New Restoration Group in Melbourne, Australia

Now I realise that not everyone uses FaceBlank and other such media, and of course not everyone attends our local forum, but thought this is worth letting you all know about

Myself (Ewan McArthur) and restorer Ashley Briggs have formed Warbird Restoration Services based in Melbourne, Australia

The main focus for us is to bring together as many other like minded volunteers who can chip in and help other community organisations with their restorations where there may be a lack of funds / access to materials or skill sets. We formed this group as a way of bridging that gap and thus being able to help rescue a number of aircraft before it is too late and they rot beyond repair.

There is no cost involved other than our own time and fuel things etc getting to the locations, we are doing this because we love what we do. When the working bees are scheduled (like the DC-3 one I posted about last week) people are getting together and having fun working on these craft while doing their utmost to save them – oh and of course a free feed and drink always help ! There will also be days in Ash and Brad’s factory where there are a number of P-40’s a P-51 (VH-BOB), CAC Wackett, two CAC Boomerangs, a Wirraway, a Wamira and a few Spitfire remains.

I’ve set up a Facebook page to get things going while I work on the website. https://www.facebook.com/WarbirdRestorationServices We will aim to have as many pictures as we can of various processes and restorations so that others may benefit and use them for reference in the future.

If you are able and live in Australia (and we have already had people fly down from Brisbane or driving four hours plus from over the border) and think you may be able to chip in please let me know. The more the better – does not matter about what skills you have or don’t have. I still do a lot of brushing down, washing and sweeping, just recently started doing some riveting for the first time – all fantastic experience

Cheers

Ewan