Restoration Updates

Following the arrival of the specialized extruded aluminum for the upper spar cap, Pioneer Aero’s restoration team has made significant progress reassembling Spar #2 for the SBD’s Wing Center Section.

Pioneer Aero has made major progress rebuilding the spars for the SBD’s Wing Center Section. Spars #3, #4 & #5 and now ready for installation, while Spars #1 and #2 are close behind.

Pioneer Aero is close to completing each of the interspar ribs which lie between Spars #1 and #2 in the SBD’s Wing Center Section. While they were only able to reuse one of these ribs original to B-22, most of the attaching clips for the others were in sufficient condition for salvage.

Pioneer Aero has made great progress rebuilding Spars #2 and #3 for the SBD’s Wing Center Section, along with their associated fuselage frame components.

Pioneer Aero has had to remanufacture all of the skins covering the SBD’s Wing Center Section. This article covers the process, using the upper skin spanning Spars #2 and #3 as an example.

Pioneer Aero has now fully disassembled the SBD’s Wing Center Section and is making great progress with the refurbishing/refabrication of its components to airworthy standards.

Pioneer Aero is rebuilding Spar #3 for the SBD’s Wing Center Section. They have also been working on the upper skin panel between Spars #2 and #3.

After completing the restoration of all primary airframe components aft of Spar #3 in the SBD’s wing center section, Pioneer Aero has now removed Spar #3, along with much of the fuel tank structure intersecting with Spar #2.

Pioneer Aero has made great progress restoring the SBD’s wing center section. This report provides an update on their work between Spar #3 and the wing trailing edge.

The Dauntless wing center section is by far the airframe’s most complex subassembly, and Pioneer Aero is now about half way through the restoration of the example from our SBD. This article describes the latest progress.

Pioneer Aero has begun removing and restoring skin panels from the topside of the SBD’s wing center section along with the underlying structure.

Rebuilding Spar #4: In a similar fashion to Spar #5, which we covered HERE, Pioneer’s Craig Cunha and a colleague carefully removed Spar #4 from the wing center section structure. They then disassembled it into its component parts, assessing each for its potential airworthiness. Bead-blasting each part revealed a good number which could be restored…