Above is a picture of the Bell 47G helicopter and a Vietnam era Huey. These pictures were taken at the New Richmond WI. airport just before heading out to the 2018 Oshkosh air show. The Bell 47G as I affectionately call (Mr. Bubbles) won 1st place for Best Restoration. Every part on this beautiful Bell 47G was removed, rebuild or replaced to represent a new factory helicopter and of all the different choices of spinning rotor blades to choose from , Mr. Bubbles is by far my favorite helicopter. The complete Airframe restoration was performed and overseen by Josh.S the IA who is also a full time commercial AirBus Captain.

My contribution to this project was the complete rewiring of the helicopter and the installation of the avionics package including the ADS-b package. The instrument panel was also restored to give the "period correct" color and texture right down to the fine details which included the eyebrow lights over the "steam gauges" for night time flying. This job was right in the wheelhouse of a vintage transmitter restoration.

I am currently working on my helicopter pilot's license and as you can see in some of the videos, I'm catching on -- a little!

The owner of these wonderful helicopters (Barry N9OB) is a fellow friend and Ham Radio operator and is the one and only reason that I have anything to do with flying and avionics. Barry has been piloting fixed wing aircraft for many years but decided to take up helicopter flying about (4) years ago which opened the door for me to learn in the (2) military trainers he owns which are the semi-restored Hughes 269A along with my favorite, Mr. Bubbles.

The Huey is put into service every year to honor the vets at many events especially from the Vietnam era and it a great experience to just listen to the many stories these vets have to tell about their relationship with this historic helicopter.



My instructor Jake and me.

In Oshkosh!

Mr Bubbles instrument panel in Oshkosh.

The instrument panel paint and texture.

Instrument panel wiring.

The instrument panel during install.

Restored Cannon Plugs.

Sheating covers teflon wire.

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