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The item that we will be attacking is not really the thing in the following images. It is just the stand or shipping skid FOR the item.
I will be playing carpenter for this project. Hope the splinters are kept at i minimum!
I need to make a new crate, shipping device, display stand for a Sargent Fletcher manufactured ART/S 27-370 Aerial Refueling Tank. This worked on F-16 VISTA aircraft as well as a few others. I do not know if it ever went into production. I do not know if this example we have is the one in the pictures and articles attached, but it is possible that it is. I do know that the motor the extends and retracts the probe is still in the device. There is evidence of some type of sensor adhered to the probe that comes up and out of the body and wraps around the barrel of the probe. This could have been used to measure the stresses put on the probe when docking with a refueling chute.
Sargent Fletcher was an aircraft equipment manufacturer that did make drop tanks during WWII and they specialized in aerial re fueling and external fuel tanks. They were located maybe 2 miles north of the Museum on the frontage road that runs parallel with the I10 freeway. They were bought out by Colburn?
We will most likely give the thing a "chemical overhaul" while it is out of it's space. The white paint is in good shape, the red stripes, not so much. Maybe touch up some of the lettering on the thing too. It will probably be re located to somewhere where it can be actually seen instead of tucked in between a fake Russian tank and a Dodge ambulance.
And yes, I do know the tires are low/flat on the ambulance. That is how the falling apart skid was detected, we were doing a tire inspection to see what needed attention.
Anywho, here are some pictures of the tank and some links to articles about the ART/S system.
airrefuelingarchive.wordpress.com
I will be playing carpenter for this project. Hope the splinters are kept at i minimum!
I need to make a new crate, shipping device, display stand for a Sargent Fletcher manufactured ART/S 27-370 Aerial Refueling Tank. This worked on F-16 VISTA aircraft as well as a few others. I do not know if it ever went into production. I do not know if this example we have is the one in the pictures and articles attached, but it is possible that it is. I do know that the motor the extends and retracts the probe is still in the device. There is evidence of some type of sensor adhered to the probe that comes up and out of the body and wraps around the barrel of the probe. This could have been used to measure the stresses put on the probe when docking with a refueling chute.
Sargent Fletcher was an aircraft equipment manufacturer that did make drop tanks during WWII and they specialized in aerial re fueling and external fuel tanks. They were located maybe 2 miles north of the Museum on the frontage road that runs parallel with the I10 freeway. They were bought out by Colburn?
We will most likely give the thing a "chemical overhaul" while it is out of it's space. The white paint is in good shape, the red stripes, not so much. Maybe touch up some of the lettering on the thing too. It will probably be re located to somewhere where it can be actually seen instead of tucked in between a fake Russian tank and a Dodge ambulance.
And yes, I do know the tires are low/flat on the ambulance. That is how the falling apart skid was detected, we were doing a tire inspection to see what needed attention.
Anywho, here are some pictures of the tank and some links to articles about the ART/S system.
Sargent Fletcher ART/S Pod – F-16 VISTA
In this picture a Sargent Fletcher Aerial Refueling Tank/System (ART/S) pod is attached to an F-16 VISTA. This unique concept is the product of the vast Sargent Fletcher experience in External Fuel…
airrefuelingarchive.wordpress.com