A new tail wheel was constructed for serial number 12. In my research effort to look at other B17Ls I came across something different on serial number 8. When I saw the tailwheel fork on this airplane, it looked like someone had made a homemade tailwheel fork. But after looking at some vintage photographs of my aircraft, I realized that this was in fact the way the original tail wheel forks were made for the early B models. The only drawing available for a tail wheel fork was the curved ones used on the later B models, drawing B17870A. In some information from the NASM I found a "Drawing Change Order" which stated, "Revised to Bent Fork after serial number 18".
The tail wheel fork that came with my project was the later curved model. However, it was unserviceable. There were some welding repairs which is not acceptable for this heat treated part. Another mystery of this fork was the fact that the tail wheel was too wide to retract into the space of the fuselage. The tail wheel fork had been bent open to take a wider tail wheel. The markings on my tail wheel were the same as those on serial number 8 except my tail wheel was about 3/4 inch thicker at the hub. I suspect that Beech machined material from the insides of both halves to make it fit. I have some in-flight photos of my aircraft taken some time in the 60s or 70s with it's main gears retracted and the tail wheel down.
In order to make a new fork, I made some detailed measurements of the one on serial number 8 and proceeded to build a new tailwheel fork. I fitted the parts together and got a professional welder to TIG weld it. Since it was going to be heat treated, I made sure it was welded with 4130 filler rod.
I got a field approval to use a McCauley tail wheel, D-30380. This tail wheel is used on Cessna AGwagons which have a slightly larger gross weight than the Beech B17L.