The Stratford Corsair has people from all walks of life turning out to lend a hand in some way or another. Today I was happy to finally welcome Ms.Laura Bopp.  She has befriended the Corsair project in a very special way. It is due to her working long hours in Manhattan that helps bankroll my involvement with the project. You see Laura is my wife. Without her prodding and insistence that I start volunteering some place, I would have never found the Corsair. Much to her chagrin it has become my obsession. She puts up with it, a widow to the Startford Corsair.  With my constant chattering, photos, being at the shop or on the phone, without a complaint. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful benefactor.

Laura came north,on a rare day off, with me today to see what I have been doing. She came into the plant and took the safety briefing and was amazed that people wouldn’t want to learn about the history of the site and how to be careful. She was surprised at how many projects the museum has under way.  The Corsair touched her. She gets it now, just how much damage we are dealing with and how much work we have ahead of us.

Check out the some of her recent adventures here!

A Chinese Long March 4C Carries Yaogan Ten Towards Space

A Long March 4C from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center has carried a Chinese remote sensing (code for “spy”) satellite into space.

Spaceflight Now reports that the “remote sensing” will happen via its space-based synthetic aperture radar, useful 27/7 regardless of weather or darkness.  The satellite is in a 380 mile orbit inclined at about 98 degrees with orbital parameters that approximate the Yaogan 1, 3, and 5 vehicles, which were also suspected to possess SAR payloads.

This was the tenth launch in the Yaogan series of satellites which first launched in 2006.  The Yaogan program is under the authority of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation(CASC, see related article), the big dog of the Chinese space program.

Change...

“Change is good” they say.  I have always wondered who the hell “They” are. I guess “They” know what they are talking about. Change can be a beautiful thing or it can be soulless and ugly. The Stratford Corsair spent 37 years hanging out on the pole, becoming sort of like an Icon to the town and her population. Thanks to the elements and improper curatorial measures things changed. Now the pole sits empty.  In a dark grey old metal building less than a mile away a team of men and women work to save the fragile egg shell. The Stratford Corsair’s future has changed.  After 4 months of work the tail section has been removed from the plane.  Yes the aluminum tapered cone that the tail wheel gear attached to, and the arrestor hook lived is no longer part of the plane. The profile of the Corsair has changed, for the better right now.

Starboard Side in the Stand.

The tail section had been stripped down to a point that we could remove it safely from the airframe. Using a quasi  “Genie” lift that fit perfectly under the tail, Mark K.and I adjusted and aligned the moveable bars to surround the tail section. Fast forward to Thursday the 1^st and we had to re adjust everything all over again.  Such is life. The process of freeing 10 bolts was finished. The drilling out of the triple row of rivets was almost done when we ran into a small snag. Hey this is the Stratford Corsair, snags are a way of life.

We found that we needed to remove the vertical stabilizer fillet from the tail /fuselage seam last week. It turns out that there was a triple row of raised rivets under the front lip of the fillet. They needed to be drilled out in order to free the tail.  The fillet attaches to a frame, which in turn has the vertical stabilizer slipped over it.  Many months ago when the vertical stab was removed we knew the inserts /cage nuts were bad and would need to be drilled out of this area.  Once free the fillet would need to be disassembled in order to replace these inserts.  After removal of the fillet it was found that there was serious corrosion all over the fillet and it would need to be cleaned.

Separated at last...

The tail was rigged up and prepared to be removed as Rob and I drilled out the rivets. We had planned to make sure everything was free then loosen the tail up so Ed could join us later in the day to do the final pull.  Best laid plans. As I yanked it pulled free then hung upon the last bolt. Dave Phipps and Mark K. were helping eye things along. So the whole bunch of us had to jockey and maneuver the till the tail finally broke free. It would have been dangerous to leave the section hanging free.

Mark Corvino puts the finishing touches on the stand.

In order for wok to start on the tail section we needed to design and build a stand that would hold it at a working level.   After combing the back of AREA 53 for some casters it occurred to me that we had a stand that would meet the requirements for our build. I spied a helicopter blade storage stand, and the blade holders which was made of wood was removable.  I assigned Mark C. and Mark K. to make it work since this needed to be done quickly and accurately. Mark K. stripped down the stand and then I pulled him to help on another project so Mark C. ended up spending the last few work days getting the formers made, secured and painted.  That afternoon we pulled the tail off the cart and placed it on the stand. A perfect fit.

Bob,Rich and Mark working hard on the Nite Shift.

This lead to our first “Nite Shift”.  In the interest of getting more faces and hands on the project we have extended our hours on Thursday evenings till 8pm. For me that means a 12 hour day on site, but for other guys that means being able to participate 4-5 hours a week that was not possible before. It appears that working in the evening may be a little more productive than I first thought. Attending were Bob Bracci, Rich Jersey, Ed McGuiness, Dan K., Mark K and myself.  Our efforts are being aimed at getting the tail section restored first. The horizontal stabilizers are a mess of corrosion and will require the skins to be removed.

During the After Hours meetup, Rich Jersey assessed the condition of the skins and made the decision to pull the starboard leading edge.  Rich was part of the crew that restored the VS-44 Flying Boat at Sikorsky  that is now in the New England Air Museum. I am relying heavily on his experiences and hands on work doing skinning work for this project.

Bob coercing 70 year old bolts to break free.

Bob spent the evening taking the hardware off of the Stabilizer.  Meanwhile Ed began stripping the tail section with his friend Dan. Mark K.  spent the evening doing what he has become the grand master of, stripping paint.

Saturday morning, Rich was zapping out rivets before I had my first cup of coffee and by lunch time with my help removing the spot welds on the edges, the leading edge was removed. We found an array of trouble brewing inside the stabilizer. The corrosion is rampant all through the front half of most of the frames. I am assessing the corrosion control process to clean up the damage.  Meanwhile Rich is beging to plan out the repairs / replacement of the skin.

Rich Jersey - Sheet Metal Man

It seems that Vought liked to spot weld things back in June of 1945. Why that date? Well we found stamps marked “Jun 9 1945” on the leading edge of every frame.  There are rows of Longerons spot welded about every ¼ inch several rows deep and 6 or so feet long. This will be fun to replicate.
Ed spent the day in the cockpit removing control gear to make room for someone to lie down and start taking the 110 bolts free. Mark K. finished stripping the Port Stabilizer as well as helping Mark C. continue stripping the tail section.  Due to the 1970 “restoration/refit” a lot of damage was covered over and added due to the work preformed. At this point we are assessing the need to re-skinning about 50% of the tail section.

