AIRSPRAY ELECTRA RETARDANT BOMBERS

[olorin]

Air Spray Electra Fleet

Can anyone confirm that the Electra Retardant Bombers operated by Air Spray in Alberta Canada are grounded for good, as they will no longer have the C of A required due to (wooden ) spar issues?
Thanx

[North Shore]

Can't really speak about the C's of A, as I don't know one way or the other, but I'd find it really difficult to believe that Lockheed was building wooden-sparred commercial aircraft in the late 1950's.

[xsbank]

No wooden spars - they have wing "planks" which might be the reason for the misunderstanding...

[longjon]

there is no wood spar in an Electra/Aurora/Orion, sheez gotta bit my tongue here, Note the large gathering of sheet metal workers in the hangar every winter and not carpenters. Now they are wanted in Halifax to keep DND's going.

[Meatservo]

I was just thinking, with the current shortage of old-growth hardwood, isn't it more economical to make metal spars to replace the wooden ones in the Electra? I mean that's what I would have done. Back when I used to fly Electras, one of the walk-around thingies was to, like check under the wings and stuff for wood dust. I remember one time when I was stationed overseas in a super-elite military Electra squadron, we had termites, and boy I can tell you we had some trouble there, because of course I was the chief mechanic as well as the head pilot, and so I had to work a lot.


Hi, Stanley Steamer!

[Chuck Ellsworth]

as well as the head pilot,

You gave head?

[Meatservo]

Well of course, .. You know as well as I do that when the customs guys started getting wise to the old Canadian-Tire money trick, we had to resort to other methods of bribery..

[pelmet]

Was Lockheed still using that old milk glue in the 50's? Silly guys....hope they didn't do that on the SR-71 as well.

By the way...Lloyd Strearman ran Lockheed for a while.

As for the name Lockheed...it was the Lougheed brothers who started it but changed their name as they got sick and tired of mispronunciations of the name. I guess people were saying loghead. And now it is huge....just like the cockpits on their big planes.....if you are ever lucky enough to fly one

[threepoint]

Anywayyyyyyy...

Construction material and pilot bribery aside, the answer to the OP is that no L-188 Electras have been grounded in Canada and all are actively employed in aerial firefighting this summer in two provinces and two territories. The airworthiness issue is an ongoing political football, but as of now, the Loghead brothers have not issued any restrictive ADs of concern.

[SheriffPatGarrett]

Lockheed had Canadair built the Orion-Electra wing boxes...I remember watching them use dwarves
to buck rivets inside...

I'm not shittin' you!

[High and Behind]

Lockheed had Canadair built the Orion-Electra wing boxes...I remember watching them use dwarves
to buck rivets inside...

I'm not shittin' you!

This wasn't done at the north pole was it?

sorry....sorry couldn't help it

[SheriffPatGarrett]

Hmmm... what happened to Little Beaver's pics?

Hope this one stick:





I was not kidding, when Canada bought the Orion, they
got Canadair to build the center section and the wing boxes...
It kept Canadair busy until the Challenger came along,
and the midgets were a big asset for the company
as they can work inside far easier.
There was over twenty full time plus the wrestling stars who pitched in too.

[Driving Rain]

I worked at McDonnell Douglas in Malton in the late 60's they also employed a crew of Little people to complete work inside the DC 9 MD 80 wing sets. As I recall they were remunerated @ $1.00 higher than other assemblers.

[cncpc]

Deleted. Wrong company.

[Meatservo]

... and it's spelled "remunerated". (counter-intuitively, I grant you.)

[Driving Rain]

[quote="Meatservo"]... and it's spelled "remunerated". (counter-intuitively, I grant you.)[/quot

thanx spell police fixed it.

[Meatservo]

Hey, don't mention it Rainy. Times change; standards must remain.

[Rowdy]

Whats that big quad-prop tanker like to fly anyways? Must be a hoot with a load of retardant to drop!

[duCapo]

Just remember one very important detail if you are working on or around Electras; do not, under any circumstances, look one of the little people in the eye. They don't like it, drives them crazy.