A depiction of the SBD's cockpit cowling captured from the Illustrated Parts List manual. Fuselage Frame #3 is situated either side of the top of the drawing, indicated by callout numbers 34 and 35.
A depiction of the SBD's cockpit cowling captured from the Illustrated Parts List manual. Fuselage Frame #3 is situated either side of the top of the drawing, indicated by callout numbers 34 and 35.

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).

SBD Dauntless and TBD Devastator fuselages stored up in the "rafters" of the hangar deck aboard USS Enterprise circa August, 1941. The forward section of each SBD fuselage was held in position via a hoisting cable linked to lifting lugs attached to Fuselage Frame #3 in the cockpit. The practice of suspending airframes this way aboard US Carriers faded during wartime for obvious reasons, but it was a clever idea for loading additional airframes aboard ship in peacetime conditions. (image by Peter Stackpole/LIFE Magazine)
SBD Dauntless and TBD Devastator fuselages stored up in the "rafters" of the hangar deck aboard USS Enterprise circa August, 1941. The forward section of each SBD fuselage was held in position via a hoisting cable linked to lifting lugs attached to Fuselage Frame #3 in the cockpit. The practice of suspending airframes this way aboard US Carriers faded during wartime for obvious reasons, but it was a clever idea for loading additional airframes aboard ship in peacetime conditions. (image by Peter Stackpole/LIFE Magazine)

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.

An illustration from page 45 of the SBD-6 Erection & Maintenance Manual showing how the lifting lugs on Fuselage Frame #3 were used to hoist the airframe.
An illustration from page 45 of the SBD-6 Erection & Maintenance Manual showing how the lifting lugs on Fuselage Frame #3 were used to hoist the airframe.

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."

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 parts (from left to right) for both the right and lefthand upper sections of Fuselage Frame #3 following disassembly and further bead blasting. With the exception of the web plate for the lefthand unit which had to be refabricated (note the damaged original at the far right), each part was fully restorable and, at the time this image was captured, merely awaited primer painting before reassembly could begin. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
The parts (from left to right) for both the right and lefthand upper sections of Fuselage Frame #3 following disassembly and further bead blasting. With the exception of the web plate for the lefthand unit which had to be refabricated (note the damaged original at the far right), each part was fully restorable and, at the time this image was captured, merely awaited primer painting before reassembly could begin. (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.

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.

A view of both the left and righthand upper sections of Fuselage Frame #3 being temporarily fitted to the fuselage jig. For reference, the front of the aircraft is to the right of the photo. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)
A view of both the left and righthand upper sections of Fuselage Frame #3 being temporarily fitted to the fuselage jig. For reference, the front of the aircraft is to the right of the photo. (image via Pioneer Aero Ltd.)