[bonanzaman]

Well, in the absence of any further advice (or a scope, for that matter!), I made an executive decision, and pulled the damper tube to do some voltage checks. The hor osc tube's pins all have what seems to be in the ballpark....within 10-15% of what's listed on the Philco factory diagram. Also the sync sep/vid out.looks close....the plate and grid of the vid output half are about 30% high, however. But the real stinker is the Vert Osc/Output tube voltages:

pin 9 cathode of the output side sb 15-18v measured 1.6v
pin 6 plate of osc side sb 115-130v measured 60v
pin 8 cath of osc side sb 7.5-10v measured 1.4v

Finally, the 400v boost is measuring only 187v ! Not sure if this is an issue with the damper tube pulled. B+ on the other hand, seems a healthy 316V.
I fear the flyback may be the culprit here, even though the resistance checks are all spot on.

Can anyone surmise a direction to look further from this, ....I'd be grateful for it!