Before

As for myself, well I have been busy cleaning up the many small parts and trying to abate the constant corrosion we keep finding on them. Cleaning the vertical stabilizer fillet proved to be a somewhat fun task compared to other projects I have been helping with.   First I mounted the fillet / frame into a bench vice with some creative blocks of wood.  Then I proceeded to drill out every rivet along the port side. The starboard side had been drilled out while still on the plane.  Then once everything was free I took a few photos of the parts for prosperity. In the media blasting room I loaded “Old Red” up with a bag of glass beads and proceeded to clean the corrosion out of the metal. The pitting was fairly deep in some areas but the glass beads made short work of the damage and soon I had a clean, almost new appearing  frame and filet fairing. The next step was to use a combination of Red Scotch Brite pads and steel wool to clean the remaining ick out of the metal. This went by pretty quickly and I ended up with some pretty clean looking aluminum albeit with a few areas that were pitted a little deep.  Now I have been taught that after bead blasting, the

After

Alcad surface protection is basically removed, and this protection helps fight surface corrosion. So after a cleaning with acetone and then Alodine,  I gave each piece a squirt of primer in order to keep the corrosion at bay for a few more decades.

Before

In the rear of the tail section sits a bracket that looks like some sort of strange torture device with holes and bolts from every direction.  When mounted in the rear of the plane the bracket holds the Horizontal Stabilizers . In its native form it was a mix of Zinc Chromate and bare metal.  After a session in the glass beads it look like it just came out of the forging mold. Since this piece connects with aluminum on a frame position it has been primed in order to keep the dissimilar metals separate.

After

Assessing the tail section we have found several alloy pieces that will need to be re machined or sourced. The first part in question is a small aluminum alloy block that looks like a small tuning fork. This part connects the main lower longeron of the tail section to the station at the end of the main fuselage. intergranular corrosion has destroyed most of one side, and it can be flexed between your fingers. . The fitting has 8 bolts that attach it and it is about the size of the palm of your hand. It is under constant stress and here is a case where we are lucky that something like this was caught before it failed, and the tail drooped off the plane.

The second part is one of the struts that the vertical stabilizer U horn attached to. This is again a block of alloy that is about 9in long and has disintegrated from intergranular corrosion.  The real problem we encounter with these types of part is the simple lack of replacements. We will have to reverse engineer, produce CAD or Solid Works drawings and then have them machined at a fairly expensive rate.

Number three is a trunion that attaches to the back side of the horizontal stabilizer. This part matches the same one that holds the rudder onto the vertical stabilizer. Additionally there are several frames that may need to be hand formed or cut and patched.

So we now find the bulk of the crew now working in the main shop. This is quite a change from a week ago.

Andrew and Mark start stripping the Stabilizer.

Saturday has proved to be a big day. Not the big day we hopped for but a great day none the less.  It was planned to drop the tail today but we still needed to remove several bolts (10) and clear a few score of rivets.  The reality was we still didn’t have the cart prepared to receive the tail section as well as we knew the bolts were going to be trouble getting them removed.

Since the “Nite Shift” will be starting soon it was imperative to get the space prepared.  a special thanks to Chris, Mark K. and Bill Fickes for giving me a hand getting the shelving unit moved into the main shop. Ben, Jerry and Dave helped out in getting the benches and storage cabinets placed.  We also have a great 6×10 rolling work table.

Bill, the hardest working 90+ year old in Airplane Restoration!

I have decided that the first item to undergo full restoration will be the horizontal stabilizers  , starting with the starboard one first.  The process had to begin with stripping 3-4 layers of paint and removing several pop riveted patches that were rotting out.  We had a new member Andrew K. who is in helping Jimmy with the 02 project. I managed to shanghai him into helping start the paint stripping job.

Mark K. has become out resident paint stripping expert and can make paint disappear with a can of Jasco stripper,a small square of aluminum strip,  a soft wire brush and paper towels.  The real secret is in letting the stripper work. It’s like watching a game of golf, really boring with the rare moment of excitement.

Meanwhile Bill Dingley, Pete Ronson and Bob Givens were working or replacing a number of cage nuts on the cockpit cowl. These had been so rusted and corroded that they were trash. Bill had to work the subtle curve of the cockpit rim smooth before the inserts could be riveted in.

Ed meanwhile spent the day with his head in the tail of the Corsair. Being the tenacious guy that he is,he couldn’t get 1 or 2 bolts broken in four or five hours, no he got all 10 bolts removed working by himself. Each one when removed was announced with a “Thats 3!” or “Thats 6!”  Simply amazing!

Our team doesn’t understand “No” or “Can’t”.

Oh and the tail section issue with not having the cart? Well, Mark C. has provided us with a stable platform in which to work on the tail section. Spending the day working in the parking lot on the new cart he was lucky to not get heat stroke.

By the end of the day the rest of the guys in AREA 53 had finished the float and took it out for a spin around the lot. And from what I understand from Bob B. The CASC won 1st place this Sunday for the 6th year running! We are surrounded by very talented men and women in our organization. The potential is limitless, as they have proven.

We found an issue with the rivet removal in the tail section that will have to be addressed next week end. it seems that we will have to remove the vertical stabilizer fillet in order to get the triple row of rivets removed. This all has to be done in order to remove the tail section.

Mark K. and myself ended up finishing up the day in the main shop peeling off the old skin work that was pop riveted on. We found some more serious damage that was covered over 39 years ago.  Missing access covers, wasp nests (empty) and crushed metal all has to be repaired.

Stage 1 - one side stripped

Now we begin with the real expense. 2024 Aluminum for the skins that need to be replaced is not free. The strippers,primers and rivets all have to be paid for.  Please consider a donation or better yet, Will Someone or some Company Sponsor the Starboard Horizontal Stabilizer Restoration?

If your are interested in doing this please contact me!

Ole Sandy

The morning started with firing up the media blaster. Using Polyfil, a plastic medium, cleaning up the corrosion is made a little easier. Working on the cowl flaps and some of the assorted bits and pieces has become a side job for me. With such a good team of guys working at my disposal, it leaves me with little to do but manage the situation.  While I am glad to serve as the project lead, part of the fun is getting dirty.

