Volunteers brave heat, keep on working

Monthly “blitz” days bring together a lot of volunteers at once to work on the Potomac Pacemaker. The last blitz on June 19 saw temperatures inching close to triple digits and fans running at full speed inside the Back Shop, but a dozen volunteers braved the heat to work on the center section and fuselage.

In the fuselage, Bill Wilkerson, Andy Ray and Brad Long worked on removing the rest of the side wall covering and some of the floor panels. Bill removed the lavatory door and then Bill and Brad removed most of the remaining headliner.

As some of the headliner and overhead coat rack covering was being removed, Brad discovered some nostalgic memorabilia—a Piedmont Family Fare brochure from the 1960s, a Piedmont logo luggage sticker and a brochure from the April 1961 Azalea Festival at Wilmington International Airport. No one knows the items got there, but they sure brought back some good memories for volunteers.

Bob Crosby, Paul Deiffenderfer and Carly Faulkner worked in the forward part of the fuselage. Paul removed the door leading to the forward cargo compartment and cockpit while Bob and Carly worked on getting the pilot and co-pilot cockpit windows to open. Bob and Carly also worked on the throttle quadrant so it can eventually be removed.

Arthur Morrison finally got the forward cargo door removed, then took it to a bench where he and Paul worked at taking it apart and removing the handle mechanism. Charlie Hall, an instructor at Guilford Technical Community College’s aviation school, took the door with him back to GTCC, where students will work on it.

Charlie, Perry Miller and Everton Loney finally got the third and last emergency exit removed. It was necessary to remove a series of body rivets so the hinge on the exit door could be removed.

Daniel Medina worked on the center section removing the wing doublers. He also worked on the center section to access some of the interior areas where it mates with the fuselage.

While all of this activity was underway, Bob Reed, volunteer project coordinator, worked on organizing and securing parts in boxes for storage and future restoration work.

The next blitz day is set for July 17, with work continuing on the fuselage and center section. If anyone is interested in joining the volunteer group, please email robthreed@aol.com.