Reference help on Grumman F3F-2

[bazzar]

Hi everybody.

Currently slaving away on the VC for the new Barrel.
I desperately need clear cockpit shots.
In particular the electrical panels on the right side wall.
I have some but the placards are indistinct.

Can anyone help please?

Thanks.

[mvg3d]

Hi Bazzar,
I have these :

[bazzar]

G'day mate,

Yep so have I...

There's an amazing lack of cockpit shots around. I think I need someone who has had access at a show or something.

[Javis]

That's all i could find as well, Barry....


According to Airliners.net there are still quite a few F3F's at US museums ( and even one at Duxford). During the development of our F-86 i got in touch with a photographer there ( a contact link is always provided) and he proved to be extremely helpfull to send me photos i was particularly looking for. Usually aircraft photographers are avid flightsimmers too.

Why not give it shot. As we say overhere ' No is what you have, Yes is what you can get' ;-)

http://www.airliners.net/search/phot...248557e8e6571b

cheers,
jan

[mvg3d]

National Naval Aviation Museum
The Only existing Grumman F3F biplane fighter : 1750 Radford Blvd., NAS Pensacola, Pensacola, FL 32508
and
http://www.cradleofaviation.org/hist...man_f3f-2.html

http://www.mucheswarbirds.com/F3Fart.html

http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/a...item/?item=f3f

[AusWilko]

Check the clip on this page

http://thepublichistorian.net/2012/1...flying-barrel/

Good luck

[gray eagle]

Hi everybody.

Currently slaving away on the VC for the new Barrel.
I desperately need clear cockpit shots.
In particular the electrical panels on the right side wall.
I have some but the placards are indistinct.

Can anyone help please?

Thanks.

Baz,

I think that if you ask Navy chief as he has access to the Naval Museum and might be able to take some photos of what you need.
Couldn't hurt to ask. He has access to some Naval Technical Publications and my find a F-3 Pub with complete illustrated cockpit pictures.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...?23-Navy-Chief

[roger-wilco-66]

Here a photos of a couple of restored F3F-2s, with references to their whereabouts.

http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Airframe...n,FamilySN=810

Maybe one the museums would be willing to share some good cockpit shots?




Cheers,
Mark

[heywooood]

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft...G:48960:1.html

this one comes to San Diego every year for the Wings over Gillespie airshow - you might contact the owners and see what they say - or, if they are attending that show this year.
the show isnt until June unfortunately - but maybe the pics would help with an update post-release..?

visit Air Group One for information on the upcoming show or to become a member and contribute to warbird acquisition, maintenance, and exhibition....
http://ag1caf.org/

[Bomber_12th]

The owner and restorer of the nicest F3F flying today, Chris Prevost, might be able to be contacted through his company "Vintage Aircraft", to obtain photos of the cockpit of his F3F (N20RW): http://www.vintageaircraft.com/

Here is their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VintageAircraftCompany

Chris Prevost restored the aircraft after he bought it from the Lone Star Flight Museum, and it was advertised for sale for a time, here: http://www.platinumfighters.com/#!grumman-f3f-2/cekk


There are some cockpit photo sets here, but again the quality is too low to clearly see much of the text items:
http://www.milavnarc.com/f3f_grumman...photo_set.html
http://www.milavnarc.com/f3f_grumman...photo_set.html

[Bomber_12th]

A photo from the Vintage Aircraft Facebook page of Chris Prevost's F3F, though again it doesn't help much, especially the details on the right-hand side:

[bazzar]

Thanks guys, I have contacted a few people and we'll see what happens...

[heywooood]

good luck Baz...I'm really excited about the new F3F....I'm a Grumman fan from way back

[trucker17]

I reached out to a couple of people i know.....Maybe one of them know the guy at home who has the F3F at the airport......

[bazzar]

Thankyou so much.

[Bomber_12th]

It must be acknowledged that all of the flight-worthy F3F's are reproductions, using original identities. One of these is even a reproduction of the G-32, the two-seat version, which is owned by the Friedkin family. It is on public display at the Valle, Arizona location of the Planes of Fame Air Museum (has not flown in a number of years). If you are able to get in contact with the Valle, AZ location, they might be willing to snap some shots of the cockpit. http://planesoffame.org/index.php?pa...le-az-location

This is the aircraft: https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Pla...%20valle%20F3F

There aren't any F3F's based at Duxford, though a couple of the US-based examples were shipped over and flown at the Duxford-based 2001 Flying Legends air show - those being the G-32 N100TF (pictured in the link above) and the F3F N20FG, which were both owned by the Friedkin family at the time (a collection sometimes also referred to as "Comanche Warbirds" and "Chino Warbirds").

The F3F N20FG used to be often displayed at the Chino, CA Planes of Fame location, when owned by the Friedkins, but was purchased by Jim Slattery several years ago, of San Diego. The aircraft still flies and is a regular Planes of Fame airshow participant, but it no longer is based at the Planes of Fame Chino museum.

Kermit Weeks has one, which is also one of the flight-worthy reproductions (N26KW), at his Fantasy of Flight, but it hasn't flown in many years. If only this Fantasy of Flight video was a lot higher resolution, the photos would help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkObaTKa4cs

There are only two F3F's that are flying/active today, those being N20FG (Jim Slattery) and N20RW (Chis Prevost), with both being based (privately) in California - N20FG in San Diego at Gillespie Field, and N20RW in Sonoma at Sonoma Valley/Schellville Airport.

There is some (again quite low res) cockpit photography of Chris Prevost's F3F in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IndAsKBNa8

[mal998]

I have purchased a book on Grumman biplanes and it should arrive shortly. I will post any related pictures of the panels if they are covered. Can't find a flight manual or pilot's manual at any of my usual sources.

[mvg3d]

[trucker17]

Hey Bazzar.
I just heard from my friend, He was contacted by the owner of the plane in Canada.....The plane is a reproduction and was built 28 years ago....
He based the cockpit on the J-2-F Duck.

[Deacon211]

By some odd coincidence, I happened to check out this thread about thirty minutes before going to the Naval Museum on vacation.

I took a bunch of pics and can post them when I get home on Sunday. I'm hoping the pics were of good enough quality...I took them with the flash off. If I had seen the thread early enough to give it a good read, I'd have taken some flash pics as well.

Pensacola's F3F was recovered from Lake Michigan IIRC. I don't know what they had to do to repair the cockpit.

[bazzar]

Fantastic, thanks so much, drop me a PM with your email address and I can arrange a spot for you to put them.

[Bomber_12th]

Here is another cockpit photo, which I assume you already have found Baz, but if not... This one you can at least clearly read the text for several of the toggle switches on the right-hand side of the cockpit (extremely high resolution). This is from the cockpit of the F3F at the Naval Aviation Museum, which is the only surviving original F3F-2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deltas...72118/sizes/o/

[bazzar]

Thankyou John, much better than the one I had which was cropped just above the switches. All is becoming clear. There are differences but we've gone for a typical cockpit of the period with a couple of concessions to modern aviation. Our main reference is the F3F-2 from the Fighter Collection, as it was in 2001. In fact the very reference materials we used for the first Barrel back then! Never throw anything away...