Dave,

Sorry to go off-topic but having flown up front in Consul G-AIKR during its time with the Rapid Flying Group at Baginton UK, I was delighted to see it’s still safe as depicted in the background to your shot. I became reacquainted with it only a few years ago when I photographed it in store at Ottawa. I’ve looked at the Wigram link from your own excellent website but what progress can you report on its restoration to Oxford status – the Wigram site only illustrates the wing centre-section?

Regards
Tim

Hi Tim,

The Consul is undergoing a major restoration, estimated to be about ten years in length (and is about 2 years into that) to restore it to Oxford status. It belongs to a Canadian museum but is on long term loan to the RNZAF Museum at Wigram. The restorers are doing a really stunning job, in what looks to be a painstaking restoration. The main woodworker chap, Brian, was saying it’s a big job because so much was changed when it was converted to a Consul and now they’re changing it back, but trying not to destroy too much original material. They’re combining the Consul with the remains of at least one RNZAF Oxford to get the result of a complete Oxbox.

You can see some more photos of it on my forum here:
http://rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=Airshows&action=display&thread=1145936302