• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

My Next Ride

GT182

GT182

Charter Member
You've seen pictures of this Mig from Railrunner and I. She's in the shop and we've been getting set to pull the tail section for a few minor repairs. Tail cam e off today after I went home. I've been giving a hand and as my payment I get to go on the test ride, sometime next week. :d

Here's a couple of shots of the aft section. The end our pilots saw the most of in Nam just before they went kaboom.

Firts photo is getting everything opened up and lines uphooked. Second is taking off the tail cone. Third is removing the ring that controls the afterburner. Next photos tomorrow will be half a Mig, tail off and engine out in the fresh air.
 
GT182 said:
You've seen pictures of this Mig from Railrunner and I. She's in the shop and we've been getting set to pull the tail section for a few minor repairs. .. I've been giving a hand and as my payment I get to go on the test ride, sometime next week. :d
Click to expand...

A TEST ride?? you know what those are for, huh?? To see if everyone put back all the screws and bolts as they were intended...

Have fun :Banane01:, don't:barf:, take lots of pics and after a few days of :jawdrop: pick your chin up and post some of the pics

Of COURSE we're envious!:wave::wave:
 
Gary:
If you´re the big guy in the picture, dunno how you´ll do to fit in the cockpit..nah! just envious tonge talking there..:woot:

Prowler
 
Nope twas me taking the the pictures. When there's a picture of me, you'll know it by the big grin it'll take a month to wipe off my face.

The big guy[Dave] does all the work on the Mig 21, Mig 23. and L39. He's rated to fly the 21, 23, 39. Plus Mig 29s.... which they haven't aquired one yet.... still looking. He's one hell of a pilot and mechanic, and goes all over the world working on these types for others that have them.

SrG, yeah, I know that but I gotta get paid you know. The only pay I'll take is a ride. Not many have gotten that chance in a Mig. Test ride ain't nuthin. This will be put back together and be 100%.

Don't worry, I will post more pictures. This is a once in a life time opportunity I ain't gonna pass up. ;) I'm tryin to join the 7 G club too... and this is the best way I know of. :d The only other way is when I go up in the L-39 later on.
 
Worked all day today. Reconnected all the lines we didn't have to disconnect, and pressure tested the hydraulic system on the main fuselage. Come to find out we only need to disconnect 8 lines and she would have slid right off. Mind you this is the first time the head mechanic has pull the tail on this Mig. The other time he only reattached it.... and that was 4 years ago.

Didn't find any leaks there Chris. They think they found the possible leak in the tail tho. There's two connections for the hydraulics and one showed some wear. Monday they want to slide the tail back on and test the 4 quick connects... includes the one that might be leaking. First picture will show them. It's more than likely it's the top one of the 2 anodized red at the inspection cover. The rest or the pictures show the stages of pulling the tail off, and what it looks like to have a tail section with no engine in it.
 
The old gal is back together. Looks like the hydraulic leak is fixed.... they hope. We pulled her out to test the engine. After two false starts (air in the fuel lines] she fired up and ran beautifully. Only went up to 60% power to pressurize the hydraulic line to the tail and check the ring that controls the afterburner. Tomorrow is the big test.... afterburner run to check it out. Not sure if she get airborne or not but that will be a ride. If we don't take off at least I can say I was in her for a little while. Better than nuthin I guess. ;)

Didn't get a chance to take any pictures today... tomorrow I'll get some from the rear seat. :d

Chris, if yer over at DANG tomorrow afternoon, keep an eye out for her. we should be passing by... fast. :costumes:
 
Yesterday she was out to fire up the engine to see how she'd run..... which was perfect. This morning we got everything wired up, closed up, and pumped up. After lunch I got my ride. :d Now this wasn't what you might expect. All it was was a run to light the afterburner and see if it would light as it should. Not enough fuel for a flight into the wild blue younder. Only a select few get that honor, and as of now I ain't one of them. ;) But I can tell you this burner run was fantastic and what a kick in the butt it was. #5 photo is the start of the run, which only lasted for 3 seconds and reached about 90 knots.

Now you have to understand, the view out of the rear seat is mainly left, right and up. With the rear panel in the way you can only peek around it, and get a very small view out the front. So here's a few pictures. The last photo, tho a bit dark, is of Dave, the mastermind mechanic and pilot, up front and me in the rear seat. Yes, it is me.

Dave is the only civilian US pilot qualified to fly a Mig-23 in the US. Next week is the burner run for the 2nd Mig 23 that's being put back together. And no I don't get a ride, but I will be there for photos.
 
What I would give to ride in that.........WOW.....:amen:
 
wombat666 said:
How about the 'Mile High Club'?
:faint:
Click to expand...

LMAO.... I can tell you that it ain't possibe... at all. No way no how. There's hardly any room to even sit in the back seat. I'm 6' tall and if I had to fly from the back, I sure couldn't. My leg are just too long. I sat there, not strapped in, and my knees were almost hitting my chin. The Russian instructors must have been little short sh*ts to even fit back there. ;)
 
Chris, just working on an aircraft from the "other" side was a good time itself. I had no idea how complex a fighter jet is until I got to work on it. The "burner" run was my payment... and an added bonus. It really was a great time.

And believe it or not, it's the first time anyone at AEI took off the tail of this Mig 21. Someone else had done it in the past... about 4 years ago. These guys had only reattached it back then. And had no reference as to what needed to be disconnected this time. The manuals they had didn't include this undertaking. We found that only nine lines, and the bolts that actually hold the tail on, needed to come off. It sure was a memorable experience.
 
Most Warsaw Pact fighters weren't meant for local servicing. It was intended that the wings be pulled off and put on a railroad car for transport back to the factory or depot. That way, ground crews didn't have to be as educated and quality control could better be monitored. That's how the US found out how big the SU-27 was. They got a high-enough quality overhead shot that they were able to figure out where the wing attachment points are. The aircraft had to be able to fit within certain size parameters for rail transport.
 
Gary, this is really interesting. thanks for posting the picture and descriptions. I am glad for you that you got to be so close to a piece of history.

Now, if the G7 club is what I think it is...believe me, it isn't what it is cut out to be. :costumes: Nothing more than a hemorrhoid producer.
 
John, my 7G ride will be in Pipsqueak later on in the spring. That'll be a pice of cake. ;) If a T-6 doing acrobatics can't get me, I think I'll be ok in a jet. :costumes:

The link for Warbirds of Delaware in my sig will show you pictures of her... L-39 Reno Racer.

Next photos will be of a Mig-23 that they're putting back together. We were putting in the seats Thursday and still have to get the canopies back on. She won't be pretty, but she sure is fast. When taking off with the afterburner, there's a 30 foot flame out the back. Very impressive... and one heck of a way to warm things up. This should happen sometime during the week of Feb 16th. Dave is leaving for Africa today and won't be back til next weekend.
 
GT182 said:
John, my 7G ride will be in Pipsqueak later on in the spring. That'll be a pice of cake. ;) If a T-6 doing acrobatics can't get me, I think I'll be ok in a jet. :costumes:

The link for Warbirds of Delaware in my sig will show you pictures of her... L-39 Reno Racer.

Next photos will be of a Mig-23 that they're putting back together. We were putting in the seats Thursday and still have to get the canopies back on. She won't be pretty, but she sure is fast. When taking off with the afterburner, there's a 30 foot flame out the back. Very impressive... and one heck of a way to warm things up. This should happen sometime during the week of Feb 16th. Dave is leaving for Africa today and won't be back til next weekend.
Click to expand...

Believe me Gary. NO ONE has ever thrown up while pulling 7 Gs.

Now, afterward...that is a different story.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top