Hi all,
It has been a trend now to restore the “new” warbirds to as authentic standard as possible such as TFC’s Hurricane IV, Peter Vacher’s Mk I and there are others. These aircraft are fitted with the old style exhausts as used during the Battle of Britain as opposed to the individual exhaust stacks for each exhaust port.
Where do these exhausts come from or are they newly manufactured?
Cheers
Cees
By: Septic - 29th September 2005 at 23:28
A few years back the Shuttleworth Collections Spitfire Vc AR501 was fitted with an original set of early ejector exhausts. The exhaust note was so different from the individual stack note that we had all become acustomed to.
I guess they eventually wore out as the aicraft now sports the typical individual stack arrangement.
Try this excellent web site for all things Merlin, they also manufacture exhaust stubs.
Septic.
By: Bruce - 29th September 2005 at 20:05
It is a tricky business, making exhausts!
Historically, the restorers used what was available. Many Spitfires use Balliol exhausts, which were in plentiful supply until recently.
The Mk 5’s and Hurricanes also had these type of exhausts. When we restored the Mk 5’s at HFL, we used the exhausts that were fitted to BM597 as a pattern. Tim had acquired a couple of Hurricane projects from Russia, and included in these were several sets of very similar exhausts which we adapted to EP120 and AR614. BM597 had its exhausts from its days as a gate guard. These have since been replaced with the very smart fishtails it carries today.
For the newer restorations, the Balliol exhausts have just about dried up – I found a set for MK912, but that was about it. Many restorers are now making from scratch – difficult and expensive!
Bruce
By: Eddie - 29th September 2005 at 19:52
I think they are new manufacture, Cees.
Sign In
September 29, 2005 at 6:57 pm