Tehachapi News

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“More than sixty years ago, during World War II, powerful V-12 and radial piston engines drove the world's fastest airplanes. Today these same aircraft are kept flying by a handful of skilled mechanics.”

So opens the Web site of Vintage V-12s, Inc., a small Tehachapi company dedicated to keeping some of the best aircraft in the history of aviation flying well into the 21st Century.

It's hard enough to find vintage airframes and restore them to airworthiness.  Many aviation aficionados dedicate their lives to this task. Many of these prizes end up in museums, or on a pedestal in from of them. But an airplane isn't meant to sit on the ground, or even a pedestal-it's meant to fly. Vintage V-12s provide the authentic engines that make that possible. Their efforts have put such historic airplanes as the P-40 Warhawk of the famous Flying Tigers, P-51 Mustangs, P-38 Lightnings, P-63 King Cobras, British Spitfires, and German Me-109s back into the air, the sound of their mighty engines thrilling crowds around the world.

Based at the Tehachapi Airport and founded by President Mike Nixon, Vintage V-12s specializes in restoring engines that gulp more fuel before takeoff than my car can hold. These engines have so much power that you can't begin your takeoff roll with full throttle and still keep the airplane on the runway centerline. Vintage V-12s employs 25 mechanics who are lead by veteran mechanic Jose Flores, Mike Nixon's partner, Vice President and General Manager.

Their latest arrival is a supercharged Rolls-Royce “Merlin” V-12 engine for a British Spitfire. The engine develops 1490 horsepower at the “military power” setting, and 1720 horsepower at the “war emergency power” setting. (I don't remember those power settings being mentioned in my Cessna handbook.) These engines are also used in the British Hurricanes, Mosquitoes, and Lancaster bombers, as well as the venerable North American P-51 Mustangs. Vintage V-12 also services the larger “Griffon” V-12 engine, which delivers up to 2455 horsepower.

Upon arrival, the engines are carefully inspected, disassembled, cleaned, repaired, tuned up, and fully tested with a propeller for five hours through a range of power settings. Cylinder walls are recromed, new parts machined, and new paint applied. The process normally takes three to four months. When they are returned to their owners, the engines look like new and run like new.

Mike Nixon boasts that Vintage V-12s has two-thirds of the worlds V-12 service business. However, Vintage V-12 also services other vintage aviation engines, including radial and rotary engines, as well as German and Japanese engines. 
They have a technical library that I could spend weeks enjoying, and boast one of the largest parts inventories in the world for V-12 engines. 

They have an entire building dedicated to the rebuilding of aircraft carburetors lead by partner Marty King. Their test equipment can simulate carburetor operations at altitudes as high as fifty thousand feet. And they continue to expand.

As exemplified by Vintage V-12s, Tehachapi Airport is home for some truly world-class aviation. Check out their website at http://www.vintagev12s.com.

Manned Space Watch

Space Shuttle Atlantis should now be at Space Station Alpha delivering the European Space Agency's Columbus flexible research laboratory. Atlantis' launch delays have now also set back the next several shuttle launches.
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