170 Landing Gear Attach Block

[canav8]

Hopefully the flap is over. I am a real person.

Generally, one would introduce themselves especially when seeking advice and information.

[Grasshopper.Kingdom]

Thanks everyone. I have learned a lot about the foibles of the 170 by reading the posts, and this comment would be especially applicable in the instance of my questions on the Landing Gear Attach Block. I am going to look at my new acquisition some more tomorrow and see if I can find any more interesting things to make inquiry about.

Thanks,
Pieter Prall
Note: There is only one person in the US with my name and it is me.

[Grasshopper.Kingdom]

You can Google my name and find out all about me.

Pieter D. Prall

[Grasshopper.Kingdom]

The nasty truth is that I am a professional bird-watcher.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Well Pieter somebody's got to watch the birds. Might as well be you. And you've apparently figured out a way to earn a living doing something you like. Can't fault a guy for that.

Now your watching (suspect you have really for some time) bigger L birds and now the 170 type.

[Grasshopper.Kingdom]

I was always intrigued by the L-13 and the Storch and wanted something like that. I saw the first project on Ebay with no pictures and grabbed it. I was the only bidder. It was in Alaska.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

What Pieter is saying he has told me in private email. Beside his 170 project he is also the owner of two L-13 projects.

[blueldr]

If there was ever an airplane that deserved to die a horrible death, It was the Consolidated L-13.

[pdb]

If there was ever an airplane that deserved to die a horrible death, It was the Consolidated L-13.

Harsh BL, harsh.

L-13' McGrath, AK, June 2013

[blueldr]

Pete Brown,
Was that L-13 pictured at McGrath one with the original Franklin engine or one that had been converted to a Continental R-670 radial?
When the Consolidated L-13 was undergoing cold weather test at Ladd AFB in Fairbanks with the original Franklin engine, it got to the point that the test pilots were extremely reluctant to fly it beyond a close-in pattern to the airport for fear of having to make an off airport landing.
The "thing" was originally designed to be towed on the road behind an army vehicle with the wings folded back and the wheels rotated 180 degrees on the bottom of the landing gear to narrow the tread for the road. I think some of the test pilots were concerned that it might decide to fold it's wings in flight. That model of the Franklin engine apparently had a serious lack of dependability.
I'm somewhat amazed that there are apparently a few of them still around after sixty five years or more. I dont believe that they were ever built in greater than a service test quantity.

[pdb]

Pete Brown,
Was that L-13 pictured at McGrath one with the original Franklin engine or one that had been converted to a Continental R-670 radial.

BL

I won't be able to find out for sure until it gets back to town after its world tour of the bush in celebration of 100 years of flight in Alaska but I believe it has a 300 hp PR-680 Lycoming or a 450 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Jr.

It doesn't have the inline Franklin, that's for sure and I am retty certain it does not have the Continental R-670 which had a modest 225 to 250 hp. This particular plane was built under license by Convair.

This article has a more complete picture. http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepL-13.html

[blueldr]

I was at one time told, by a guy that should have known, that some of them were converted to drones with a Continental radial to be used for penetration of the cloud at the Bikini nuclear tests.

[Grasshopper.Kingdom]

Mine had an R-985 on it while in Alaska. I plan to put the R-680-13 onto it. I have been collecting parts for a couple of years now. I have located pretty much most of what I need now and will be driving around to pick up parts this summer. I have located another one that is complete and has the R-680-13 on it. I have a friend who worked for a conversion company in the 1950's as an engineer. He made about 25 with the R-680-13 for the company called Caribbean Traders in Miami. He says the plane became quite safe and usable with the addition of the 300hp Lycoming radial. The one I have that had the R-985 was used for mineral survey and needed the big horsepower to carry this huge magnetometer that was in it and also to maneuver close to the terrain while surveying with the magnetometer in the mountain states back in the 1950's.

[Grasshopper.Kingdom]

The one with the Felix the Cat emblem is currently stationed in Alaska. I believe that it has the R-680-13 on it and that it was a conversion made by the Acme Company. I have the owners name in my book if anyone wants to contact him.

[Grasshopper.Kingdom]

Yes. Felix the Cat has the R-680-13 and is registered in Restricted. Many of the Caribbean Traders conversions with the R-680-13 made it into Standard. The one I have at home that had the R-985 was in Restricted and the conversion work was done by Serv Aero. The second one, that I am in the middle of buying, has the R-680-13 and is also in Restricted. I am told it could be gotten into Standard pretty easily.