Oldest Boeing Airliner ?
Subject: Oldest Boeing Aircraft
Oldest Boeing Airliner now In flying condition.
This was as it should be - passengers in closed cabin, pilot in
open cockpit so he will stay awake.
The airplane is in Spokane, WA , and is the oldest flying Boeing
Aircraft. After 8 years of repair and rebuilding and 8,000 hours of toil the
Boeing 40C rolled out last winter as a finished airplane. They had to wait a
few weeks for the snow to melt to fly this baby. They received their
Standard Airworthiness Certificate from the FAA and completed the engine
pre-oil and fuel flow tests for the first of the taxi tests.
Facts for the Boeing 40 project:221 gallons of dope/reducer and
120 yards of 102 ceconite fabric. 12 gallons of polyurethane paint for the
sheet metal. The wings have 33,000 individual parts in them. The airplane
weighs 4080 lbs empty, has a gross weight of 6075 lbs. It is 34 ft long and
13 feet tall with a wing span of 44 feet.
Wing loading is 10 lbs per sq ft and power loading is 10 Pounds
per HP. It should cruise at 115 mph using 28 GPH, and 32 GPH at 120 mph. It
carries 120 gallons of fuel in three tanks.350 - 2 inch brushes were used to
apply 6 gallons of West Systems epoxy, and 181 rolls of paper towels for
cleanup.
There were a total of 62 volunteers who worked on the project to
some degree. 21 of the volunteers did a significant amount of work, and 9 of
the volunteers worked continuously during the 8 year project.
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