Spitfire LF.XVIe TB252 at Avspecs

[ZacYates]

Hi all,
Spitfire TB252 came to NZ some years ago for Avspecs to restore to airworthy for Tony Banta, as per these scans from Classic Wings issues 38 and 43 respectively:
tb252-import-to-avspecs-clasic-wings-issue-38_49214164898_o by Zac Yates, on Flickr
tb252-progress-classic-wings-issue-43_49214189843_o by Zac Yates, on Flickr

My wife and I went to Russell for a wedding on Saturday and, as it happened, I needed to go to Avspecs on Friday to drop off something for a UK-based project. After dropping off the part with Warren Denholm's son Jaiden one of the engineers, Dylan Stace, kindly took me on a guided tour of the facilities. He explained that TB252's new American owner wants the aircraft at Oshkosh this year so the Spitfire is front-and-centre at Avspecs. Given her imminent completion I thought some walkaround photos would be a great kickstarter to a thread following this aircraft's return to flight.

Enjoy

Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Untitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Dave Homewood]

This one has been a very long term, one again-off again project, with a few owners. I m looking forward to seeing it finally airborne, the guys are making a terrific job of it.

[davidd]

Excellent quality pics there!
David D

[FlyingKiwi]

Nice. I've been sneaking glimpses of it through the hangar doors for the last few months, good to see some detail shots of it.

[ZacYates]

Thank you for the kind words folks. Astonishingly (to me) not one reply has been posted to my similar threads at either Key.Aero or its apparent spiritual successor UKAR! The folks over at WIX, on the other hand, have been loving it.

I'm very grateful to Dylan for taking the time to show me around and answer my questions. I was very mindful of taking him away from his work...and that my wife was waiting in the car!

[planecrazy]

Great pic's Zac, I find the people on UKAR aren't that chatty, may be it's a colonial thing, ha ha.

[patmurphy]

Feb 16, 2020 20:13:17 GMT 12 ZacYates said:

Thank you for the kind words folks. Astonishingly (to me) not one reply has been posted to my similar threads at either Key.Aero or its apparent spiritual successor UKAR! The folks over at WIX, on the other hand, have been loving it.

I'm very grateful to Dylan for taking the time to show me around and answer my questions. I was very mindful of taking him away from his work...and that my wife was waiting in the car!

Check UKAR

[Brett]

Just to update this thread for future researchers...

TB252 was registered as ZK-NLJ to AVspecs Limited on 27/03/2020.

[tbf25o4]

A great lot of photos Zac really appreciate how you have covered the detail of the rebuild and the huge amount of meticulous attention to detail and originality in the work carried out by
the marvelous team up there

[ZacYates]

Jun 15, 2020 10:02:10 GMT 12 tbf25o4 said:

A great lot of photos Zac

My pleasure! I'm indebted to Dylan at Avspecs for taking time out of his work day to show me around and answer questions.

[ErrolC]

nzcivair.blogspot.com/2020/06/spitfire-lf-mk-xvi-zk-nlj-at-avspecs-25.html

Update from Sir Minty - booked in the paintshop for July

[ZacYates]

She flew today with John Lamont at the helm. Bravo to all involved for another stunning restoration!

[Dave Homewood]

What year was that first article at the top of this thread?

[Brett]

1st - 2002. 2nd - 2003

[Dave Homewood]

Wow, so 18 years it's been there. Crikey.

[Mustang51]

Excellent news indeed......please, please let it stay for Wings

[McFly]

Dec 18, 2020 21:05:31 GMT 12 ZacYates said:

She flew today with John Lamont at the helm. Bravo to all involved for another stunning restoration!

[McFly]

Part two...

[ZacYates]

[ErrolC]

Jan 20, 2021 14:24:02 GMT 12 ZacYates said:

Was just coming here to share this! This was possibly taken yesterday, I saw it on Flight Aware at the bottom of the Firth of Thames, but could well have been earlier.