Did you purchase those undercarriage legs via my contact DaveR ?

Hi,
I had a few conversations with him and we got to the stage of an offer but then I haven’t had a reply since then. Now that I have secured the fuselage I will contact him again to follow up.

Dave

On Saturday 14th Apr I travelled over to Fort Velhuis museum in Holland (http://www.arg1940-1945.nl) with Pat1968 and his partner. The aim of the trip was to collect the fuselage of Hawker Typhoon RB396 and bring it back to the UK. On Sunday 15th it started what must have been it slowest journey across the channel, 68 years and 2 weeks since it was hit by flak and crash landed. We finally returned home in the early hours (12.30am) and unloaded it at home.

It is a significant push in my ongoing Typhoon project (12 years) which now means that my project is a genuine 2nd TAF veteran with a concrete history. Combining this with the parts I already have, the numerous drawings I secured last year and lots of help from other rebuilders (or some may say mad men 🙂 ) my ultimate aim is to end up with a second complete Typhoon (which will remain as RB396). The fuselage also means that I now have enough information, and Typhoon, to kickstart the centre section from the firewall to the tail.

A brief glance over the fuselage shows the historical significance of some of the remains (the original paint & the visible flak damage). My plan is to complete the work to an airworthy standard (although we all know how tough this will be) therefore when I restore the fuselage the damaged sections will need to be replaced. However, any of the original panels on the side which was not previously restored will be preserved in their current state (when they are replaced) so that a reminder of what happened to RB396 will be preserved along with what must be some very rare original wartime markings.

I wish to say a big thanks to Pat and his partner for helping me out and travelling all the way from Staffordshire to Holland, Cees for letting me know it was available, his help over the years and the help getting it ready to move and finally to all the guys at the museum for their hospitality, the enthusiasm they have shown for my project and for entrusting the fuselage with me. I would highly recommend a visit to the museum. We were only able to spend 2 hours having a quick tour around but we could have spent so much longer there (they had opened specially for us even though they do not officially start their season until next month). We will definitely be going back to take it all in.

All comments/suggestions are welcome (please be nice 🙂 ) and of course if anyone comes across Typhoon parts or drawings then I am always interested.

anyone managed to get in touch with Dennis on wix about the Sabre parts? I have been trying but no reply (hopefully busy and will get back soon…)

My interest concentrates solely on Typhoons (and Tempests) and from that interest there are at least 2 sites that have been investigated and significant finds made….1 for all the Tempest and Typhoon Firewalls, brackets etc and 1 for all the turrets (and a cockpit section) discovered. I am sure there are more where people have done the ground work and physically investigated the site. There are of course others that don’t pan out but how many of the ‘rumours’ have actually been investigated? never say never as you may be surprised.

oldgit158: mine is an attempt at a Typhoon…10+ years of collecting so one day there may be something to show!!!

As for the surviving cockpits/projects many of them are listed in a link to a previous post in this thread.

The ex. shoreham cockpit looked impressive but from talking to the curator/owner of the museum many years ago it didn’t start as a complete cockpit. It was a collection of brackets that were recovered and many of the tubes were ‘car exhaust’. It did go to france. There were another few parts that went in separate lots including an elevator on the wall…but another part that I was going to bid on, it spiralled out of control, was a complete horizontal tail plane. You could see a hole in the front from flak and the reason it was replaced in the field. I seem to be the only one to remember it as everyone remembers the elevator and not the tail plane….I have been trying to find out where that went without any luck. Anyone know?

Does anyone also know if Peter Smith still has his cockpits? He had been holding onto the for many years and was very difficult to get any replies from. I keep seeing reference to him having finally moved them on but no confirmation.

There are at least 10 Typhoon cockpit sections on the ‘go’, 2 Tempest Mk V cockpits and 2 Tempest MkV aircraft….plus of course 6 Tempest Mk II’s that are active in 1 form or another.

from a hastings…possibly the props aswell. I believe all the engine cowls were made by the apprectices, including the radiator

Firebrand is more like it…memory gone in through too many christmas tipples 🙂