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National VHPA Site
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Chapter Projects
Gents,
The Chapter has begun a project to help get the Huey fuselage re-painted, so
that the next time we haul it through Auburn, it won’t look quite so ratty. We
noted at the last Veterans’ Day parade that the thing was starting to look like
a Hangar Queen. The attached photo, from our last Auburn gig, illustrates that
not only has the tail boom developed a serious case of acne, but the boom and
the rest of the fuselage are actually
 different
colors.
We have initiated contact with the Olympia Flight Museum (who owns it) and
Northwest Helicopters (who will actually do the work) to get the project done by
early fall. As negotiations developed, we offered to pick up the cost of the
materials, while Northwest Helicopters will donate all the skilled labor and
their unique aircraft-sized painting facilities. Given the cost of a job like
this, this is a good deal.
To make this happen, we need to come up with about $1000, ideally by late
summer. For openers, we’re looking for a $20 to $25 donation from each of
our chapter membes, with any shortfall coming out of chapter assets.
If you’d care to donate to this worthwhile effort, please send a check, payable
to VHPA-WA ‘Huey Fund’, to Treasurer, John Shafer, at 2331 Eastlake Avenue E.,
Seattle, WA 98102 (206) 324-4936. Ideally and if you could, please try to send
these funds before summer’s end, but John will be taking the donations at any
point that you can send them to the Chapter.
If we manage to raise more than $1000 through this effort, we will have
Northwest Helicopters use the excess to make the interior of the Huey a little
more presentable. For example, some of the webbing on the pilots’ seats is
getting pretty bad, and could stand to be replaced. Some of the gray
soundproofing also needs replacing. Northwest has the assets to make that
happen. In any event, we won’t be using the excess, if any, to simply boost the
chapter’s bank account. That account is merely a holding tank until we need to
turn those funds over to Northwest Helicopters to buy the paint.
We look forward to hearing from you on this project!
Best regards,
John Crossman
Chapter Project Lead
Update: October 2012
Late this summer the Olympic Flight Museum notified us that
they and the museum owner, Brian Reynolds, were developing a plan to start
another Huey project to replace the airframe that is now being used. This new
airframe/tail-boom combination will replace the one currently being used. Rather
than to waste our money repainting the current aircraft, we will wait until the
new aircraft is ready, then spend our money putting a quality paintjob on it.
This decision will force us to use the existing airframe with the ‘well worn’
paint in the Veteran's Day Parade in November, but it will be for the last time.
Thank you all for your most generous contributions to this effort which will be
completed this winter.
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