Cleaning a Path
AT-6 Texan & Lucy Gal Display Becomes More Vibrant
We’ve all been “there.” You know that shelf in the corner really needs to be dusted. The cobwebs that have collected on it look like they’ve been there for years. You begrudgingly relent. Your hands, face, and hair act like magnets for the soot as you toil away with a dust rag and vacuum. You do all this, despite knowing in the back of your mind that it’ll just be dusty again in 2 weeks. But, it’s about more than just dust, you clean because you want to keep that bookcase alive. The books on it may not be regularly (or ever) read, but what if the day comes that you have some free time to flip some pages?
The above analogy perfectly describes the situation with the AT-6 Texan (Harvard Mk. II) RCAF 2668 in the back corner of our museum’s hangar. The aircraft is not unloved or unappreciated; Austin and Craig Wadsworth (and others!) spent hours and hours of their free time restoring the aircraft up to the point where it is today. At that time, the AT-6 was up front in the museum in the original hangar (now our vehicle maintenance shop.)
When the C-47 Whiskey 7 was donated to the National Warplane Museum, many of the resources went towards restoring and keeping her - and the rest of the fleet - flying. It takes a lot of manpower, money, and time to keep these warbird flying. As a result, the AT-6 project was put in a holding pattern.
As the AT-6 Texan/Harvard Mk. II RCAF 2668 now awaits her turn in the back corner of the “big hangar” at the museum, she’s going to start sitting a bit more pretty. We have just completed a total cleaning and detailing of the aircraft, which was so crucial to training pilots such as the Tuskegee Airman and Leland Pennington to fly the P-51 Mustang during WWII.
A total of 12 hours went into…
Vacuuming cobwebs
Washing off dust (with a epcial aviation-grade solution),
Detailing the cockpit
Scrubbing the grease stains of the floor around the aircraft
We have dedicated one day a month, from here on out, to do a “tune up” cleaning on the Texan as well. This will ensure that the aircraft does not get into the same state it was in before we began cleaning it. Also, it will keep the AT-6 looking amazing as a backdrop for our developing Lucy Gal display.
We will have more information about the AT-6 RCAF 2668 and the progression of the Lucy Gal project in upcoming posts. So, as always, stay tuned! Thank you for being our wingman on this journey.
Keep Them Flying,
Austin Hancock
P-51 Lucy Gal Lead Pilot