Vintage Aerofab

Vintage Aerofab Vintage Aerofab produces obsolete or difficult to procure parts for Vintage Aircraft, Warbirds (WWI, WWII), Experimental and Modern Aircraft (STC and PMA).

We can build parts from your engineering drawings, originals or reverse engineer the parts from an original part. Vintage Aerofab takes pride in the small details required to make an award winning aircraft in all of its parts. We can produce or repair individual parts or restore complete assemblies. When you receive a part from Vintage Aerofab it will come with material certs as well as NDI and pl

ating certs if required. In our shop we use manual and CNC mills and lathes as well as shears, brakes, vertical and horizontal bandsaws, slip rolls and TIG welders to produce your parts. We also have access to water jet and hydro forming equipment. Vintage Aerofab currently has drawings for the Beechcraft Staggerwing, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, Grumman J2F Duck, Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior, and North American P-51 Mustang. We continue to add to this collection.

We just finished up a with the CJAA Classic Jet Aircraft Association's convention in Virginia Beach. It was a great grou...
03/20/2016

We just finished up a with the CJAA Classic Jet Aircraft Association's convention in Virginia Beach. It was a great group of people to meet with and discuss aircraft maintenence, flight safety and operation of several models of these high performance classic jet aircraft.

The folks at NAS Oceana were great hosts. Thank you to the Red Rippers VFA-11 and the Gladiators VFA-106 for sharing the F/A-18 with us. Also, thank you to those at the LSO training school and tower for walking us through the LSO simulator and tower. We would love to come back for the airshow in September.

Working on a different type of round motor in the shop. This is a JT15D-4C out of a Marchetti S-211. It is strange littl...
03/12/2016

Working on a different type of round motor in the shop. This is a JT15D-4C out of a Marchetti S-211. It is strange little engine compared to the typical JT15D that you would see in a Cessna Citation. With the inverted oil system, it has an upper and lower oil tank with a scavenge pump at the 12 o-clock position. It was in the shop because we will be making an engine stand for the Marchetti S-211 and it needed a borescope inspection due to FOD ingestion.

We just completed the D17842 Strut Extender Tube Assembly used on the Beechcraft Staggerwing main landing gear. This tub...
03/03/2016

We just completed the D17842 Strut Extender Tube Assembly used on the Beechcraft Staggerwing main landing gear. This tube is what ensures the landing gear is fully extended while the gear is being retracted into the gear well. If the gear was not extended, it would damage the structure around the gear well. To make these tubes we used an internal and external die to get the shape per print.

In order to make the D17810 Staggerwing Diagonal Brace tube I had to make an internal and external die. An easier way t...
02/26/2016

In order to make the D17810 Staggerwing Diagonal Brace tube I had to make an internal and external die. An easier way to make this would have been to slit the tube, smash it into place, and weld the slit shut. However, the engineering drawing does not call out for any welds or slits on this end of the tube. It takes more to do it right, but the results are a part that is made per drawing, that can be held to a high standard of quality.

Recently we completed a customer request for the D17810 Diagonal Brace/Screw Assembly for the Beechcraft Staggerwing. T...
02/26/2016

Recently we completed a customer request for the D17810 Diagonal Brace/Screw Assembly for the Beechcraft Staggerwing. They turned out excellent! They were a challenge to form but we did manage to come out with some really nice parts. They were sent to the customer along with material certifications, heat treat certification, and NDI certifications. They are made per the original Beechcraft Engineering drawings. The picture of the Staggerwing shows where they are located on the aircraft. Issues that can be found with these are wear in the screw assembly threads, causing the gear to move side to side. When inspecting these also make note of the number of oil holes found on the bushing end. The E and F model Staggerwing had a thin wall diagonal brace due to the lighter airframe. The thin wall tube has two oil holes in it while the thick wall brace has one hole. The tubes we built are the thick wall braces.

11/19/2015

You learn something new every day... Now that I know how to post a video with better quality I'll post this one more time. Beech Party 2015.

We finished polishing these flying wire birdies last night for two Beechcraft Staggerwing projects currently in work. Th...
11/18/2015

We finished polishing these flying wire birdies last night for two Beechcraft Staggerwing projects currently in work. This morning we applied a clear ceramic coating to them so they won't need to be polished again for many years. There are two different versions of Staggerwing birdies. The early style birdie is what I have photographed here and has a streamlined airfoil shape. They were introduced in September of 1939 under drawing D17096. The late style birdie was introduced under drawing D170960 in December 1944. The late style is symmetrical in shape from front to back and has a blunt leading and trailing edge. The streamlined 1939 birdie is tougher to make, however everyone prefers the elegant profile.

11/17/2015

This is a video from the Beech Party at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, TN last month. It has a nice shot of an early D model Staggerwing flying and the flight line. We support with the Staggerwing maintenance seminar by providing examples of parts and issues that we are finding with original parts that are sent to us. If you have not been to the Beechcraft Heritage Museum you have to drop by. It's is a beautiful museum with great aviation history on display.

Last week we finished a couple sets of Jack Pad Assemblies (P/N I174201-1) and the jack adapters for two Beechcraft Stag...
11/17/2015

Last week we finished a couple sets of Jack Pad Assemblies (P/N I174201-1) and the jack adapters for two Beechcraft Staggerwing restorations currently in work. These are located on the rear truss assembly inside the wheel well area. There are several restorations that we have supported that these are missing on the project. The Jack Pad Assembly is cut on the water jet, the base is hot formed in accordance with drawing I174201-1, and TIG welded. They turned out pretty nice, and the welds are beautiful.

We repaired a set of waste gates for a Cessna 320 today. The original tubing was corroded, had holes in it and was held ...
08/21/2015

We repaired a set of waste gates for a Cessna 320 today. The original tubing was corroded, had holes in it and was held together with some really ugly welds. The original tube had to be cut out and the counterbore recut in the waste gate. We then installed and welded the new 1 1/4" diameter mandrel bent tube in place. The next project for this owner will be repairing his battery box.

We completed the inspection and repair of a fuel selector used in a Beechcraft Staggerwing. This was not the original va...
08/20/2015

We completed the inspection and repair of a fuel selector used in a Beechcraft Staggerwing. This was not the original valve but was installed under a 337. It is a Thompson Products valve P/N 17800-1. It took some research to find the required data and parts to complete the repair. However, the valve is once again an airworthy part.

Howard, Dick and Wayne's PT-19 behind Wayne's Jeep at Hidden Valley Airport.
08/13/2015

Howard, Dick and Wayne's PT-19 behind Wayne's Jeep at Hidden Valley Airport.

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Wichita, KS

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+1 316-619-3997

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