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63-7823 Mystery


bobdaley
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In early January 63-7823 was flying in AMC at Little Rock with a lot of time until it had to be grounded. Tuesday it showed up at DM. It was not inducted into AMARG but was towed right into the ARM yard. It is supposed to be "being prepared for road transport". Anyone know why it was sent out to Tucson even though it seemed to have a lot of time on it?

Anyone know where it is going? Or why it was not processed through AMARG?

Thanks

Bob

I'll try to attach some pictures from the Wombat.

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Greetings, I saw a few new 61st E models sitting down on Alpha row here at LR, along with the other 3 grounded E model MX trainers. (yellow tails)

Rumor was that sheet metal had been doing some work on one of them (not sure if it was 7823) made some in-proper cuts or something along those lines, grounding the airplane. Hopefully a MX troop from LR will chime in and clear this up with some positive/correct info.

Edited by loadsmith
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  • 1 month later...

Greetings, I saw a few new 61st E models sitting down on Alpha row here at LR, along with the other 3 grounded E model MX trainers. (yellow tails)

Rumor was that sheet metal had been doing some work on one of them (not sure if it was 7823) made some in-proper cuts or something along those lines, grounding the airplane. Hopefully a MX troop from LR will chime in and clear this up with some positive/correct info.

Your pretty much correct. They were removing a brace in the tail, had trouble getting it out, went to town on it. once they got it out, they figured out they couldn't get the new one in.

It was our cann bird for a while

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  • 3 months later...

Folks:

Here's the true story on 63-7823 from a retired Herc Marine.

63-7823 WAS transferred to DM to be prepped for road transport. It is going to continue its life of service for many more years as Fuselage Trainer (FuT) No. 1 as part of a 2007 "Guns and Rescue" Training System contract. It began it's trip over the roads from DM to the vicinity of Tulsa, OK today (15Jun09) where it will be turned into a FuT for future delivery to Hurlburt Field, FL. It is one of two FuTs being produced. Sorry... don't know the USAF tail number that will become FuT No. 2.

Anyway... here's the proof:

Jack_Herc

[ATTACH]280[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]281[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]282[/ATTACH]

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I wouldn't be surprised if the O2 bottles weren't a fidelity requirement for the trainer. It will have a full set of "back end" equipment and operational systems in an AC/MC-130 configuration including high speed rails and ramp door to train the LMs

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Having had a good deal to do with converting an E model into a FUT for the schoolhouse at Dobbins I would say the walk around bottles were left on the acft to simulate a complete flight deck for student preflights. We even made up a set of dummy AFTO 781 forms so the student could review them prior to his preflight. Bill

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I can clear up this so called mystery. As a Lockheed loadmaster instructor at Hurlburt I am the governments loadmaster SME for the development of a fuselage trainer for the school house here at Hurlburt. 63-7823 is the donor aircraft for FuT #1. Flight Safety has the contract and has sub contracted the actual building of the trainer to Shen Te and Simair loacated in Broken Arrow, OK. The basic configuration will be a Talon II and it can be converted to a Talon I configuration as necessary. It will also have palletized modules that can be onloaded to simulate the basic configuration of the U model gunship. The trainer will be computer controlled and this will allow us to program airdrop emergencies, landing gear & flap malfunctions, and simulate ground and inflight modes of operation. It is scheduled for delivery Nov 09 and ready for training Jan 2010.

The 2nd FuT on the Guns & Rescue contract will go to Cannon. The donor aircraft has been in Birmingham for a couple of years and they are trying to get it ready for a one time flight to DM.

Thanks to all who have posted pictures. I hope to create a scrap book with pictures of this conversion. If anyone has any stories or pictures of this tail number while it was flying I would appreciate the info.

The mystery is solved.

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Man they screwed me, they were supposed to drop that off at my place!! Not Tulsa:D

Dan

Man that would be the ultimate home improvement project! I would have the flight deck as my study, the galley would be a wet bar, and the remainder of the Herk would serve as my work shop. Maybe someday, huh?

Kurt

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I used to tell the guys what a neat bar/night club a Herk would make! I had a plan to put tables etc. on top of the wings! Maybe some sort of a fence around the dining area to keep you guys from falling off after a few "cool ones" !Hell, I would even furnish the beer for the "Grand Opening"!!

If 63-7823 accidentally shows up at somebody's home, let me know! I have some plans!!!

Ken Carlson

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Dan

Have you seen or heard any more about 63-7872 at VPS?

Thanks

Bob

Last week it was sitting on the weapons test ramp. Closed up and chained down, all 4 feathered with the externals removed and sitting in cradles alongside. No work being done that I could see.

Mike

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