There is a certain Zen space I find when erasing the layers of time from metal.   With the sodium vapor lights buzzing,  blower fan whirring, vacuum whining, and media blaster howling,  the cacophony of sound  makes conversation impossible.  The sissing of the media at 80 pounds per square inch tearing the old paint keeps your attention locked into the narrow window.  That window keeps you from being pelted by the hurricane force wind, packed with abrasive media.  So where does the Zen part come in you might ask in the middle of all this chaos?  When you take the ear muffs, place them over your ears the world goes quiet. Your focus locks in on the matter at hand and you find you center on the sole task at hand, other things drift away from your mind.

Trying to be at least a little green, we recycle our media when possible.  Oh let’s be honest.  It saves money. So after two 5 gallon pails worth are emptied into the vacuum, the process of sifting begins. Like a gold miner of long ago , I stand there with a screen shaking and sifting till I have a clean batch of media.  And refilling we go.  Today I used 12 buckets of media.  Yoinks that was a lot of Zen sifting.

As seen on the Titanic...

Elsewhere Mark K. and Chris joined me in AREA 53 to start work on the bolt removal.  The tail section has 6 bolts that need to be broken loose and removed. If we have learned anything at this point, “only 6 to break loose” means it’s going to be a real pain in the backside.  It was and is.  With Chris in the fuselage section, climbing in and up through the tail wheel door bay, we began the process.   The short story is 4 hours later and we removed 1 nut and discovered a massive bit of corrosion that will involve a very expensive trip to the machine shop. It really is a miracle that the Corsair did not fall apart right on the pole.  Anyone thinking that this is an exaggeration only needs to schedule an appointment to meet with me and I will personally show you the damage first hand.

Mark K. spent the morning helping Bill and working on the cradle that will help house the tail section.   The newest addition to AREA 53 is the 4 of July Float, which this year the float will center more on the space aspect of air and space.  George, Lou, Gene and Ben spent the day getting the float decked out and set up for the parade in a few weeks.

Lou and the Corsair w/ the float

After everyone else left I ended up in the blasting room working on one of the inboard flaps.   Again the corrosion is bad and there are several holes that are eaten into the skin.  This point begins the discovery phase of what level of work will be required. We have so far seen the damage on the spar and tail section but there is a lot more to discover as the paint comes off the skins.  Over all it was a good day and I look forward to spending time with the Media Blaster again.  It’s relaxing.

Mark K. in the Breach

Setting aside the serious tone of what we are doing here at AREA 53 for a moment,you really have to have been there. Don’t believe me?  Ask Dick Steel(Corsair Pilot 44-45) and his daughter Millie. It was quite funny.

Anyway… In the past week we have made some serious strides at the total breakdown of the fuselage. Mark C., and I were able to remove the windscreen, or what’s left of the frame, and the rickety remains of the canopy frame.  Along with the armor plate now removed we have better access to the cockpit.  Or so I thought.

It seems that Chance Vought didn’t design the Corsair to accommodate 21st century fat, middle aged men. Between the hoses, wires, cables, various knobs and the control stick, there isn’t much room for anyone short of a child to move around.  So I spent my morning  hunched over a cockpit wishing I didn’t have that doughnut this morning .  I was able to free up a few bits and pieces but the control stick decided it wasn’t going to move this weekend.  A large slotted bolt hold it in place through a yoke with a pressed bearing.   There is no room to work in floor between extrusions, ribs and longerons blocking every angle of attack.

After killing an hour on this our new documenter arrived, Steve Resinski. Steve works in the area and is a pro with CAD.  We met at the Corsairs over Connecticut show and he wanted to join up.  He will be processing the parts as they come off and assisting me with the task of documenting the process.

Ed, Rob Pete, Bill and Mark K. spent the day working on getting the last of the tail fittings loose. All we have now to do is drill out about 75 rivets and loosen a few bolts. With some forward thinking we came up with a better way to drop the tail section thanks to Robs instance of a process and Ed, Mark and myself thinking outside of the box.

Dick Steel and his daughter Millie checking out the Corsair

Dick Steel brought is daughter, Millie, over to the shop to show her what we are doing. Since they were willing to follow our safety guidelines I gave them the 50 cent tour around the shop, with the in depth explanation of the damage that the plane has suffered. We also checked out the Sikorsky choppers and engines in the back.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised by some of the questions she asked me.  I am always impressed when someone asks me an  obscure question.  I am doubly impressed when they know which way the blades are stored on a 50 year old helicopter!  I hope my tour guide skills were adequate. Them things with the blades on top always confuse me.

So what was the funny moment? Well that had to be when Mark K. crawled into the tail of the Corsair, legs dangling, much to our suprise he fit. In fact he asked for a few pillows, so Im guessing I know where he will be hiding the next time I ask him to help me break a bolt loose with the breaker bar. Oh, thats right you had to be there to understand that.

Interested in spending some time working on the Corsair? Want to be part of the finest crew working on Connecticut’s State Airplane? If your over 18 and can get to Stratford CT at least once a week, contact me. CorsairFAS217@gmail.com

Clouds and Planes (1)

Originally uploaded by photine

In a few hours the anniversary of D-Day will be upon us. In fact it is currently the anniversary of The Battle of Midway. When we come into building 53 to work on the Corsair we are reminded of the sacrifices that many a young man made to defend our country. We stand as guardians of that memory now.

We Teach, We Inform, We Pay Tribute to the Armed Services, and We Honor the Men and Women of the Home Front. These men and women fueled our now mostly forgotten capability to reshape the world assembly line by assembly line. At the peak of World War Two 8-10 Corsairs rolled off the assembly line each day.

There are those of us of who stand vigilant. We watch the sky for the last Corsair Pilot to take his final flight, for the Solider who will storm his last beach and for Rosie The Riveter to buck her last rivet. On that day we will be entrusted with this precious memory. It will be our duty to make sure that what they did so many years past is never wiped from the human conscious.

I am Monument Man. This is my promise.

As of today the Corsair has been replaced to her nest in Area 53. We turned the plane around 180 degrees. This will make the major breakdown go a lot faster. We have set up a B-4 Maintenance Stand and a set of B2 air stairs to make working on the sides of the Corsair safer.

Our mission now is to get the remainder of the tail broken loose and jigged up. Rob had Ben and Jerry bring over a Fireproof cabinet to store all the strippers and oils closer at hand. Thanks to Dave’s suggestion we are also working on bringing a refrigerator over so we can have cold drinks this summer.

