Cees, all credit to you, but you are a bit behind these guys in terms of ‘job done’ eh? The Canadians at Trenton will have a superb Halifax when they have finished, I’m sure. But they don’t right now.
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JDK
You are right, but in my opinion a restoration or reconstruction is never finished. At some point in the future something will have to be done to ensure preservation for the future. I am a great fan of the YAM Halifax and as I am working on my own Halifax cockpit reconstruction/replica project (following the way YAM reconstructed their cockpit section), I know the problems (and in their case hundreds of times more) they have faced during their hard work, and they managed to pull something off that has been an important exhibit in Halifax country Yorkshire. That is, if you can compare what I am doing against the reconstruction of the YAM Halifax.
What YAM did is nothing short of fantastic and they should be given the credit they deserve. With minimal resources (here we go again) they managed to bring a Hally back to Yorkshire for anyone to admire (enthusiasts and veterans). The shortcuts they had to make can be and are (obviously) being put right and you should see it as a improving restoration project or something similar. The only things that do distract from being a real external representation of an operational Halifax is the nose transparency which doesn’t look right, and the engines/propellors, but I know that they are working on the manufacture of a new and better nose transparency, so it will only take a matter of time, but in the meantime it perhaps gives the aircraft a “thrown together” look which it isn’t. When I was inside it in 1997 I really had the feeling I was going back in time with every step I made towards the cockpit.
NA337 of course is a project that started on a different footing but the end result will be astonishing. The way they restored the airframe can be an example for the RAFM to do the same in an area where visitors can view the progress made instead of having to remove it for several years from the display while it is being restored. The condition of W1048 actually was (and is) very good and much better than NA337, perhaps the general opinion in the early seventies was that this airframe was beyond restoration but things have changed over the past decades with seemingly corroded and battered airframes being restored to fly. But I am not going to rant about the replica/restoration/reconstruction discussion, that’s just a matter of opinion., just look for the previous threads on this topic.
The bottom line is, also regarding the heavily coloured opinions against the Spitfire and Lancaster as opposed to the other types : It has all happened in the past, it is no use to try to explain things that happened already decades ago. Just let everyone enjoy their various favourite aircraft types and its merits. And just make sure that as much of these warhorses are brought back for restoration no matter if it’s a Hally, Lanc or Stirling or Whitley. And if someone thinks that the YAM Halifax isn’t one then just don’t go there, but go to East Kirkby, Brooklands, Colney or Duxford instead. There is so much to see for everyone.
Just my two eurocents of course
Cheers
Cees
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