F-4 Restoration Continued

Below is a picture of the 2 center wing sections about to be joined. This was no easy task. One is supported by aircraft jacks and the other by and engine trailer.

The photo on the upper right shows some of the workmanship by Pat Rodgers as he repaired some of damage to the wing areas from years of storage.   To the lower right Pat calculates the clearances for joining the 2 wing sections.

These photos show the 2 sections coming together and how close they were. They didn't just "slide" together either. They are very tight fit with no room for errors.

The joining of the wings took from Feb-Mar 06., this time of course was not constant hours applied. Other aircraft were worked on during this time as well.

Finally they were together!

Next it was time to move the Phantom fuselage over and the wing over to test fit it under the aircraft. This would take some "horse power" of all the staff and some ambitious volunteers.

To the right the team pushes with all our might to move the heavy fuselage towards the center of the hangar.

Pat adjusts one of the jacks under the wing. It was a very close fit. It was also exciting for the crew as this is the closest this aircraft has had to having it's wing attached in over 30 years!

To the left this photo shows an underside view of the wing just a inch from the fuselage.   To the right is a view on top of the wing looking forward. Eventually the wing will fit snuggly up into this area   To the left we carefully make adjustments with the jacks.   You can see to the right how close the tolerences are.

Other Progress....

Here Steve works on the many electrical projects that have to be accomplished. He has already installed several miles of new wiring.

Pilots cockpit instruments and other wiring.

The left engine intake electrical work.   Wiring just waiting to be installed--good thing Steve knows where these go!

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