Typhoon Project in Canada

[noooby]

Yes I know, this might be the wrong location for this thread, but there are a number of Kiwi's (including myself and suthg) helping out with this project.

Plus the Tiffie was used by 486 (but not this particular aircraft), plus, I believe it was a kiwi flying this Tiffie when it crashed, so there is a kiwi link to this aircraft.

Anyway.... Here are a few photos from yesterday. If anyone has ANY leads on Tiffie parts, you can PM myself or suthg and we'll investigate the information and try to get moving on any leads.

Ian does not have wings or tail or rear fuselage, but does have 12000-15000 drawings and is an aircraft sheet metal guy by trade. He would dearly love to know where tail feathers are. No, the Tempest rear fuselage/Fin/Tailplane is not the same. Similar, but not the same. There are even differences between Tiffies with the 3 blade prop (this aircraft) and the later 4 blade prop. Tailplane area was changed for one thing.



Forward Fuselage. The size of the Typhoon is amazing. It looks like it is about the same size as a P-47. Small and dainty this is not!!!



Wheels. You cannot believe how big these things are till you see them! They come up to my thigh and I'm 6ft 2!



Undercarriage legs. Something else that will need to be made from scratch unless better items can be found. The best of these two is actually bent and the mounting forging is also bent badly.





Sabre front and back. Badly damaged. Seized. Corroded. Spent many years on the bottom of the English Channel. This is a very early version (Sabre II I think) and is not usable for anything but some patterns. Ian is looking for any Sabre out there in any condition. If he can get enough individual pieces in good condition, then perhaps a production run of parts could be done to basically build new Sabres. This thing is big. Really big. I'm used to Merlins, but this thing is big. Only the Pom's would invent a 24 cylinder 4 bank inline engine with sleeve valves!

Not sure if I mentioned in, but it is a big engine! 2000lb of big I guess it had to be big to swing a 14ft propeller.

[suthg]

Thanks Nooby, yes I have been formulating a post describing this Project JP843 which I am involved in, but did not have good photos to build a story out of - so it's great to see your pictures and the extent of Ian's acquisiton and project. He is so positive and forward looking. We have located another engine which needs to be ascertained as to its availability - money of course will be needed and will probably be the effective release agent! Especially more likely if there is a trade involved!

I even brought a memory stick to work today with the growing history document, drawings, photos and images including a cutaway view of the construction of a Typhoon - to go on my office wall as A2 size! Plus some photos of working Typhoons. There are at least two other projects on the Typhoon, one a return to flight in England of RB396 (Facebook and website) and another Typhoon Cockpit - fairly complete also in England at Gloucesterhire Airport in the Jet Age Museum - more info here... www.jetagemuseum.org/Typhoon.aspx (yeah I know it's not a jet but most of the Typhoons were built here...)

As well as this, Kermit Weeks has two Napier Sabre engines for his Hawker Tempest V - the plane which is close to being reassembled complete, but the engine will need a full strip and rebuild to prove it's viability. He also has a Tempest II with a Bristol Centaurus 53L monster - the same engine as was in the Sea Fury that was in NZ some time ago.

Ian's facebook page is a search for Hawker Typhoon JP843 and his website is www.hawkertyphoon.ca - with a good lot of data on the project and the history of the plane and the short history of the 10 active flights of P/O Peter Price NZ424518 leading to a loss of both man and machine in inclement weather due to Flak and ground fire when flying in 609 Squadron, 27th July 1944.

Please pm me if you have any details or knowledge of parts that may be sized and copied or even purchased.

[Dave Homewood]

Is this the project that the RAF Museum's example has been disassembled and digitally scanned for,to aid in the rebuild?

[suthg]

Yes, he had permission while MN235 was in Ontario (NB fully assembled - as it was on show) (I think and is still there for another year at least on loan) at the Canada Aviation & Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario; and he organised the freedom to perform 3D scans from under and over - all around the wing structure to reverse engineer the shape and style of the wing inner structure - he does have some drawings but they are not complete. There may be other parts he needs to scan as well, but trialling it on the wing structure first was important to prove the technology. I am assisting with drafting the fuselage frames from a series of reference points in a table in a Hawker Drawing, to develope full size frame outlines to work against for 18 frames or so right back to the tail/fin structure. An interesting project inside a project! His digital wing generations are on both his Facebook page and his website.

[Dave Homewood]

Cool!

[Deleted]

This is excellent. I've followed progress on the Key forum but it's wonderful to see a presence here! I'm envious of you folks who are involved locally. It's also great to see these photos.

Good luck, and definitely keep us posted!

[Dave Homewood]

Who was the kiwi pilot?

[suthg]

He was P/O Peter March Price NZ424518 born 6 March 1924 in Remuera, Auckland New Zealand to parents Captain Frederick Ashton Price MC, and Mrs Hazel Maud Price.

www.hawkertyphoon.ca/po-peter-price

He was schooled at Wanganui Collegiate, so I have approached a certain Harry Price in Wanganui, also born the same year, who unfortunately knew nothing of a Peter Price. I have to now troll through the Napier whitepages and make some calls to ask over there as that was where he reputedly started work.

