
Overview:
In addition to their herculean efforts concerning the SBD's Wing Center Section, the restoration team at Pioneer Aero Ltd. has been working hard on the aircraft's upper fuselage over the past several months as well. They have repaired or remanufactured many of fuselage frames in this process. This particular article covers the work Pioneer's William Lowen has performed so far on the upper left and righthand sections of Fuselage Frame #3. These components form part of the cockpit cowling structure, as depicted in the above illustration from page 32 of the SBD's Aircraft Parts Catalog (July 1st, 1943 edition).

Lifting Lugs:
Located in the cockpit just aft of the instrument panel, Fuselage Frame #3 is a particularly beefy structure due to its secondary use as a lifting point for hoisting the fuselage off the ground. Towards this end, the top of each upper section of the frame features a 'lifting lug', a sturdy aluminum forging with a large bolt hole at the end for attaching the hoisting sling.

Our Dauntless was missing its lifting lugs. They had been with the Dauntless upon its recovery, so presumably someone removed them from the airframe for the restoration of another SBD during B-22's time as a parts source in Pensacola. Thankfully, Pioneer's William Lowen was able to locate and refurbish a set of these parts from a donor airframe in our collection. Lowen described what was involved in refurbishing these parts, noting : "The lug for the right side had only very minor surface corrosion and cleaned up easily. The one for the left side required some blending and machining to get it corrosion free, but it was kept inside tolerances. New steel bushes were made for the lugs, one standard size and one oversize to match the now larger hole in the left lug. The bushes needed [bronze] plating before being pressed in."
The lefthand lifting lug which attaches to the top of Fuselage Frame #3. The part is seen here while it was still attached to the battered remains of a donor SBD. William Lowen was able to refurbish this lifting lug along with its mirror image from the righthand side of the airframe to replace the examples originally fitted to B-22. Someone had removed those parts while the airframe was sitting in storage at Pensacola, serving as a parts source for other projects for the National Naval Aviation Museum. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
The two lifting lugs after cleaning and undergoing alodine treatment (note the slightly golden hue), an anticorrosion measure. The lefthand example at image right required a little blending and machining to remove some minor corrosion, but remained within the required tolerances. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
The two lifting lugs after primer painting, pictured here with new steel bushings which will be press-fitted into the holes after bronze plating. Note that the righthand bushing has a slightly larger external diameter to match the resized mounting hole, which resulted from boring away a little surface corrosion from the original hole. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
Teardown and Inspection:
After bead blasting the upper left and righthand sections of Fuselage Frame #3, William Lowen then stripped the assemblies down into their component parts. As he noted in his report: "All of the extrusions cleaned up easily with only very minor corrosion issues to address, [but] the web on the lefthand frame needed replacing, so a new one was fabricated."
The lefthand upper section of Fuselage Frame #3 (forward face) following bead-blasting and assessment. While corrosion in the web plate (above and below the rectangular hole) was too deep for airworthy refurbishment, the other components appeared to be sufficiently intact for reuse at this point. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)

Refurbishing and Remanufacture:
After bead blasting the salvageable parts to remove any remaining paint, dirt and surface corrosion, William Lowen was then coated them with primer paint, along with the replacement web section for the lefthand frame. He also remanufactured several ancillary parts which attach to Frame #3, such as the cockpit light mounts (one for either side) and painted these in primer too.
The various parts which comprise both upper sections of Fuselage Frame #3 hanging from the drying rack alongside a few other components after receiving a coat of primer paint. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
Ready for riveting together, parts from the upper sections of Fuselage Frame #3, (including the lifting lugs) are seen here after receiving a coat of primer paint. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
Reassembly and Trial-Fitting:
Once all of the parts for the upper section of Fuselage Frame #3 were fully restored, it was then time to reassemble each frame and trial-fit them to the fuselage jig.
The left and righthand upper sections of Fuselage Frame #3 after being riveted together as far as practical for this stage of the restoration. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
The righthand upper section of Fuselage Frame #3 is seen here temporarily fitted on the fuselage jig. Note that the cockpit light bracket (middle), the longeron supporting angles (top) and the stringer end clips (outer edge) are being test-fitted to the fuselage frame as well. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
The lefthand upper section of Fuselage Frame #3 is seen here temporarily fitted on the fuselage jig. Note that the cockpit light bracket (middle), the longeron supporting angles (top) and the stringer end clips (outer edge) are being test-fitted to the fuselage frame as well. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
