parts man-uals, $350. T-34 interior placards, $250 per set. T-34 data man-ual $160. Chris Rounds 931-688-1753 T-34B, 6620 TTAF, 0-470-4 844 SMOHE. White Navy paint. King avionics. $179,500 Chris Rounds 931-668-1753 Need help with avionics or wiring in your T-34? call 800-279-8015 IO-470-N, run out with logs, Hartzell 2 blade propeller with spinner and logs, last flown 3/97. 1 set ailerons with aluminum skins. Canopy set without Windscreen. Will Trade. Call Geoff Wilkinson. 610-431-4928.

WANTED Philadelphia Area, two 1/4 partnerships available for a T-34A restoration at Brandywine Airport. Assist A & P this winter, fly next summer. Call Geoff Wilkinson, 610-431-4928.

The Mentor Monitor © 1999 is the quarterly newsletter of the T-34 Association, Inc., an independent nonprofit corporation dedi-cated to the preservation, restoration, and safe flying of the T-34 Mentor aircraft. Articles and contributions are welcome, please credit photographers. If photos are to be returned, please indicate so. Photos that are not to be returned will be added to the Association's collection. Membership is open to all. Dues are $50 for the first for the first year for new members, $35 per year there-after. To join, contact Julie Clark, Membership Chairman c/o T-34 Assn. 2328 Glen Ellen Circle, Sacramento, CA 95822

The maintenance and operation comments, suggestions, recommendations and cautions contained in the Mentor Monitor and sup-plements thereto, as well as other T-34 Association, Inc. publications, have been provided by aircraft owners and operators. Maintenance, modification or other mechanical or safety actions presented in the Mentor Monitor should be reviewed and imple-mented by properly qualified personnel. The T-34 Association, Inc. and its Board of Directors shall not assume any liability for fol-lowing or failure to follow any or all of the same.

P H O T O D I R E C T O R Y A N D A R T I C L E S

Be included in future issues of the Mentor Monitor photo directory of members and their airplanes. We would like to include you in this directory. For inclusion in the newsletter:

Send photo (s) include your name and anyone else in the photo along with your city and state of residence, "N" number and serial or bureau number and a description of the paint scheme.

Describe any historical significance or any other points of interest such as when and where restored, former owner, mod-ifications, total airframe time etc.

Let's get every flying, under restoration T-34 or Fuji and owner listed in this directory. Send a 3x5 or 4x6 full frame photograph, (color or black & white), of your airplane, either in flight or on the ground. Please credit photographer. If sending text on a floppy disk, please save in ASCII format

C L O S I N G D A T E S F O R P H O T O S A N D A R T I C L E S : February 7 for March May 7 for J u n e A u g u s t 7 for September N o v e m b e r 7 for D e c e m b e r Issue dates are approximately 21 days after closing.

Please send items to:

Mentor Monitor

25801 NE Hinness Rd

Brush Prairie, WA 98606

360-256-0066

360-896-5398 fax

e-mail - natrainer@aol.com

T-34 ASSOCIATION, INC. MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

M E M B E R S H I P O P E N TO ALL T-34 OWNERS, PILOTS A N D ENTHUSIASTS

NAME

A D D R E S S .

CITY STATE ZIP

Phone #'s (h)

(f)

_(w)_

email

T-34 "N" N U M B E R SERIAL

A IRCRAFT DETAILS (engine, radios, special mods, history)

Is this your first T-34 If not, what other Mentors have you owned?

Personal history (Civilian and/or Military flying time, aircraft ratings, etc.)

Send appl icat ion and your check for $50 to: Jul ie Clark c /o T-34 A s s n . 2328 Glen El len Circle Sacramento , CA 95822