We were able to get a few things done today. Pete and Bob worked on stripping the rear seam out so we can access the rivets.  Rob, Ed and myself spent the early part of the day doing project management work, assessing the man hours and process that we are following on the tail. Then we were able to get hands on for a few and Ed got the elevator linkage free from the fuselage section and Rob and I got the other side freed up. I am currently working on cleaning the cowl flaps up and assessing the best treatment forward.

Today’s photo is courtesy of a fellow blogger, Laurie, a music teacher from Houston, TX. The photo really evokes Vigilance in my mind.

Rob Brucato reports:

I was first to arrive at 7:30 -got set up and then started working at 9:00 on stabilizer. Mark came in at 9:30-10 and we got to heavy work –popped out two split collars at rear, no problem.  We tried to get out the large Dzus at the leading edge but it would not move.

Note the damage to the Stabilizer - The airframe needs to be stabilized

So we drilled out rest of rivets on upper fairing to the rib and to the tail and to the stiffener plate and removed it -almost went smooth -had to jigger stabilizer around to get at hidden rivets in front (riveted to lower fairing into intermediate bracket at leading edge) So now the top is nice and opened. A new fellow by the name of Mark Knopick came in around this time. I went over the ropes with him – he is a nice guy.

Removing the Stabilizer

So I had to remove Dzus spring at bottom of mating flange -spring was rusted and broke -kept 2 pieces-this allowed the Dzus to be hammered up (wow) used brass long bar Ed McGuinness dropped off. (thanks Ed the bars helped out great)  This just got it to move and then we had no tools to knock it out the rest of the way.  So I made a tool out of a SST rack part I found laying around.  Mark banged away with me adding heat and PB for an hour till we got it out it was super galled. With Dzus out the 40 lb stabilizer was removed easily. Lou’s son (Rich) helped holding the stabilizer when removing it to be safe -Lou’s granddaughter (Ashley Simmons) took photos for us.

Small Victories, Every Day - Rich, Mark & Rob

Couple of Airplane Nuts

This is going to be a quick update.I am in the process of packing and we be making a cross country journey in a few days. Over the next few weeks I will be making visits to Midland, Texas home of the CAF , Pima Arizona to check out the restoration shop and to Davis Mothan, the storage facility where old warbirds go to sleep.  I will also meeting with Yanks Air Museum’s Frank Wright in Chino and will visit the  Air Force Academy and Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum in Colorado.

I hope as an ambassador for the Connecticut Air and Space Center to spread the word of our mission. A special thanks goes out to the WIX (Warbird Information Exchange) community.  I have made several contacts that will make my visits a lot easier and more enjoyable.

This is Corrosion. This is the real Desecration, no upkeep.

Rob, Mike and myself spent the day trying to free the 2 vertical stabilizer bolts to free the vertical stabilizer.  We have found more extensive damage to the airframe from corrosion. The tail section will require extensive work to stabilize the metal. The short story is we couldn’t free them and will regroup on Saturday with a 3/4in drive set to break the pair loose.

Meanwhile, Bill Digney was able to get the tip of the port stabilizer looking really good after he worked the dents out. The inner surfaces, which are riddled with corrosion will be media blasted before being primed. Well work progresses, baby steps.

Setting the Centerline on the Jig

I woke up at 4:30AM, a half an hour early. Consumed by the project. Yea pretty much. It was a miserable day with rain and fog. On I-95 there were 2 accidents slowing traffic south bound for over 10 miles, thank God I’m traveling north. I knew it was going to be a slow day. Bill Digney does not drive in the rain. Rob and Ed are at work. It was planned to be a slow day.

As it turns out Rich had the day off. He works for the US Postal service and worked on the S-44 restoration with Bill, Joe and the whole old gang a few years back.  Turns out his cycle for days off synced up with one of our open days. He is really great since he comes in as asks what we need him to do, and he does it. No complaints, no issues. He gets it. We love people like this.

Today somehow fate worked out in my favor. Mike Korvino comes in ready to work. Wow, this is shaping up to be a good day! Then Chris Soltis comes in, ready to start documenting . Yea It was a good day.

Mark & Rich Working on the Corsair

Mike’s mom worked at the Chance Vought Plant and he is volunteering in part to pay tribute to her memory. He is also the manager at Stanziale’s Restaurant across the street from the old plant. We hope to be able to share a very special artifact of her’s at some point in the near future. Today Mike is setting up the rear jig to support the plane. The design will use 6×6′s and 3/4 in plywood to pick up the factory lift point/ lift tube in the rear of the fuselage.

In the meantime I constructed a wooden scaffold over the port wing to facilitate Bill’s efforts. This will insure a safer work place and allow him easier access to the wing seam. The corrosion has eaten this area up and we are assessing whether to repair or replace the fairing.

Rich finished drilling the screws out on the tail. There were several attempts at using the E-Z OUT. Our E-Z STUCKS were stiff competition and the reigning champions against the poor mis-guided E-Z OUTS.   Finishing this part of the process is  an accomplishment since lately any process turns into a quagmire of galled screws, bolts, nuts etc.

Ed McGuinness - Drill Master

We started the day off with re-trying to pull the two vertical stabilizer bolts. Ed McGuinness and I dove in to the rear of the old girl with a renewed fervor after having discussed the next few weeks and what needed to be done.  To make the long story short, we spent the better part of an hour trying to pull one cotter key, maybe 20 minutes on the other. The vertical stabilizer bolts are 1 inch bolts that refused to yield.

We need to break these surfaces off the airframe for several reasons. The biggest is we need to separate the rear joint before we pull the front joint out. The damage from weather, birds and time necessitate being able to get into the small spaces to preform repairs and corrosion control.  In addition there is major damage that needs to be repaired on the tail where a fork lift was used in El Salvador to pick up the airplane. This was patched in 1971 but the patching caused even more damage.

Be it breaker bar, socket, impact gun, pipe on a breaker bar, none would crack either bolt.  The impact gun sounded interesting like a Bofors 40 mm gun.  The staccato “bum bum bum bum” of the impact gun echoed throughout Area 53, rattling my fillings and every speck of dust in the ass end of the plane. We made no further progress as there was more action going on on the floor of the shop with the port side flap crew about to release the last flap from its crusty grip.

It was around this time that Rob and Olympia came in and as usual Rob jumped right into the action.

