Originally Posted by
etudiant
Absolutely true, it suggests the volunteers did not know what they were supposed to do.
Given that car engines are no longer made for easy user maintenance, I suspect that no one remembered that spark plugs need gapping.
Good one , but I can read this differently : in the normal 50 or 100h maintenance checks ( whatever the sequence is on a B17, I have no idea) but should be around that , and as in almost every North american engines , you do not re-gap spark-plugs , you just change them during those checks..Or is it differently on the B17?
If not, then out of tolerance gaps would indicated they had not been changed, so someone did not do the work .. and it would be interesting to know if the log book indicated the previous 50/100 hours check had been performed an aircraft signed off for release.
But the mags wire is an another indication that the guys doing engine maintenance we already high on short cuts ...
Regarding engine 4, to prevent the magneto “P” leads from separating from the magnetos, someone had attempted to rig the magneto leads in place with safety wire. Inspection and testing of engine 4 left magneto revealed the movement of the safety-wired lead caused grounding to the case, which rendered the magneto lead inoperative.