Inboard Wing Leading Edges:

Over the past ten months or so, Pioneer Aero’s Hadon Smith has devoted much of his attention towards restoring our SBD’s inboard wing leading edges. Primarily working on the righthand unit to begin with, Smith did rebuild the lefthand unit’s nose spar, albeit from mostly remanufactured components. Smith recently completed the righthand inboard leading edge and began working on the lefthand unit in earnest.

Salvaging Spar Parts:

After tactfully cutting into B-22’s original, heavily crumpled lefthand leading edge, Smith was able to recover and clean up three original components, albeit tiny ones, for use in the new nose spar. The previously rebuilt spar was painted and then riveted together, with an unpainted placeholder extrusion section clecoed in place to provide the component some rigidity whilst awaiting the arrival of its correctly profiled replacement.

Cutting into the SBD's crumpled lefthand inboard leading edge to salvage reusable parts.
The original, heavily crumpled inboard, lefthand leading edge from our SBD showing the freshly-made cuts which Hadon Smith made to access potentially salvageable components within. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
Cutting into the SBD's crumpled lefthand inboard leading edge to salvage reusable parts.

Another view of the freshly-cut, crumpled, lefthand inboard leading edge showing one of the components salvaged from within, along with the location from where it was removed; note the unpainted area inside the cutout. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)

Three of the components salvaged from the crumpled lefthand leading edge following bead-blasting and inspection.

Three of the components salvaged from the crumpled lefthand leading edge following bead-blasting and inspection. They are now ready for incorporation within the replacement lefthand nose spar. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)

Riveting together the nose spar for the SBD's lefthand inboard leading edge.
The newly-manufactured lefthand nose spar in the process of being riveted together. The bare aluminum component clecoed to the spar is standing in for an extrusion with the correct profile which will replace it following remanufacture. Note the refurbished doubler and small extrusion salvaged from the original spar are clecoed in place roughly in the middle of this component. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)

Reassembly beginnings:

The leading edge skin is now formed to the correct shape, with the wheel well cut out marked and the excess material trimmed. With the skin fully formed, it was then time to mark off, position and drill the rib stations against the skin, locking them into position.

Newly-manufactured skin sitting in the jig for the SBD's lefthand inboard leading edge.

Newly-manufactured skin sitting in the jig for the SBD's lefthand inboard leading edge. The black rod represents the position of the wheel axle when the landing gear is retracted. The cardboard disc which the latter is centered upon represents the outer dimension of the wheel well cut out; its shape will be transferred to the leading edge skin, delineating where to remove metal for the wheel well. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)

leading edge ribs for the SBD's lefthand inboard leading edge being fitted against the skin.

The lefthand, inboard leading edge skin in the jig, with ribs being fitted. The inboard (Station 10) rib and nose ribs are in position and in the process of having holes for the rivets drilled through them into the skin. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)

Riveting together the nose spar for the SBD's lefthand inboard leading edge.
The replacement lefthand nose spar standing against the jig holding the leading edge skin being prepared for the lefthand, inboard leading edge. The spar has been riveted together as far as practical, work which will be completed once the correctly profiled extrusion is available to replace the bare aluminum stand-in unit still clecoed in place. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)