Mystery rods

[Erik]

Thread hijack:

Ric, what became of the actual model Mr. Harney made? Did not see that mentioned.

End thread hijack!

So the thought is the model may have depicted the rods?  I dont think this is picture is from the Harney drawings (nor a model), but it does show the rods.  Click on the image for link.

[Erik]

with fred 'injured', how was she going to get those tanks out of the plane? On the reef, with rising water? Oh i get it, take the tanks out and let them float to the shore while you retreve another---or out to sea---. How about doing in one by one----thats moving a tank 100yds maybe to the shore line, walking on reef. By the time she retreved the tanks, if the tide was coming in, there water problaby be knee to waist deep. Would be a very tireing job. I doubt seriously that she handled that.
Tom

What tools did they have to remove the tiedowns and the fuel manifolds from the tanks?

gl

I think Harry and Tom were just fun'in around.  We ought to toss in the hand-cranked radio playing bluegrass music to top off the visual!   :P

Seriously though... Anyone ever heard of the ability to intentionally seal off the tanks to make them air tight?  Could that explain the rods?  Or is the newspaper article far fetched?

[Ric Gillespie]

Ric, what became of the actual model Mr. Harney made? Did not see that mentioned.

Bill Harney donated it to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum in Old Rhinebeck, NY.  As far as I know it's still there.  The model belongs in the National Air & Space Museum alongside AE's Vega.  The Electra model they have there now is woefully inaccurate.

[John Ousterhout]

I don't see how the mystery rods could possibly "seal" the tanks.  We can see the tank vent line fittings on top of the tanks, and there is no obvious connection to the rods to seal them.  The bottoms of the tanks are already sealed.   There aren't many functions that the mystery rods might serve, other than emergency dump valve actuation.  Dump valves are expected to be installed on the tank system, just as they are already installed on the wing tanks.  The Harney drawings show rather generic dump valve outlets, but no details of what the mystery rods did, nor any dump valve connections.  The wing tank dump valve(s) were actuated by a Tee-handle mounted on the floor next to the pilot's seat.  Where were the emergency dump valve controls for the big cabin tanks, if the mystery rods weren't them?
The idea that the big fuselage tanks were planned to be removed from the aircraft in an emergency is highly imaginative.  I would think it would be more practical to leave them inside the aircraft, to keep it afloat.

[Monty Fowler]

I would agree about the NASM's model of Amelia's Electra. Every time I see it, I leave that part of the museum shaking my head. I mean, this is the NASM, for pete's sake!

LTM, who trys to get his models right,

Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 CER

[Harry Howe, Jr.]

I wasn't suggesting that it was "planned" to remove the tanks in an emergncy, I was viewing it from a perspective of two souls on an deserted island, realizing that the cavalry ain't coming over the horizon, and if they were ever gonna get off the island they would have to do it themselves.  Maybe they could build a hasty raft outa felled Buka trees, or maybe they could use what they had, tanks.

[Harry Howe, Jr.]

Gary
Tools?  Don't know what they had on flight 2, but the Luke inventory showed all kinds of tools including a pipe wrench, hand ax, pliers, screwdriver, various wrenches  etc on the plane after the ground-loop.

[JNev]

I think John Ousterhout is probably correct about these rods relating to a dump function for the aux tanks. 

It's true we lack the 'linkage' between the rods and 'rather generic' dump valves shown in the Harney drawings, but the layout of these rods is highly suggestive of something to be actuated from the cockpit in a hurry, although somewhat necessarily contrived the way they are.  The 'knobs' may have been inadequate for AE's grasp from her seat, and the handles may have been an afterthought but good means for her to get a better grasp.  They could also conceivably be grasped by FN who might scoot forward on top of the tanks to do so, if necessary by AE's request (but from cockpit would be the primary idea, I think).

What bugs me is safety - how do you avoid inadvertant actuation?  A couple of thoughts - there may have been a substantial throw, or travel, required of the rods to actuate the valves.  There could have been a distinct over-center arrangement to keep the mechism soft-locked until a firm pull appied.  There also could have been break-away wire somewhere, out of our view so far.

Just ideas - but dump actuation does seem most likely IMHO.  I would love to see that model.

LTM -