Why not contact Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume? I believe he still has the design authority on the Luton Minor!

I’m going to resist passing judgement about some of the comments made on this thread – instead I’ll just put up a few pictures from a large set showing Mosquito production I’m using for a forthcoming project.

Sure – you CAN use an existing structure to use as a fixture and extrapolate from there – and yes there are repair mods out there for structural repair – but to build from scratch? I cannot think of any way that you could build a composite structure such as a Mosquito fuselage without the molds – likewise the same with the one-piece wing – it just aint gonna happen. And yes, I did use the word ‘composite’ because that is what the fuselage and wing is.

Comments have been made regarding the use of concrete molds – I’ve not seen any comments yet about all the steel jigs and fixtures that were needed – and almost certainly would be needed to build any major part of the structure.

Just look for a moment at the spar jigs and fixtures – look how complex they are – anyone know where the drawings are to ensure getting everything right?

Then there’s the drilling fixtures – just look at that lattice for drilling through for the bulkheads for the slipper-tanks. OK, so ‘The Peoples Mosquito’ may not need them – but the fixtures for drilling every part of the fuselage, wings and tail feathers ARE going to be needed – and the dimensions maintained if there is going to be any chance of getting CAA approval to fly – otherwise everything would have to be re-calculated again.

Even the wingtip fixture is complex when one realises that all those positional blocks have a known dimension that are set in a specific position that HAS to be accurate!

Probably BAE Systems have the drawings – maybe DH Support has them – but I cannot see them being released to anyone – especially when you know about ‘product liability’.

I wish everyone the best – but I cannot see it happening.

I got a lot of them, including some spares…
I’ll go digging – will photocopies of the articles do?

(and yes, I am monitoring Brian Cocks store online)

A word of advice – dont – drop him a line/email. I’ve known Brian for years, and we share stall-space at Old Warden and travelling costs, in fact I’ve recently sold him some DH manuals.

The thing to do is register your wants with him – he runs a huge database, and when something comes in, those with a registered interest gets told before he puts anything online or in his catalogue.

The way I read it, there are three separate threads running concurrently here that explains why things tend to get kept secret.

1 – ‘The need for Security’…. That blatantly shows how some have a complete disregard for private property, no matter how good the pictures are that they take.

2 – ‘Messing with Spotters’ – and here I am happy to say that I started off as a spotter back in the late 1960s – and I’m still proud to say it! However, given the behaviour of some (see point 1) as Engineering Director, I very quickly became paranoid about the safety of what was in our own locked hangar on a private farm – and yeah, we had the padlock bolt-cropped more than once!

True ‘most’ spotters wanted just to just underline it, but given the amount of timber and fabric around…

We too had them turn up at all times of the day – and the farmer told us they turned up as all times of the night also! I suppose this is/was part of ‘airfield bashing’ – that is to proudly claim to have logged everything at seven (or more) airfields in one day! Given the distances involved in an exercise like that, I’ve never quite figured out how they can appreciate what they have ‘spotted’!

Having said that, I’d like to think I have done all I could to encourage ‘good behaviour’!

3 – Restoration veil of privacy’ – we were asked by the Lord Chamberlains Office to keep the colour scheme of our Rapide quiet – which we did. I also provided the details for David And Mark Miller’s scheme quiet until it was revealed – again, something that I was happy to do!

The other item is ‘identity changing’ – be it with tape or PhotoShop. I’m not going to comment about tape, but as for PhotoShop….

Every image I use is ‘Photoshopped’ in one form or another – I’ll clean things up…. Exposure correct, sharpen etc… that’s just part of the process. And sure, I’ll remove the occasional lighting rig growing out of the top of the fuselage, but change a serial/registration like a certain international aviation magazine had a habit of doing? – no way! Its far too easy to change history that way and once the genie has been let out of the bottle, ya cannot get it back in!

I came close to that once – I give lectures now and then, and for a ‘end of part one’ picture I used to put up an air-to-air of a two-ship TSR-2 formation I had to generate some publicity for TSR-2 Phoenix or Folly I ghosted/published. I soon stopped that idea when I had folks swearing blind that not only did they KNOW it had happened , they has seen the flights and that I WAS to provide them with the picture – can you imagine?

I remember having many discussions with Peter Green about this – he had some very rare pictures of a 1920’s glider from some newspaper that he would’ve liked the name of the long-since-gone newspaper removed and a huge rip in the print repaired. It would not be easy to do, but I could’ve done it – but Peter would not let me!

Prolly been seen before, and almost suicidal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=hgkZSpJ0vFQ

It crashed at the Boundry – there’s a plaque on the Ring Road according to Martin Bowman – there’s a pic of the crash site in his Fields of Little America which I produced a few years back!

IF I am remembering things right…. this is from an article in Air International during the early days – I’m sure I’ve seen it before regarding either the rotorbuggy or the flying jeep thingie that was developed in Oz….

I look further!