At last..D and G complete the Loch doon recovery

Hi All,
Congratulations to all involved from locating to final restoration a prime example of what can be achieved with all people pulling in the same direction:applause:

Geoff.

I’ll need to come and have a look at some point.

Thanks guys, it has taken a lot of people a lot of time and effort to achieve this – including the building.

The engine was found some time after the fuselage, and quite a distance away Evalu8ter – you must be thinking of another recovery. It is not fitted to the airframe – there are bearers in there but the engine is displayed alongside. We MIGHT get it running one day – Peter Grieve tells us it’s possible. At the moment the Spitfire is externally pretty complete, barring some tail surface linkages etc which we will get done. The firewall forward, and the wings, are fibreglass at the moment but we will replace with original material over time wherever we can. The next big project is restoring and fitting out the cockpit, for which we have many of the original parts. We intend to get to a point where visitors can sit in the aircraft (under supervision). We’re not putting a date on that, but we should manage to beat the 35 years it took to get it on display!

The Merlin is on display just off camera to the left and very nice it is too .
Excellent work all round by those involved and well worth a visit for the Spitfire alone ;
http://www.dumfriesaviationmuseum.com/

Wings and exhausts were replicated by Gateguards down in Newquay.

Martin

Ahh, I thought Dolce & Gabbana did it.
Fantastic achievement by the way.
And….finally!
Cees

Wow, what at fantastic job

Well Done Bob et al.

And the building looks good too.

Well done to all of those involved.

Not sure chap, but the Merlin was still attached when it was raised!

It looks great. I’m curious to know what’s under the surface. Is there a plumbed in Merlin under those panels? It would be interesting to see a little more. Congratulations to all involved in this project.

Just a quick post after a long day. Over 2000 local people came to see the Spitfire being unveiled in its new hangar during our military vehicle show and the day was a huge success. It may have taken 35 years to get here, but it certainly is great to see the aircraft finally on display. This is just the end of the first phase for us, there is masses of work still to do as we are aiming to allow supervised access to the cockpit in the future, and add better detail on the wings like an open gun bay etc. However for a short while, I think we get to sit back and celebrate!

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great news!

Absolutely splendid job you guys up there. It looks great.
I visited the museum for the first time two years ago and was very impressed with the set up and exhibits, its well worth visiting if you haven’t been before, very friendly and helpful staff too, even to us Sassenach’s.
Is the hanger its in new as well, I dont remember it being there two years ago. There was some land being prepared next to the control tower, is that were its situated.
Just as an aside, I stopped in Dumfries overnight great little town by the river, and a great real ale pub close by, but that’s another story.
Guess another visit is now called for.

I was hoping to get there this weekend, but it didn’t work out.

Looks good, though.

Very good. And quite a coup I should imagine for a relatively small museum to have its own ‘original’ Spitfire.

Rob