Art Kramer WILLIE THE WOLF

[Mark and Kim Smith]

Hi Art,

I was reading a journal / diary (
http://home.att.net/~sallyann4/samuelson1.html ) about how many problems
B29's were having mechanically. How was Willie as far as down time?

[ArtKramr]

>bject: Art Kramer WILLIE THE WOLF
>From: Mark and Kim Smith
>Date: 12/27/03 8:03 PM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>Hi Art,
>
> I was reading a journal / diary (
>http://home.att.net/~sallyann4/samuelson1.html ) about how many problems
>B29's were having mechanically. How was Willie as far as down time?
>


Wilie was quite good. MArtin built is storng and simple. R eloable R-2800
engines were great. But the Curtis electric props needed a lot of tender loving
care and even so ran away from time to time throwing a prop blade every now and
again. The nose wheel was a bit weak and that took good maintainance too, but
we had relatively few mechanical failures. You have to love Willlie


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[Mark and Kim Smith]

Good to see it was a machine you could rely on. I will assume, except
for a lemon here and there, that most of the other B-26's were the same
in reliability. With the R3350 heat problems and other things B-29's
had to worry about, having that added stress during a mission couldn't
have helped those guys much.

ArtKramr wrote:

>>bject: Art Kramer WILLIE THE WOLF
>>From: Mark and Kim Smith
>>Date: 12/27/03 8:03 PM Pacific Standard Time
>>Message-id: >
>>
>>Hi Art,
>>
>> I was reading a journal / diary (
>>http://home.att.net/~sallyann4/samuelson1.html ) about how many problems
>>B29's were having mechanically. How was Willie as far as down time?
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>Wilie was quite good. MArtin built is storng and simple. R eloable R-2800
>engines were great. But the Curtis electric props needed a lot of tender loving
>care and even so ran away from time to time throwing a prop blade every now and
>again. The nose wheel was a bit weak and that took good maintainance too, but
>we had relatively few mechanical failures. You have to love Willlie
>
>
>Arthur Kramer
>344th BG 494th BS
> England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
>Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
>http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer
>
>
>