Most of the MAPS F-86L restoration team are present in the photo above (L-R): Kent Kleinknecht, Frank Wrenick, Paul Gates, Ken Koehn, Carl Koehn, Andy Bear, Ray Scherry. Not pictured here are Dave Sanders and Jim Mosley. (Ken Koehn).

 

Above left photo gives a good idea of the surface corrosion present in 53-658's intake. At right is Ken's wife hard at work (Ken Koehn).

The Intake Team - Ken's son Michael and wife Tanya suitably framed by the interior and rear intake section of 53-658. (Ken Koehn).

 

Above: progress on the radome showing the various filled areas at left and (right) the first light coat of primer. (Ken Koehn)

Externally, sanding continues on the fuselage, (this laborious work done by Ken and Carl Koehn) starting with 60-grade and progressing through 100, 220, 400 and 600. Once the skin is wet sanded with 800-grade, you can see your face in the reflection from the bare metal. However to give a realistic in-service finish the team are going to try stopping at 1000 grit and see if the polishing tools will take them the rest of the way.

 

Above: 'Before' and 'After' shots showing further progress on the repair of numerous holes in the airframe. (Ken Koehn)

On 28th May Ken Koehn made a major breakthrough: "I purchased some rotary palm sanders, and have been using dry 60 grit sandpaper to grind out many imperfections and grafitti. After getting the surface uniform, I then use the same tool with 220 grit to smooth things out. Amazing how well this works. I had been afraid 60 grit would be way too rough for a natural metal finish, but the rotary sander smoothes things out very well, then the 220 really smoothes it out. Looks like we will stop with a wet sanding of 800 in preparation for polishing. This is huge, as the amount of time savings is incredible, plus using 60 grit I can eliminate many of the imperfections and deep engravings. Cool!"

To prepare the anti-dazzle area on the upper nose section, the windscreen frame has been refitted. This will help to identify any problems that need repaired before painting. The aircraft markings have also been temporarily placed on the fuselage to show areas that will not need to be polished so highly.

Dave Sanders has begun the process of fabricating a new wing slat section (left wing) and this is moving along nicely. Access panels are still being made and the team hoped to have them all be done by the end of May. Finally the team welcomed Jim Mosley to the active crew. Jim has been a longtime member at MAPS with loads of experience and will be working on 53-658's wingtips.

 

At left above is the new inner slat skin awaiting fitting (shown just to the rear of the slat structure) and at right a further view of the dry-fit windshield frame with 'hangar pilot Michael Koehn (Ken Koehn).

The MAPS team are now working on some new leading edge slats, and additional sheet metal work is being done. Progress is also being made on the sanding and blending of fuselage panels. The many dents in the skin of the aircraft are gradually disappearing and though slow, this essential work is gradually transforming the appearance of 53-658. Ken Koehn has now taken over the final finish of the radome, and considering how beat up it was to begin with, Ken thinks he will be able to get a good rendition out of it. 

Another key piece of the jigsaw - the front nose gear door (previously donated by Walter Soplata) has now been repaired and awaits installation. 

 

Above left - 'before' shot of the nose landing gear door and (right) a shot of the repair done to the lower part (Ken Koehn).

Not all the work is structural however: the team is doing well with the aircraft's undercarriage, and the restoration has benefitted from the donation of mainwheel tyres from Goodyear. The mainwheels themselves have now been dismantled for restoration. Below are a couple of shots showing progress on the nose gear.

 

Progress on the nose gear: at left the repainted nose leg and at right the new (red-painted) nose lock installed. The latter prevents the undercarriage from folding (Ken Koehn)

One large hole has also now been filled: following the installation of a new external skin, the port-side electrical bay access panel has been reinstalled.

 

At left above is the internal surface of the starboard panel (shown to display the method of construction). At right the port-side panel re-skinned and installed on the aircraft (Ken Koehn).

I shall end this instalment with a recent view of '658:

February 2009 Update

During February the museum received a major boost for the project: a $1,000 donation for the restoration of '658 from MAPS member and F-100 crew chief Ken Ramsay. This generous gift has allowed the team to purchase all the fasteners required to finish the restoration. It will also enable new inner tubes to be purchased so that refurbishment of the nose wheel and mainwheels can begin. The donation was a major validation of the considerable work that the MAPS team has done on 53-658, especially regarding the quality of the work done.

One example of the excellent work being accomplished is in the tail section of the aircraft. Previously the team had welded up the torque tube for the all-flying tail (it had been cut at some point in the past), thereby making this item whole again. Once this had been completed, the time-consuming task of renovating and replacing panels in this area could begin, and the recent results can be seen below.

 

Above - Work continues on the tail section - Jan 09 at left, Feb 09 at right (Ken Koehn).

Just about the only panel to be fitted now is the main fillet panel, and work on the starboard fairing has begun, using its opposite number as a pattern:

Moving forward along the fuselage, further replacement panels are gradually being made, and once installed, they improve the appearance of the aircraft greatly. Below are a few 'before-during-after' shots of the port-side engine access door being made and fitted, plus in the bottom photo, the new fuel probe access door (held on by 54 screws) can be seen installed at the left.

 

January 2009 Update

One major news item is that MAPS have finally located an ejection seat for the aircraft. Negotiations are ongoing. One small milestone was reached in January so that all the major sheet metalwork on the fuselage forward of the wing root is now done. The group has also acquired a damaged front nosegear door and will also be receiving the larger nose gear door in the near future. These doors, plus the aircraft's drop tanks have come from Walter Soplata, and his help in these areas is greatly appreciated.

