Yes, the thorns....I also remember the Kougar going through the huge Elm tree at mach 3.2 and just the fuse coming out - to javelin itself into Alfred's field about 100 yards (that's almost 100 meters to you guys) further along.... Ahhh, the good ole days...

Glen wrote on Nov 28^th, 2014 at 4:04pm:



oh the Sig Kougar incident was long before you Glen..was at Neiforth field out of Milford (the field of the naked lady  on the runway). There was, in early days, a huge Elm tree off the North East end of runway #2 (coming in over the pond), roughly 197 homungies  away (that's pretty far). We used that tree as a turn beacon for that runway.....mostly/often/when we had to/until it fell down....

Once or twice we used it as a colander...

The thorns referred to by Al, were Hawthorns, and they lined the road parallel to runway #1. Various aircraft were shredded thereby, including the Tomcat. My favorite was when Donnie Blackburn put his Cherokee into the top of the bushes...."No problem" he says, and walks into the bushes and disappears....much branch shaking and rattling later, a hand comes up and picks up the Cherokee, and everything emerges from the Hawthorns, Donnie proudly holding the plane in the air. Only problem was Donnie was a bleeder (hemopheliac) and was oozing from his elbow to his knees......we screamed, he laughed....

MkIX wrote on Nov 28^th, 2014 at 7:36pm:



Of course, I also remember, at Nieforth Field, a student diligently tooling around with his Falcon 56, when suddenly the wing broke right at the joint...held on with a redundancy of elastic bands (of the #64 variety) one half of the wing folded up while the other half remained relatively level. The student, realizing something was probably wrong, did kill his throttle. The Falcon fluttered down, much like a Maple wing of spring fame, and landed on it's wheels, on the road up the hill by the tractor, with the engine still idling along.....

However.....     another time and another place....

al wrote on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 5:24pm:



shur do Unca Bob      about 4 rare earth magnets would likely add some security, but then I'd have to pry the darn thing off.....

Glen wrote on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 7:19pm:



.

I was tired once, had a nap and got over it....

I'm tired again, so that's

   

very ingenious!  nice job!

Yep, different lengths, so you let on you planned it that way, use the shorter ones on the right side, instant right thrust. Lol

OK, got some landing gear from LHS. John could have got in the one specified n the plans, but it was a metal  (!) gear. Knowing my proclivity for less than greasy landings, I opted for the Dubro gear john had in stock - nice strong nylon..just about the same size too.

Using the stock holes, I drilled for mounting, then decided I didn't like the hole location - too close to the edges of the ply plate. Using a brad tip bit, I drilled 4 new holes, removed the old lock nuts and reinstalled the gear. And I epoxied some 1/4" skewers into the old holes..Brutey thing, but we are talking about my landings here....

In the course of all this, I had reason to examine the whole subject of CA debonder. NOT because I stuck a forefinger in a nostril, NOT because I had a hand glued to the inside of a pocket (both have happened, but not necessarily to me!!)  I did however discover that "some how" some CA seemingly got on a bolt/nut combination, and the two did not want to separate. It was evening, LHS was closed, I had stopped using nail polish, and its remover some years ago, so! Then, in a fit of inspiration i went to the paint/junk shelf, found an old tube of MEK (resin kicker) and applied 1 drop to the bolt. Next morning, CA was debonded and bolt removed... Voila, as the Belgians say!! 

When using MEK for anything, be very careful. If it gets in your eye it WILL cause immediate and non reversible damage - usually complete loss of sight..