Errol Martyn has helped gather some historical reference to his time in the RNZAF for which Ian was very grateful - and is acknowledged in the list of Sponsors and Contributors.

[suthg]

Surprise of surprises!! We have found a vibrant elder lady in Matamata, Mrs Jenny Price, who was the pilot Peter Price's niece and she has photos and his Pilot's Logbooks! We are hopeful she may share some items with us such as the logbooks and photos so that we might digitise and copy for sharing on Facebook and our webpage. More drawings of the Typhoon may have surfaced in the UK. So many things have started to make us really enthused over the future of the project. There will be more to share shortly.

Some of the drafting I have achieved - from screen dumps so poor quality image...


A - C Former Setup by Graeme Sutherland, on Flickr

From a series of sectional frames all on the one drawing!


Master Drawing by Graeme Sutherland, on Flickr

Defined from data in a table to reference these circled points...


A-Frame Construction by Graeme Sutherland, on Flickr

More images on my Flickr page in this Album.


There are now tshirts and 10cm logo stickers to share as below to assist with fundraising and publicity:


Typhoon Legacy Co Ltd Logo by Graeme Sutherland, on Flickr



New JP843 Tshirt by Graeme Sutherland, on Flickr

[suthg]

Also, Ian has created a public request for donations via GoFundMe foundation in Canada. All the funds raised will go towards external charges and costs for specialised machining or component purchasing to complete the manufacture of the airplane - the monocoque fuselage which I am assisting with the draughting and design of is well cared for at this stage with the exception of some smaller components, details of which require design follow up and manufacture.

www.gofundme.com/HawkerTyphoon




Have a look here as there is a great detailed update on our progress, what the funds are to be used for, what the Typhoon was all about and details of the pilot and the actual plane service history.

[Dave Homewood]

I fixed your photos that were not showing up Graeme.

[suthg]

Yes I went back and took the [img= link out of each one and tidied up the end text too. We were probably doing the same thing at the same time

[Brett]

What happened to the rear fuselage section?





I took these photos at RIAT 2004. Was the rear fuselage a mock-up, or on loan from a different owner?

[Deleted]

I seem to remember the rear section was mock-up/replica, but may be mistaken.

[suthg]

Yes Zac, it was from a Sea Fury so not equivalent at all - as was the cockpit hood. We do have sections of elevator and parts of the vert stab and fin but most will have to be remanufactured. Yes it does look good and close to complete in those photos!!

Thanks Brett - certainly whets the appetite!! Roger Marley had gone to great lengths to generate enthusiasm and Ian Slater purchased all of the relevant components - U/C etc that he had.

[noooby]

It most certainly was a mock-up and contained pretty much nothing that would help the restoration.

There is ongoing discussion within the project about making another cockpit section, if enough parts can be found and presenting it to a Museum in New Zealand so that there is a permanent memorial to 486Sqn and any Kiwi's that served in other Typhoon Squadron's, such as Peter Price, the pilot of JP843. Ian, the owner of JP843, is well aware of the kiwi connection with his Typhoon and also of the kiwi connection with Typhoons and Tempests in general.

As a kiwi in direct involvement with this project (same as suthg) I can assure you that I am doing everything I can here in Canada (where I now live) to find as many Typhoon parts as possible in the hope that we can get a Cockpit (if not more) to NZ at some point in the future, although my main focus with JP843 is digging out old DTD and BS specs (anyone out there have any??) and sourcing manuals for the Typhoon, the Sabre, and all the extra bits and pieces that go into it. I have 12 DVD's of manuals so far.

I realise purse strings are tight these days, but if you can spare CAD$25, perhaps think about a donation. Perhaps think of us as the Glyn Powell of the Typhoon world We have the knowledge, we have the Techincal Documentation and we have the skills. All we need is time and some money, and money is where others can help.

[scrooge]

Hi nooby. I know of dtd specs 34A-199 revised December 1944 being scanned at the moment. A copy can be made for the project if you want these.

[scrooge]

Ps. I'll check if any bs specs are there too.

[suthg]

Thanks Scrooge - that is one that is not in the captured list yet, so yes we would appreciate a scanned copy if it is not too much trouble. Noooby is 5hrs ahead of us but the day behind!! He may respond tomorrow morning with a pm. Graeme.

[suthg]

Oh a quick set of links for everyone :

Facebook - keeps buzzing every week ...

www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843 or search for Typhoon Legacy or Hawker Typhoon.

There is another UK project but check for the flying Typhoon Legacy logo for ours!

Our website that has a lot of historical information about 609 NZ Squadron and Typhoon JP843 History, plus a large section on Peter Price, the RNZAF pilot who sadly, had the last flight in this fabulous plane. There is also a shop on there as well ...

www.typhoonlegacy.com/

A reminder for the link for the funding donation reachout ...

www.gofundme.com/HawkerTyphoon

Cheers and thanks for reading and supporting.

We have also made contact with the RNZAF Museum at Wigram and will share with them anything we can that the family allows. More about this as it evolves with our first contact with a family member possibly this week.