The nose gear strut is almost ready for paint and a new access panel is being fitted in this area.

Nose gear shining and back to clean metal: I had to tone down the image because of the shine! Note the new panel at left. (Ken Koehn).

Ken Koehn's father has continued to polish areas of the aircraft and the results have been stunning. Debate still continues on whether to present the finished aircraft in this finish or a more accurate dulled-down natural metal. One thing's for sure: it looks neat!

 

Hard to believe this is the same Sabre that began restoration not so long ago: mirror-like finish achieved by Ken Koehn's father. (Ken Koehn).

In general work is steady and gradually the aircraft is becoming complete again. A lot of time-consuming work has been put into removing rivetted-on 'scab' panels that were put onto the aircraft for external display. These are gradually being replaced with flush-fitting panels that actually fit their recesses correctly. It's time-consuming work, but it's important to get it right. The view of the rear fuselage below displays a number of these new panels and shows the way that the airframe is being transformed.

December 2008 Update

Since the last instalment a considerable amount of work has been done on 53-658, centering mainly on the repair of the numerous areas of skin damage. It would have been tempting to bondo these areas and paint the aircraft silver. But when finished, 53-658 will be one of a relatively few Sabres restored in the historically-accurate natural metal finish.

By the end of November 2008, paint stripping of the fuselage was just about complete and polishing of the wing leading-edge slats was continuing. In a few places the slats were too badly damaged for just a quick polish, and these areas are being replaced with new metal.

 

Above left - One of the 'good' slat sections being polished and (right) - Left-hand inboard slat skin section removed, ready for new skinning (Ken Koehn).

Further, the nose wheel has now been disassembled, with repairs to the tube ongoing. The tires will be filled with foam upon completion. The nose wheel landing gear strut is being cleaned of rust and will soon look good-as-new.

Above MAPS volunteer hard at work on the nose gear.(Ken Koehn).

As mentioned above, a great deal of work has been done on the external surface of the aircraft. Below is just one example of the flight-standard repairs being carried out, this time on the lower right-hand side of the forward fuselage.  

 

Above - A series of 'before' - 'during' and 'after' shots of just one repair area (Ken Koehn).

At some point in its display life, numerous inspection panels had been lost from the aircraft. As a 'quick fix' by persons unknown, these panels were skinned-over with pop-rivetted sheet aluminium. Though this has undoubtedly stopped a great deal of nesting birds from making the aircraft their home, it does also mean that the MAPS crew has had to remove these patches and new panels are gradually being made for the aircraft.

 

Above - Top: 'before' and 'after' shots of one of the patches being removed and (right) the hole it covered. Bottom: another area that was patched in the distant past - the single-point refuel receptacle. (Ken Koehn).

The aircraft's radome - a prominent part of the aircraft - had been badly damaged and repaired in the past. As a result it has already received a great deal of attention to get it looking straight again. Now back to its correct shape, it has been refitted to the aircraft and a preliminary coat of paint applied.

Above - 53-658 with its nose radome back in place after repairs (Ken Koehn).

Further detail work has involved the numerous vortex generators - all damaged ones have been fabricated and installed. The aircraft's horizontal stabilizer, which had been cut in two, has been re-welded and sits on the aircraft as one complete item once again. Finally a grant has been submitted for acquisition of an ejection seat and missing instruments for the cockpit. All in all, a busy year and one that has borne significant results. 53-658 is slowly returning to her former glory.

June 2008 Update

Earlier this year I was contacted by Kenneth Koehn, a key member of the MAPS F-86L restoration team. To quote Ken,:

"Our intent is to bring this aircraft back to its natural metal shine and yellow/black markings of an F-86D of the 496th FIS out of Hahn AFB, Germany. We are doing this to honor one of our museum and restoration team members, Mac McFarland who worked on the F-86D at Hahn, and also Lt. Lang, who was killed returning from an interceptor mission in Germany while flying with this unit."

Above - How 53-658 should look once restoration is finished - representing F-86D s/n 52-4123 of 496th FIS.

Lt Lang was flying F-86D s/n 52-4123 at the time of his accident and it is this aircraft that will be represented by 53-658 once restoration is complete. And though 53-658 is actually an F-86L (rather than the F-86D which it will represent), it has one feature of the F-86D that many F-86Ls do not have: being one of those early F-86L conversions (as detailed above), this machine does not have the prominent 'sugar scoop' fuselage intakes typical of most F-86Ls and F-86Ds late in service. Instead it has flush NACA-type side intakes on the mid-fuselage and is thus accurate to portray a 496th FIS F-86D of this period in that respect.

 

Above (left) - the 'correct for F-86D' flush NACA side intake featured on 53-658 and (right) - the 'sugar scoop' version seen on most F-86Ls

Since its recovery from Florida in 2007, the MAPS team has reassembled the aircraft and managed to locate a number of missing items. The windshield frame has been removed for restoration and with many of the access panels removed it is possible to see that much of the internal equipment and wiring is intact. Sadly the cockpit has been comprehensively stripped and attention will be focussed on restoring this important area. The museum is committed to restoring this aircraft in natural metal finish (essential for an accurate colour scheme), and this will cause the team extra headaches as the external structure has suffered over the years from poor handling.

Another item in need of attention is the aircraft's nose radome, which has been damaged in the past and badly repaired.

I will end this instalment with an overall shot of 53-658 as she is today (June 2008):

Above - 53-658 in the restoration hangar at Akron-Canton.

If you can help MAPS with spare parts or assistance, email Ken Koehn at: KTMKOEHN @aol.com .

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