Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

April 22, 1999

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It has been a couple months since my last update and allot has happened along the way, some of it good and some not so good.

The team has been working on the F-104, stripping off the old Air Force gray paint and cutting out the damaged skin panels. We’ll start rolling pieces with an "English wheel" to patch the holes and our airframe expert, Cameron, will start riveting them into place. The spacer between the rear of the fuselage and the tail cone will be cut and the suspension pivot shaft welded to the spacer. That task belongs to Steve Green at Eagle Machine; he has the tools and skill to do that very important part.

We seem to have lost some very important parts, which were to be shipped out from Maine by Steve Alex. The shipping company says they can’t identify the lost parts and don’t know where they are. If you see a stinger (end of the tail cone), speed brake, hydraulic cylinders, canopies, drag chutes and things like that sitting on a pallet somewhere in your neighborhood, they might be ours. Needless to say, this is causing Keith and me allot of heartburn.

We’ve spent a little time with the Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Washington, Bob Breidenthal and 10 of his students. We need to spend some more time picking their brains about their ideas towards the aerodynamics of this fuselage and how to keep it stable at high speeds.

Kurt Buehler at Edwards AFB and I have been corresponding back and forth in regards to our mutual cooperation. We’re still planning to conduct our test runs on the Shuttle Runway with the potential (if all things fall into place) of running higher speed runs on the old X-15 runway. The old runway has a lot of weather damage on it and has a few dips and valleys in it, which could upset our apple cart if those things aren’t fixed.

Keith and I were talking the other day about the color scheme on the F-104. I think we may have settled on "Viper Red". If there are any other good ideas out there, let’s hear them. You can send them to Keith or me. I have a new email address, at least for the time being.

I no longer work for the Frank Russell Company so don’t bother to call me there anymore. I’m sort of on sabbatical for a while so I can devote a little more time to the racing habit and finish up my Beechcraft Skipper (it’s an airplane). I’m also building a new engine for the #828 Lakester. It has be ready for the June Muroc race so I have to work hard to get it ready. So many hobbies, so little time!

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