RNZAF Museum Airspeed Oxford on display

The restoration of Airspeed Oxford/Consul PK286/G-AIKR has been completed at Wigram, Christchurch, NZ

Facebook photos

From Museum website:
http://www.airforcemuseum.co.nz/collections/restoration-projects/
History of Oxford/Consul PK286/G-AIKR:

Manufactured at Portsmouth, England by Airspeed Limited as an Oxford Mk.I, for the RAF, PK286 saw little service and was sold back to Airspeed for conversion to civil ‘Consul’ standard in 1946. Registered as G-AIKR it was first leased to Chartair Limited (London) then purchased in 1947 by ‘Airwork Limited’ (later Air Service Training) where it was used for aircrew training and various military contracts.

In 1962 it was sold to the ‘Rapid Flying Group Limited’ at Baginton Airport, Coventry. After failing to acquire a new certificate of airworthiness in mid-1965, it was destined to become a children’s playground attraction. Thankfully G-AIKR escaped this fate and was purchased by the Canadian War Museum (now the Canada Aviation Museum) and was shipped to Canada and placed in storage at the museum.

In late 2000 the Air Force Museum of New Zealand arranged for the long-term loan of G-AIKR and the aircraft was shipped to New Zealand in consignments in 2001 and 2004.
The Restoration

As the aircraft is primarily built of wood with plywood and fabric coverings, the restoration is being undertaken by the woodwork section of the Collection’s technical team. This aircraft is being restored as a Mk.I as used by the RNZAF. This involves reversing the changes undertaken to make the aircraft into a Consul. The major changes are as follows:

Removal of all passenger seating and fore/aft cabin bulkheads.
Remove ‘Consul’ style cabin windows and replace with ‘Oxford’ type windows (built from original plans).
Reinstalling the bomb bays into the wing centre section (built from original plans).
Removal of the elongated nose/baggage section and reinstalling the Perspex bomb aimer’s nose section (from museum spares).
Reinstalling the turret fittings (built from original plans).
Reinstalling sundry aircraft systems and military fittings, e.g. Flare Chutes.

During restoration most of the original woodwork has been retained, along with the metal fasteners. These have been refurbished as required and refitted to the aircraft. Any replacement fasteners are of the correct type and material for the era. Likewise, any wooden parts/structure that have required replacing are of the correct grade of aircraft spruce and plywood. Repairs have followed authorised repair schemes for this type of aircraft/structure. Other fittings and systems have been repaired, or replaced from the Museum’s stock of genuine Oxford parts. The finished artefact will be as historically complete as possible.

As PK286 has no RNZAF provenance, its final paint scheme will reflect its true identity and be the same as it would have worn when leaving the Airspeed factory for RAF service. Click on the link below to download a copy of the finishing scheme for Oxford PK286, produced by the Museum’s Safety and Surface technician:

Airspeed Oxford PK286 Finishing Scheme

And a couple of related photos of mine:

Oxford fuselage in May 2012 by Errol Cavit, on Flickr

Subritzky’s project, March 2011
Airspeed Oxford NZ1332/AP414 by Errol Cavit, on Flickr