Rob Brucato, Bill Digney, Pete Renson and Ed McGuinness w/ port inboard flap

See, today’s most exciting event took place when we were able to finally remove the port flap. It has been a bear to remove properly with frozen screws as usual. I wedged my fat hands under the flap with a crescent wrench to try and remove 3 bolts to pop the actuator arm off. The silly thing is there is a heim joint that is cotter keyed but it was so rusty and and tight we couldn’t get any leverage to work it out. Just like the vertical stabilizer bolts from earlier today.

Charlie Vesterman and “Doc” Gunther paid us a visit but we couldn’t just drop what we were doing to chat so Charlie jumped in under the plane and lent a hand. Rob, Charlie and I managed to work the backside free while Pete and Ed kept it from slicing our fingers off.

Port Horizontal Stabilizer Tip - Enlarge to see the aggressive corrosive pitting

Pete Ronson, one of our intrepid volunteers, has been showing up on Saturdays  helping to drill, pry and cajole the many galled, frozen, rusted and corroded parts off the plane. Until it is stripped down the repairs can not be made. A simple point is the port side horizontal stabilizer tip was damaged and needs to be worked with the hammer and dolly. Imagine our surprise, after he drilled out the 30 some rivets holding it in place, to find wasp nests and pretty extensive corrosion of the inner compartment.

Nowhere on this plane is safe from the corrosive cancer. Leaving it alone will only allow it to bite deeper into the skin and airframe of this noble warrior until one day a major structure, like the wing spar, fails and then there will be a nice haul to the recycler.

Rob and Ed going over our new database system

After we finished cleaning up the shop Ed pulled out his laptop.  He was excited to show us the new database that he has developed to catalog the  parts and condition of items removed from the Corsair.  The system will be able to be deployed for use on any other project the CASC decides to work on.  Rob has also been a busy beaver at home working on reproducing several of the small parts that have been damaged or have broken due to corrosion. His work is amazing.

After our hard efforts, Rob, Olympia and I went to Stanziale’s Restaurant on 595 Main Street in Stratford, CT across the street from the old plant and next to the airport. Wow, what a meal.  Saturdays usually entail they guys making a a stop at Subway or Duchess before heading home. We ordered a Meatball and Eggplant parmigiana  Wedge  as appetizers and a large pie with half cheese and half meatball.

Rudder Clevis Upper F4U Corsair Courtesy of CSBR Designs and Robert Brucato

While we waited we spoke to the owners and it turns out their entire family more or less worked at the Chance Vought factory.  We look forward to sharing many stories with them since on of the crew, Mark Corvino,  expressed a desire to come throw in his lot with us and start volunteering at the shop.

Olympia and I split the eggplant parm, and we destroyed it. The bread, a grinder roll, was very fresh and toasted just perfectly, no burns or dark spots. You know that light crunch and then the influx of eggplant again done just right. Rob polished off 1/2 of his sub in short order and then were were onto the pie which arrived at a well paced interval.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a pizza snob of the highest order and I only really spend time at one pizza joint, Pelham Pizza in Pelham, NY on 5th Ave. Well now when I’m in Connecticut I now have good reason to have a Pizza.

Stanziale’s is a different pizza altogether and I can’t make direct comparisons. It has a thinner crust with just the right amount of sauce and cheese to not overpower each other. The meat is fresh and really is tasty.  A light dusting of shake cheese was my only addition. My biggest issue with the pizza was I wish there were more slices to eat.

We finished off our meal with a trio of cappuccinos that were very well made. Our waiter was fast and courteous and we had an over all positive experience and I for one will be eating here again.

From south of the Bridgeport area take 95 North to exit 30 – Lordship Boulevard. Turn right onto Lordship Boulevard. Lordship Boulevard turns into Access Road. Turn right onto Main Street. Stanziale’s is located on the right. Behind the Shell Gas Station. It is definitely worth the trip.

When I entered college, I always thought I was going to study abroad in Hong Kong, but now that I’m in my 5th year it would seem impossible. I don’t know know what’s up with my obsession with Hong Kong… It just seems necessary that I go there to at least visit. I keep imagining what it’d be like to work there and live there, and when I went to the 1040 movie premiere at CASC last night, Jaeson Ma challenged us to be apart of the 1040 movement. I can’t speak a lick of Chinese, whether its Mandarin or Cantonese, but I really feel inspired to go work in Hong Kong. A part of me wishes UIC had an international business major… It has a international business minor, so I guess it’s sufficient? I’ve been unwilling to let go of the idea of getting the minor, but now that I’m taking summer school I’m committed to fulfilling it.

I bet of a lot of you are like “Wtheck?!? This nigga has finished his pre-nursing requisites, pursuing an accounting major, and now adding on an international minor?!? Make up your mind!!!” I guess my mind was finally made up last night? I don’t think I’m going to follow through with my father’s desire for me to go into the Health Care field. I have the grades to prove I’m well rounded enough to go to Nursing school and I thought it was what I wanted to before, but now I can see things have changed. I see what the business world needs… It needs more Christians. One day I want to go work in Hong Kong for a couple years and try and make a difference. Does it sound crazy?

So what steps am I taking toward this dream?
1. Pray and spread the Gospel at my internship.
2. Study for GMATs in the summer.
3. Graduate with a bachelors in Accounting and an International Business minor.
4. Research graduate schools for Accounting (including international ones).
ETC!

Somewhere in there I will learn Mandarin and maybe Cantonese, lol.

The future of local authority sport in a tightened funding climate is a major concern to sports’ governing bodies. Many clubs depend on local authority facilities, whilst development and coaching posts are often co-funded by governing bodies and local authorities.

Whilst County Sports Partnerships are making connections between local authority provision and club sport, there is still a sense that club and council sport are ‘different’. Yet surely a badminton club in a council sports centre, and an asset based tennis club offering pay and play are equally club sport and local authority provision?

Recognising this interdependence can reduce costs to authorities, and increase sustainability for clubs.  For instance, how many outdoor changing rooms in your borough need a refresh, but have not made the top of the list? Asking a user-group to maintain this in return for secure usage would provide a club base and make savings for the council.

And its not just about the sports budget.  Traditionally sports clubs have received discretionary rate relief, but some authorities are now withdrawing this. With clubs surviving on average surpluses of just £1,300, this is a real threat to survival. Registering as a Community Amateur Sports Club secures 80% mandatory rate relief paid for by central government, saving both club and council money. Council officers can help clubs make this switch.

Its about more than money too – sport must be prioritised in the revised planning guidance for a ‘natural and healthy environment’, and the Community Infrastructure Levy needs to contribute to sporting infrastructure.

