Visit to Montrose Air Museum

Aircraft that were impressed are covered I guess by the East Fortune Cygnet ..

It seems the Cygnet was first registered on July 2nd 1941 and went straight into a camouflage scheme but carrying its civil registration and was delivered to 23 Sqn at Ford. The date I have for its impressment as ES915 is August 16th that same year when it went to 51 OTU. It doesn’t seem to have carried a civil scheme (and a beautiful one it was!) till post-war. Does the camouflage and civil reg scheme therefore count as impressment colours? I don’t know – it’s too confusing for me! 🙂

As Brian alluded to earlier in the thread – the museum are building a restoration centre (some of the buildings components already on site and perhaps construction started since my last visit ?)
To the best of my knowledge – once the restoration building is complete then the Hawk Major will be moved into there and restoration will commence.
Perhaps Brian can confirm – but it might depend on the terms of the gift/loan of the aircraft re restoration ?
Anyway – it is just lovely to see aircraft out of long term storage and Montrose is a lovely museum to visit with very friendly staff : )

It’s a thing of beauty and in markings wholly appropriate. I hope they don’t restore but just conserve what’s there.

Aircraft that were impressed are covered I guess by the East Fortune Cygnet and formerly by the Shuttleworth Hornet Moth.

Pre war Miles products are not particularily well represented in museums – the Hawk in military markings doesnt really have a significance to Montrose apart from it looks a bit like a Magister from a distance !

I have to respectfully disagree – i hope they preserve and repair/restore her, but leave her in impressed markings (albeit those were applied in the 60s if I recall correctly). It’s an area of aviation heritage that doesn’t really get much attention by the museum sector.

Trip up the M90/A92 in planning!

I agree with you re the civil markings, David. That would be nice to see but I think it’s unlikely given that Montrose understandably want to commemorate their history as a training base.

Its strange to see this machine released after so many years after so many failed attempts to get her restored. She doesn’t belong in camouflage – she would be far better restored into civilian markings at Woodley and the Magister at Woodley travel to Montrose

A few shots of the rear cockpit –

Some photos from another visit to Montrose a few days back to see the Hawk Major. Wonderful to see this gem out of storage! Looking forward to seeing the progress of its restoration by the dedicated group working at Montrose.

You are spot on Tim. I gather the Hawk has been in Stafford Store for some time.I believe the MASHC application was given merit as there were a fair number of the related Magister aircraft based at Montrose in the war years.We have a building concerned mainly with “Training”, so it will be more appropriate to Montrose’s raison d’etre in WW II than other exhibits that could never have put a wheel down there (Meteor,Vampire) My views are not popular on this topic, but they did ask me to volunteer again to do the BE2a’s Renault etc, and now its done….Mary Baker Eddy had it right.

…..The Heritage Centre will soon receive a Miles Hawk Trainer which will be sited in the Butler Building with existing “Training” theme exhibits. No doubt this new addition will require work before display, so the forthcoming workshop building is really needed. More anon.

Excellent report on some amazing work. I have not been up to your Museum for many years – must put that right. You mention that a Miles Hawk Trainer is due to arrive. Is that anther replica or is it an original? I know the RAFM were offering to release their stored Miles Hawk (not their Magister) to a recognised organisation, is that perhaps the example coming to Montrose?

Tim

Great news, Brian! A few more reasons for another visit next year 🙂

This sounds like some nice progress for the museum, although I’ll miss the old bean-tin exhaust stubs on the Camel.
BAPC.59 Sopwith Camel , Montrose by Wallace Shackleton, on Flickr

Hi Mothminor.
The Montrose Air Station’s “next project” is just getting under way.The existing replica Sopwith Camel is shortly to be revisited,to make it more authentic, in terms of removing “extra” interplane struts and fabric recovering . This exhibit was acquired years ago as an ex Royal Tournament showpiece prop, very well built by RAF Apprentices with Q.D. Wings. The Q.D. feature required the extra struts, so port and starboard upper/lower planes’ cells could be removed /refitted quickly, while the Tournament lights were down.The refit will be done in a new building which is now being laid out on the station. Personally,I will not be working on this project,although the dummy Clerget needs a tidy up, as I have a personal project “off base” which involves a “runner” to be replicated (another air-cooled V-8 !!).A few odd jobs for me to round off on the BE2a replica (oil leaks to add on the Renault engine, and a few small details to add to another one of my pastimes; the replica Elliot Instrument Board ). The Heritage Centre will soon receive a Miles Hawk Trainer which will be sited in the Butler Building with existing “Training” theme exhibits. No doubt this new addition will require work before display, so the forthcoming workshop building is really needed. More anon.

Hi Brian,

We really enjoyed our visit to the museum and were blown away by the quality and attention to detail of the work on the Be2. It was a real pleasure chatting to you and we wish you all the best with your next project.

Beautiful replica.
I visited one of the firms whose premesis are on what was part of the old airfield, recently, they said that they had acquired more land for a storage yard and had found considerable quantities of munitions (grenades were mentioned) when preparing the ground. No mention of aviation artefacts though.

Brian, that is a stunning piece of work. Cap suitably doffed to you..

Well my hat is off to you all: replica or not, the workmanship that has gone into that aircraft is world-standard.

By the way I’d quite like one of those Renaults for my living room! Didn’t by chance have any bits left over?

:applause:

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The dummy 1913 Renault 70hp WB V-8 engine ,nearly ready to leave its build workshop (my garage in Brechin), to be installed in the replica BE2a at Montrose in August 2016

Thanks guys,for your appreciated comments. As a volunteer member of Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre I was responsible for constructing the Renault 70hp WB replica engine.Sadly there were only 3 extant drawing in N.A. Kew, so my first task was to reverse-engineer from the few remaining museum examples and a G.A. drawing. Eighty six drawings later I could start to make the bits. As many of you will know the Renault begat the Cirrus in no small measure,courtesy of Frank Halford making the ADC V-8 (as in Miss Kenya DH53 at Old Warden ) and then the Cirrus 1/Cirrus II/Hermes etc. So I tracked down a casting-pattern for Cirrus Cylinders and modified the resultant castings to genuine Renault profile. Being a non working exhibit the motor lacks a crankshaft/c.rods and pistons,but has everything else. I also conjured up a mock-up Elliot Instrument Board, as sown in one of Mothminor’s great images.
This all goes back to a Thread I started in 2014, so the engine-project cost me 2 years of my life and gradually blocked up my garage.

Best Wishes to all for 2017
Engineman (Brian )