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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 15, 2012 20:20:10 GMT 12
How are the Ferrymead Mosquito restorations coming along? I note on the Wikipedia page for surviving Mossies it indicates this: "Mosquito FB.VI TE758/NZ2328 is being progressively restored for static display by volunteers of the Ferrymead Aeronautical Society at the Ferrymead Historial Park, Christchurch. The project also includes parts from FB.VI HR339/NZ2382" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_de_Havilland_MosquitosI thought that NZ2328 was being restored and NZ2382 was to be preserved as is. Are parts of the latter realy going into the restoration of the former? I note the page is a little behind the times regarding TV959 too, which is well underway towards flying again too. |
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chrisr
Squadron Leader
Posts: 102
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Post by chrisr on Jun 15, 2012 21:10:45 GMT 12
I took some photos there in 2010 (just after the first quake). I was the only person in the whole place and nothing was really open. It was kinda surreal.
HR339 was a fuselage, no tail and it looked like the wings had been sawn off. It was on jacks and being restored.
It's hard to tell from my pic of the serial on HR339, but it seems the read third was standing upright. Where the rest of it was I don't remember.
There were miscellaneous parts around the place eg. tanks, a restored door and landing gear.
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chrisr
Squadron Leader
Posts: 102
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Post by chrisr on Jun 16, 2012 12:16:13 GMT 12
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Post by denysjones on Jun 16, 2012 22:41:17 GMT 12
Please get this right once and for all guys.
The complete fuselage shown in chrisr's pix is NZ2328 ex TE758.
That was what was recovered from Oamaru.
The balance of the major items (wings etc) held are ex HR339 which was to have been NZ2382.
The two are to be combined to make one aircraft. This will be displayed as HR339 due to its historical significance.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 16, 2012 23:20:21 GMT 12
Thanks for the confirmation Denys. I thought for some reason there were going to be two projects, one rebuilt and one left original, but it makes sense to combine them into one, and yes HR339 is certainly a great choice for displaying it as. It's good to hear it from the horses mouth, as it were. How is the project progressing?
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Post by Tony on Jun 17, 2012 7:09:28 GMT 12
Brilliant.
Thanks Denys.
For some silly reason I thought that NZ2328 was going to be a 'complete' Mosquito with HR339 being displayed as a fuselage only.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 17, 2012 7:16:01 GMT 12
Yes that's what I thought too.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jun 17, 2012 9:46:42 GMT 12
Photos of NZ2328 taken at Ferrymead 30Dec2010 As you can see, there is still a few weekends work to go. No doubt it'll be finished by Christmas, just choose a year. (I do have great admiration for guys who can take on this sort of project and work away at it for just as long as it takes).   |
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Post by agile on Jun 19, 2012 20:15:33 GMT 12
Photos of NZ2328 taken at Ferrymead 30Dec2010 As you can see, there is still a few weekends work to go. No doubt it'll be finished by Christmas, just choose a year. (I do have great admiration for guys who can take on this sort of project and work away at it for just as long as it takes). Thanks for your kind words, Peter. We chip away at it every weekend, but we are few and the task is large and has been somewhat disrupted by events in the city. In reply to Dave's question, the first engine is pretty much as complete as we can get it without sourcing more bits, and some work has begun on cleaning up the second. We have almost finished the lengthy task of repairing bulkhead #6 (the core of which was entirely rotted away - difficult to fix without the luxury of splitting the fuselage) and the structure above it, which includes the forward fin attachment point. In the meantime the outer skin at the rear of the fuselage has been replaced on both sides where it was either rotted or smashed away. My next mission is to patch the inner skin adjacent to bulkhead #7 (the aft bulkhead) which is looking like being jolly fun. Then we can tidy up the aft face of this bulkhead, and the rear of the fuse will be pretty much done, allowing us to transfer our attention to the cockpit area, which is a real mess. To give you an idea of why it is taking so long (even allowing for generous tea breaks and other duties) the repair to bulkhead #6 and the adjacent structure has involved 17 separate pieces of timber, most of which are odd shapes to mate in with original structure, and 10 separate glue-ups. I feel pretty privileged to be involved in the project - when I volunteered I expected to be sweeping the floors! Mind you, being the youngest and most, er, agile means regular postings into the rear of the fuselage - not a roomy place. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 19, 2012 20:33:05 GMT 12
Thanks for the update, great work guys!
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Post by vs on Jun 23, 2012 12:43:29 GMT 12
huge job!
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