With cuts looming, clubs and councils must help each other to weather the storm, and local authority sports teams must take advantage of other policies that can support their work.

Jerry clearing a shelf for the greater good, The CASC operated thanks to people like Jerry Verderosa.

The day got off to an easy start since I was awake as my 2 alarms, well maybe klaxons sounded. The trip north was a quiet one with no traffic to speak. The day was looking very positive. Being the first one in I unlocked the gates and Area 53 and started pulling tools for the day ahead. We left off with the horizontal and vertical stabilizer still attached. I’ll save you the time, if you think this ends with them on the floor today then just move on and try again Saturday.

Jerry and I started out in 53 with the tow motor clearing out some shelves and moving some assorted stuff around in the never ending game of “make more space”.   Jerry is a great guy and has helped organized the compound since coming aboard a few years ago.  It is guys like him that make this place work. Without the Jerrys and the Lous we would just be a mob in a junk  yard. Oh yea, if you volunteer here , it’s not all glamorous. Sometimes you have to spend the day cleaning and organizing . It’s just a fact.

Stripping - Not the fun kind

On to the Corsair.  The geniuses at Chance Vought saw to it that there would be screws used to hold on the fairings. Not just 5 or 6 on each side. No, more like 35+ per side. Why me? If this was 1945 then this really wouldn’t be a big deal. It’s 2010 and every last screw is coated with 4 coats of paint, sealed like King Tut’s Tomb.

Rob Brucato happened in and jumped into the frey by working on the screws. You might say he was screwed.  Scraping out 35 + Philips head screws is really a crappy job. He didn’t complain. The thought we had was to see if we can get the screws to crack and work them out as opposed to drilling them out. Stripped, cleaned and oiled. Heads strip, 1 budged after 35 min of playing then that locked up solidly.

Enter the “Whirr, Brapp, Whirrrrrrr” of the air powered drill. As a test I took the last 7 screws out of the vertical stab, drilling large enough to crack the head off.  We found out that the access covers, at least 1, was made of aluminum stock with steel pan heads . The result was corrosion that has penetrated the horizontal stabilizer where none should have been.  The way this stuff spreads could make a book by itself. Maybe I’ll call it “Tuesdays with Corrosion” or “Corrosion and Me“.  Seriously, when you see the amount of cleaning that has to be done, it is really daunting.  If left to its own devices, it would slowly rot the skin right off the airframe. Now that would be a fitting end to the loving memorial no one wanted removed from the pedestal.

Bill Dinghly - Drilling on the Corsair

Today, I was finally able to removed the phenolic backer boards from the gas tank area. This was much to Bill liking and due to his prodding.

After the keystone cop style grand adventure to find a vacuum hose that didn’t have a hole in it, I was able to clear the rotted scrap from the backer boards in the tank area.  Bill Dinghly wanted to see what shape the top row of spar bolts were in. Additionally he wanted to try removing a few of the bolts holding the wing / fuselage fairing to the plane. This area is corroded bad in some areas and we have been discussing how we will repair it. Nothing on this job will be easy.

Rick Bovino,Bill Fickes and Charlie Vesterman - Working on the Sikorsky HO5S or S-52

On Tuesday I has left Charlie Vesterman working on the landing gear for the S-52 that is being restored in the main building. This has been an ongoing project here at the Connecticut Air and Space Center for several years. The main fuselage was recently returned to the shop after being primed off site.

Having worked on cleaning metal like the landing gear are made of before, I offered my 2 cents.  This morning I dropped off a nice new 3M Scruffy Pad for Charlie to try out. This afternoon the whole crew was in working on the Sikorsky whirlybird.

Did you know that Igor Sikorsky flew his first chopper very near to the very spot we work on our aircraft at? The area around Lordship, CT is steeped in Aviation History that is being let waste away into the pages of history!

In addition to Charlie, Rick Bovino and Bill Fickes toiled away at getting the landing gear ready for a fresh coat of paint. From what I understand the three of them worked at Sikorsky together for over 30+ years. They are doing amazing work and in the future I hope to feature a story on the helicopter guys side of the shop.

Rob Brucato & Larry Bradley of Three Wing Flying Services with Dave Browns donated Corsair

After we shut down for the day, Rob and I stopped over Sikorsky Memorial Airport to visit Larry Bradley. Larry is one of the Owners at Three Wing Flying Services. Three Wings is holding a special gift from Dave Brown for us. Dave has donated a beautiful wooden model of a Corsair that will be auctioned off at the Corsairs Over Connecticut Airshow on Memorial Day weekend. There will be a silent auction at the hanger dance on Saturday night.  Larry was kind enough to take 5 minutes out of his busy schedule to talk with us about the show and let us get a peek inside a real active shop. Talk about a clean shop! I only wish we could get Area 53 to sparkle like his busy maintenance areas do.

Bill Dingly - Chance Vought Veteran - Displays his reworked Tailcone

Bill Dinghly. 90 years old. 25 years at heart and soul. Professional aircraft metal worker. Every rare now and then you get a chance to have amazing people come into your life. I have been blessed by breaking that rule on frequent occasions.

Bill works 3 days a week at the Connecticut Air and Space Center. He has never been married, well as he says “I’m only married on the weekends” . Bill is the original smooth operator. I would have loved to have cruised around Naval Air Station Patuxent River with Bill back when he was my age. See as well as being Chance Vought alumni, working on the Corsair assembling center sections, he also worked on the Vought XF5U, the Flying Pancake and the Cutlass!  He moved later in life down to Patuxent MD, living in Lexington Park to work on aircraft.

In the modern era, he can be found cruising the Fairfield area in his 65 Tempest. But back in the day he had Packards and Hupmobiles. He bragged about running his Packard up to a hundred, “back when you could do that” His only rule is, “If it’s raining, I don’t drive the Pontiac”, then we wont see him at AREA 53 because he really doesn’t drive the Tempest in the rain.

A guy like Bill is a wealth of stories and he has a new one every day. Today he recalled a tale about a Martin Mars down at Patuxent. He had just crossed the hanger under the back of the big seaplane, which was idling. As he closed the door and exited the hanger, someone in the cockpit bumped a switch and dropped a drop tank full of AV gas. The hanger was engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds. Did I mention Bill is 90. I’m sure he has used up a few of his 9 lives with stunts like that.

