Cees,

The front fuselage was largely stripped for de-salination and cleaning. We’ve almost finished building a workshop to house it. As soon as it’s built, the bomb bay will be jacked up inside so we can strip the bomb beams out and clean them properly. There’s still a lot of conservation work to be done before we can start reconstruction. We’re having some success finding the families of the 142 Squadron crews who flew it and the short-term goal is to get the fuselage laid out so they can see it.

We do plan to rebuild the front fuselage – but this is a very long-term goal. The cockpit floor and front turret are quite complete, so can be done. There are numerous parts missing elsewhere, which we are looking for. Last year we recovered the fuselage frames (big D shaped hoops) from another site, so a restoration of the fuselage is now feasible. We have certain rare items such as canopy and many cockpit parts. We’re looking for seats, control column yokes, bombsight, F.24 camera etc etc. Once we can get original equipment back into the crew positions, the public will be able to appreciate what each of the crew members was doing. Needless to say, leads to any parts will be appreciated. Thanks.

Mark

Mark,

Thanks for the update. Please keep us informed about the progress. Perhaps we can locate any parts you might need. I will keep my eyes open.

Cheers

Cees