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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 14, 2024 13:15:59 GMT 12
A recording of the talk given by Darren Hammond this morning at Wigram.
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Sept 14, 2024 15:30:08 GMT 12
Was very informative and well presented. It was also reassuring to see such care and attention being shown to this valuable artefact, the sole representative of its type.
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Post by baz62 on Sept 15, 2024 10:55:13 GMT 12
Yes Johnny and I were very impressed with the talk and had a chat afterwards with Darren Hammond the collections manager. Very experienced chap ex-UK who has worked at the RAF Museum, Imperial War Museum plus has an interest in cars. He mentioned he is in his dream job something few manage to achieve but his passion comes through.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 15, 2024 11:53:58 GMT 12
I was surprised that no mention was made of the loan of the Vincent that they had down there for a year or so to aid them in the restoration. Especially since some of the items he discussed that they lack info on like the collector ring, Steve Subritzky has already been through and restored.
And not taking away anything from what the team is doing there with the restoration, because it is fantastic, but it is sad to hear they have made the decision to display is in a skeletal form rather than adding the fabric and skins when it goes on display, until further drawings are found. I think it is time they apply for a Heritage Lottery grant to fund hiring a researcher at Brooklands to hunt through and catalogue all the uncatalogued Vickers drawings and find out for certain if there are any useful Vildebeest or Vincent drawings there. That would help out the excellent Brooklands Museum and archive as well as Wigram's team, I'm sure.
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Sept 15, 2024 13:49:13 GMT 12
Good idea regarding the researcher, Dave. In the question time, I raised the topic of the Subritzky Vincent. He said they learned much and were very grateful, and had digitally scanned the airframe
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 15, 2024 14:13:18 GMT 12
Thanks John. It is a shame the video cut out just as it went to questions form the floor.
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Post by corsairarm on Sept 19, 2024 8:52:39 GMT 12
I remember seeing it on a school trip to MoTaT in 1971. It was in the workshop along with the Mosquito and Corsair (Josephine). I joined the museum that weekend and a week later is was announced that the Corsair had been sold. Of the Vildebeest it was joked about that it was been restored by the phantom welder as no one was seen working on it but each week something was added.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 19, 2024 12:12:38 GMT 12
When Wigram pulled it out of storage in the late 1990s there was a volunteer engineer, I have forgotten his name, who said he had a massive task laboriously removing all the brazing that had been added at MOTAT and cleaning the airframe up before the restoration could begin properly. There must have also been a Phantom Brazer?
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