News of the day
Second day on the job. Procedures to remove the wing tipes are almost over. All the wing bolts have been unscrewed and only one bolt out of three remains, roughly 60 bolts altogether to secure the wing. We wont remove them until the crane lifts up the wing. Inside the fuselage, Jean-Pierre 1 and Jean are taking apart the makeshift bar that had lately been set up. The insulating material, some kind of foam, is turning into an irritating dust. Little by little, the inside starts to resemble what it looked like back in 1944.The aluminium seems in perfect condition. Here and there, builders reference numbers still appears on some sheets.
Once the cleaning done, we must start with the floor and remove all the plywood sheets hiding the original metal sheets. One of them, in the back of the plane seems impossible to move. A short examination shows that lead has been added lately, probably to make sure the plane sticks to the ground.
Early in the afternoon, Monsieur Eric Guenau, adjoint de l’attaché de Défense de l’Ambassade de France pays a little visit. He wants to make sure everything is well and without any major problems. So much sollicitude on behalf of our own country is quite moving.
Later on, we're all getting ready to start the wing lifting operations. Along the years, the plane has slowly sunk down way past the hub. The Team members fear that this might prevent the lifting process, not to mention worse things such as the breaking of the fuselage. Every body takes turn digging the frozen ground around the wheels. For the same purpose, about one foot of snow has been shovelled out of the wing top. The first parts to have been removed are carefully stocked within the hangar, such as the karman, tail cone, wing tips. It's the same hangar where SNAFU Special shall tomorrow take place. Olivier has fully taken advantage of a full day on the base to get in touch with important persons : Erol, our hauler and conveyer as well as the French Embassy to find out when the Memorandum Of Understanding will be signed. Erol shall come tomorrow to take a look at the plane he's meant to carry.


 
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