de Havilland Museum Update

Now, I cant have our friends from oop North getting all the glory on here, so here is a quick update of what we are up to at London Colney.

Here is a rather short selection of pictures – my CF card was full! More to follow.

Firstly, the Sea Venom continues its strip down in readiness for the fuselage pod reconstruction. In order to tackle it properly, we have to replace the floor, which means stripping everything out. Alastair is doing it all properly, and is removing everything very carefully. Big job!

I have nearly completed the Chipmunk, so my attentions are turning to the single seat Venoms in the collection. This is J-1790, which 80’s and 90’s airshow goers will remember as the Venom that was operated by Vintage Aircraft Team from Cranfield. It was grounded in 1994 owing to lack of Spar fatigue life. Yesterday, I replaced the Swiss nose, and for good measure, all the stuff that fits under it as well. I am currently assessing the work required on the Venoms. This one will probably revert to a camouflaged Swiss scheme. The other one, J-1632, recently kindly donated by Kennet Aviation, is likely to become a short nosed RAF aircraft.

Mosquito W4050 continues to make slow but sure progress. The tailplane was repaired a few years ago by Skysport Engineering, and we have now completed the fabric work. There are a few bits to refit before it goes back on the aircraft, but this is now well in hand. ‘My’ Chipmunk in the background!

Mosquito 6 TA122 continues to make good progress. Yesterday, Bob finished painting the fin, so we fitted it! Everything on the rear bulkhead has been removed and refurbished, as have all the flight controls from the rear fuselage. Bob has rewired the entire fuselage, and all the electrics now work as advertised – another big job!

Next job – this is the rudder for TA122. Its not in bad shape, and requires mostly a clean, and overhaul of the systems before it gets recovered, and goes back on.

Thats it for now – there is more progress to record; I will empty the card for next time, and take a few more!

Bruce