This isn’t a history of Bill Dinghly by any means, but un belying his quiet meek demeanor and skinny frame is a personality that is larger than the Corsair he is working under. It is an unseen force that ebbs around him like the “force”

Note the crease in our tail cone

Does Green Make my butt look to big? - Our reworked Tailcone

This morning Bill returned with the tailcone from the Corsair. He has a metal working area in his garage and can better fix small stuff there. While it was dinged in pretty hard, the corrosion from the bird poop had caused the worse damage. Now it was sufficiently cleaned and dent hammered out, a new patch over the poop rotted hole.. He used 3M Scotch Weld to fill in the remainder of the damage from the corrosion after applying a small patch. All in all it looked pretty darned good and when the final coat of primer and paint go on it will be fine.

Port Side Damage to airframe and skin

We are stuck with a bit of a dilemma. Damage done to the tail section back in El Salvador has never been addressed properly. A gallant attempt at fairing the tail off was made in 1971. The reality is most of the rear section of the tail is missing and what is left was chewed up pretty bad and punctured by a forklift. The copy tailcone that was on the plane, that we repaired looks good and really from 10 feet away and the uniformed would never know the difference.

We will be repairing or replacing as much as possible to correct the length and shape of the tail section. To make it correct and perfect, We would need a replacement cone. If anyone out here has good drawings / patterns of the tail from the horizontal stabilizers back, we could really use a copy. The tail section is a F4U-4, not a FG1-D. We have parts books and assembly guides but no blueprints to speak of. If anyone reading this has an old tailcone that is sitting behind the shop or maybe even a slightly damaged but rework able section, well please contact me? We are Non Profit. Let’s talk.

4 Nuts - At least the cotter pins came out easy.

As for myself today, I was burning on 3 hours sleep. I had to rund south the day before and ended up driving to Cape May and Back to handle some business. Moral of the story is, I was tired, I got up late but still was at the shop close to on time. As a volunteer I hold myself accountable to being there early, working safely, getting work done and offering my 2 cents when I think it’s appropriate. I try to take the commitment seriously.

As for the body count, I managed to remove the elevator gusset on the starboard wind and boy what a mess. Nothing on this plane surprises me. Years of neglect have made themselves seen to many times in the past few weeks. After attaching a brace and safety tie off on the horizontal stabilizer, I did manage to break 4 nuts loose. The top “kingpin at the leading edge is proving to be a real pain in the neck to remove, but we will see.

N98BS 1947 Grumman G-73 C/N J-18

The best part of the day after leaving was spotting a huge tail accross the street at Sikorsky Memorial Airport. It was hidden buy the old 20′s era General Avaition hangers. As I feft I commented to Charlie Vesterman that IU was going to get a better look. Imagine my suprise when I saw this big beautiful bird, a Grumman Mallard.

The Rising Sun

So I find myself up at 4:50am, I guess that’s better than 4:30am. The morning turned out to be beautiful and I was treated to the most beautiful sunrise I have seen in a long time. Almost a cream-cicle orange sky lay ahead of my path. I am reminded that along time ago the F4U Corsair was built to arm our Navy and Marines with the fighting power to take on the Rising Sun. Now my battle to help rescue a poor forlorn Corsair places me on a path directly into the Rising Sun.

The Connecticut Air and Space Center was dark and quiet when Nancy (our archivist) and I arrived, and as usual I opened AREA 53 up and awoke the Corsair from her quiet slumber. Today was going to be very special indeed for the old plane.  Chris and Bill arrived not much later this morning and the shop came to life.

Zinc chromate, ZnCrO4

We were surprised by a familiar but sadly absent face this morning.  Jimmy D’Amico, who I had met several weeks earlier at a filling station by chance, and his young lady friend had stopped in to discuss the cowl ring and panels, which were at the Avaition School across the street.  At the gas station that morning a few weeks back I spotted a well worn  B-17 hat slouched on a young man’s head.  It gave him away as a Warbird fan from 20 paces. After a 2 minute conversation I found out that he was the one who redid the cockpit of the the CASC’s, US Navy Cessna 0-2.  Unfortunately, he was forced to stop his volunteering thanks to a very busy school schedule at the Connecticut School for Aviation at Sikorsky Memorial Airport, across the street. He is in the process of getting his Airframe & Powerplant license. When he is finished with school he hopes to continue working on several of the projects.  The school currently has possession of the Cowl Ring and cowl panels at their shop for stripping and Jimmy stopped by to pick up some Zinc Chromate paint.

According to Wikipedia… Zinc chromate, ZnCrO4, is a chemical compound containing the chromate anion. It is used industrially in chromate conversion coatings. If you have seen military aircraft or airframes in a restoration shop you may have seen a green or yellow-green primer. This is used to prevent corrosion and was used liberally in the Corsair. As long as you don’t do something silly like scrape it off or say, pierce the skin with Carbon Steel bolts and add some salt air, it will really help protect the airframe for along time.

Now due to current laws we are not allowed to use Chromate based paints in Connecticut but there are alternatives we can use.  If any of my readers out here would like to help us out and make a donation, we can use the NEW Non- Chromate waterborne type Zinc Chromate paints and gray primer if anyone knows anyone out there looking to donate. It always makes it cheaper when we send our paint work off-site with the correct paint to be used.

Jim and Chris - Birds of a Feather

I grabbed Jim and Chris to help me remove the tailcone section. Well all the hours of reading manuals and making game plans were shot to hell in 2 second. It seems that at some point the ass end of the Corsair was chopped off. Ouch! So along with the pair of forklift punctures on the port side and the one puncture on the starboard side, we now have a hand made tailcone.

Granular Corrosion - Disgusting

After freeing about 50 rivets and some subtle prying it popped of and what a surprise we got! The intrusion of wild life into every section of the airframe is amazing. The tail area was packed with a large birds nest complete with feathers and some bird bones. One of our board members and fellow shop mates Dave, who is also our T-33 Expert, joined in on the bird watching festival. I gave him a good jibe about, “…the Corsair having more Tail feathers than his jet.”
Chris and Jim had to leave so I went back to work on removing the Elevator and the Rudder locks. Locks are a figurative term. The 1970’s makeover had seen the tail surfaces riveted with aluminum to lock them in position. The surfaces eventually came free and moved for the first time in 37+ years. The corrosion is bad here as well as in other places, but not as deep so there is that.

Hard back on the stick, Full power!

I have to say that when I pushed the elevators up and stood back to take a photo, that for a second I thought to myself, “Full Throttle, Pull back on the stick and Be Free, Fly like a eagle, soaring high and into the Rising Sun” I guess I’m just a little sentimental.

