Spectre623

Finished at last. A few pics. Bill

Almost finished. Bill

A great couple of days at the museum and a few pics.All working hard...even the "New Guy"...sometime!! ha ha. Bill

I'll bet they could smell fuel fumes then. Anybody get hurt? Bill

Glad you got it unstuck so you could finish. Looks GREAT! Bill

Thanks Sonny. Started on the nose art today. The new guy painting it is good but he likes to watch the paint dry...gotta work on that, ha ha .Couple of pics. Bill

More trim work today 6/23/15. A few pics and the nose art templet taped on for fit and function. Hope to get the nose art painted on by this weekend. Looking good. Bill

Thanks JC2. We all at the museum are having a great time with the old Herk. Pretty special that we have the name sake of the next 37 AC-130 gun ships i.e., Ghost Rider series, setting 1/2 mile from the Herk factory where they will be built. Bet their theme song will be "Ghost Riders in the sky" by Jonny Cash when they gettem, ha ha. It was in Nam!!! Bill

Installed the tailpipes and boy did that bring back some memories. A couple of pics. Bill

Well Sonny anybody who actually worked on A models when they had 3 bladed props (me) know that #1 blade is set at 3 o'clock to check the prop fluid. But the 3 bladed props are larger in diameter than the 4 bladed props so that is the problem. Already had people bang their heads on the props when a blade is pointing straight down and they aren't paying attention. So, for safety's sake we will put a blade straight up. I like them set like they just shut down myself but that won't happen. Bill

Monday we painted the props and some touch up. Hopefully this is the last time we have to drag out the sprayer for anything big. Decided this morn to go with black on the props with yellow tips as seen in photos from Nam. Trying to stay true to the layout and colors while she was in Nam towards the end of the war. If ANYBODY has any photos or was connected to this aircraft during the Viet Nam war please get in touch with me with a PM. Thanks . Bill

It is water based dry fall paint. (not dry wall paint, ha ha) We did a few test with some samples some time ago and it looks to be very durable. Clean up is a snap since it is water based. Bill

Glad you like'em Sonny. This old warhorse deserves to be kept out of the scrap heap. It is great to work on her like this. I waited 20 years to do what we are doing at the museum lately. This is what we were going to do when we were planning to put it at the front gate at Dobbins ARB next to our B-29 when she flew in to Dobbins in Sep. 1995. 911 changed all that. Now it is outside the back gate in the museum which is a much better deal. Here is a scan of her last flight order bringing her to Dobbins. Call sign...Spectre23. Bill

Today,Saturday, we finished up painting Ghost Rider in her all black Viet Nam era paint job. Had great help from the museum crew with the addition of one "New Guy". The lipstick, i.e. the trim is next and this old vet will look great. A couple more pics. from today. Bill

In the May issue of the Air Force Association magazine in the AF Senior staff changes it reads...Brig. Gen Paul W. Tibbets IV, from Dep. Dir. of Nuclear Ops. STRATCOM, Offutt AFB Nb. to; Commander, 509th BW, AFGSC, Whiteman AFB, Mo....how sweet is that? Anybody out there get it?????? Bill

Another day at the museum. Made good progress today. A few more pics. Old 54-1623 is gonna get painted yet! Bill

Well today we started to paint Ghost Rider in the colors she wore toward the end of her tour in Viet Nam, solid black with red FT and serial number on the vert fin. We are lucky to have a pic of her in these colors while in VN. All other numbers etc. will be in red We at the Marietta Museum of Aviation pressure washed the old gray chalking paint off for these past several weeks and sanded her quite a bit. We had 2 sprayers going and covered a great deal in only 4 hours today. We had a great team working on the old Herk and it shows. Included are a few pics. Will keep the site updated as we gett'er done and put all the lipstick on. Bill

I see the 105mm cannon is removed. I read someplace they are going to be installed on the J models. Good deal. Can't have too much gun, anywhere or any time. Bill

Lots of luck Warbird pilot. Just an outside chance that the last outfit who owned the bird might still have them but is not likely. When this acft. was taken off the books all records would have been sent with the acft. to the Smithsonian or to the AF museum in Dayton or destroyed by the last military unit that owned it. When we got Ghost Rider, they flew it into Dobbins ARB and the only thing I ended up with was the 781 Forms and binder. Course we were going to display it not fly it...what are you going to do with it? Bill

Article in this months AF Association mag states that LT.Gen Clark ANG chief says AMP and other upgrades are a must for legacy C-130H's. Here we go again! Bill

Check for proper cleanness and lube on tracks ( full length of tracks), shoes and ball screws. That is a big issue. Are friction washers ok on ball screws? Bill

Using brakes in a sharp turn and fast taxi speeds puts a great side load on the nose gear causing possible gear collapse . Also in some cases you can roll the tire off the rim by side loading the tire in a sharp turn. Bill