Dick Skyes, Chris Soltis, Ed McGuinness - Making Headlines in the CT

Building 53 was like  Grand Central Terminal this  morning with so many volunteers and visitors. Among our visitors, Former State Senator “Doc’” Gunther came in with Dick Sykes, former Lycomming Retired and Connecticut Air and Space Center supporter. Chris Soltis and Ed McGuinness, our newest addition to the cause, reviewed Fridays Connecticut post in which the Corsair was on the front page, above the fold!  I also was please to meet a fellow named Jim Tuceiarone today who has rigging experience, has the ability to help us arrange transportation for some of our equipment and really wants to help out so I look forward to working with him in the future.

Robert, Charlie, Chris and myself spent most of the day trying to remove the hulk of the old self sealing tank.

Other activities going on today included a team working on getting the access doors open on the aft section of the plane. During removal of the 2 access panels we found out that they were not panels riveted over, but Forklift punctures that may date back to the 1960′s. DZUS / CAMLOCK reared its ugly head again, but thank god we only had to drill out 3 of them on the port side elevator inspection panel.  Ed McGuinness,  ()  and Ben did a really great job clearing out the rivets.  Also Ben and Jerry moved a lot of equipment around allowing us to create a small scaffold to work around the tail section and access the rudder.  Jerry & Ed really make working around the shop a lot easier by keeping things safe and clean. Chris spent some time getting our documentation area cleaned up and organized and has taken that job to task till we find someone interested in doing it.

The corrosion is everywhere.

Let me make sure something is made clear here. The original tank was trash. It was sliced up with a large section missing, and the remainder was hard, melted and dry rotted. We discussed the matter with several people in the shop including Bill and Charlie.  We felt that preserving the fittings and backer board were more valuable than a 60# chunk of rubber that was unusable in any event.  Rob, after a trip to Home Depot for a better tool, a vibration cutter, climbed into the tank and went to work.  It took about 3 hours to carefully cut and section the skin out of the tank area.  To say this makes it sound simple. It turns out that the plate that has caused so much damage to the airframe has one of the bolts punched through the bottom.  After alot of switching back and forth with Charlie and myself, we got it all free and got our first chance to see the corrosion on the cockpit firewall.

Firestone Plasite Cell Backer Panel

Over then next few days we will be pulling the Plasticine paneling and cleaning out the tank area to assess the full extent of any damage. It seems that the tank area was filled with water on many occasions and has caused damage wish cannot be fully asses at this point.  I hope to get the tail surfaces removed and moved into the main building for stabilization and cleaning also during the next week. It’s seems we lucked out there as they were fastened on with stainless back in the early 70′s. The tail cone and aft fuselage is being prepped for removal for before the Corsairs over Connecticut Air Show, Memorial Day Weekend .

Chris has taken responsibility for arranging when and where the remainder of the plane will be moved to for Memorial Day and should have this arranged and confirmed before May.

Solid Works Test for the Flap

At a very late lunch at Subway, Chris, Rob and I discussed the airshow and the Warbird industry. Then Rob borrowed one of the young ladies laptops (We have made good friends with the 2 young women that work the Saturday shift) that works there and brought up a flash drive with Solid Works. Holy Cow. We have a part from the Flaps that is made from a casting and it’s broken. Rob and I had decided to fry a test and he built it up in a C&C type machining program. The screen came alive with a 3D representation of the part complete with part number. Check out the photo, it speaks for itself.

We are currently hoping to find an “intern/volunteer” to help set up and run an excel sheet for documenting and inventory and matching parts up with photos. If you are interested in helping out, please contact me .

Victory - Drew King, Bill Dinghly and Robert Brucato

Today was a great day. I lie. Today had it’s moments but most of it sucked. In the last 24 hours someone slammed a shopping cart into my fender then walked away telling me “Oh well, its not my problem” Then as you all know I get up stupid early in order to get to the Connecticut Air and Space Center by 7am. Well last night some poor old guy was screaming for HELP at 2:45 AM. I live in a Co-Op that’s like a Condo / 6 floor apartment building with around 120 units. No one could figure out where he was. I called 911 along with about 20 other people, they told me that officers were arriving. Well this went on till 3:45 or so.

Lou Esposito - A driving force at the CASC

So yea I’m tired, really tired and I got to work (ha ha) on time and was the first guy in. After cracking the lock on Building 53 I got back to work finishing drilling out the DZUS’s that were still stuck. I found that a carbide deburring tool make much faster work then any drill bit did. Bill Dinghly and Lou Esposito were in 53 working in another 20 or so minutes. Lou is another great guy at the CASC and is our master carpenter. He is currently working on our multi award winning parade float that goes out for the 4th of July parade in town.

Drew King and Robert Brucato Win the fight against DZUS

A short while later I met a new guy, well new to me, Robert Brucato who is also a CASC Volunteer and from what I gather is pretty handy doing Solid Modeling / prototype designs. Robert jumped in and with Bill’s vintage flat bar, started popping the cowl up. We went back and forth till with a subtle THUNK the cowl slid back and up and was free for the first time in at least 39 years. What a sense of accomplishment. Set a goal, and complete it. Stay at it, never lose faith. You can bitch, you can complain but you work toward the goal all the while. I know, I know it’s a small victory, maybe even more a personal one at that. I pulled out my phone to check the time and it broke. The day continues to get better.

Robert and I worked on removing the fuel lines or what’s left of them and the firewall fitting. Chasing down a spanner wrench was an adventure all it’s own and I won’t go into it. Today we scratched the first item off the printed list. I sit here writing this staring at the erection manual for the FG1-D Corsair. It’s a big book with a lot of information. I am studying Friday because as soon as the tank is out, the tail is next.

Bill and Ben receive the cowl.

Oh and when I scratched off the first Item with my trusty black Sharpie, I somehow put it in my pocket. When I sat in my front seat of my almost new car it broke in half. I now have a large black spot of Sharpie ink on my seat. DZUS you crafty Bastard…

“Most notably, this includes a revision of Article 4 which provides that copyright owners who exercise their copyright shall not violate the Constitution, laws or prejudice the public interest and the State shall perform supervision over publication or distribution of works as prescribed by law; and Article 26 which cites a new provision whereby using copyright as pledged property, the pledger and pledgee should register the pledge with the Copyright Administration of the State Council.”