It has certainly been a busy time since I last sent out any up-date on the project. Having failed to find, as yet, the correct marking for P9503, I am, for the time being, going with ‘B’ for Baillon. I don’t have any information to say that B was used on another aircraft at this time, so it makes sense that we go with this until I am told otherwise.
I have now had confirmation from Richard Osgood, Senior Archaeologist with the Defence Archaeological Group, that RAF Museum Hendon do not require any of the finds from Exercise Tally Ho, the dig on Salisbury Plain last September, and he has very generously decided that we should become the recipients. This is quite a responsibility, as it means that we will be the custodians of all the known original parts from Spitfire Mk1 P9503. Whilst the vast majority of the pieces that were excavated are small, twisted pieces of aluminium, there are parts that are recognisable, and we aim to incorporate as many of these as we can into our build.
The build itself is progressing well, with a number of new helpers joining the group. Additional skills are always welcomed, and these new helpers have certainly brought that to the project.
The rudder is nearly complete, including the control details and we will begin covering the leading edge this week before dealing with the canvas/dope stage a little later on when we are sure all is well and it hangs happily on the tail. Speaking of the tail, it too is coming along well, although I am a little stuck trying to work out the exact dimensions needed for the cross brace/skin supports for the tail wheel area between frames 20 & 21…
We have also started the long task of building the horizontal stabaliser, a single unit that runs through the tail and is held firm with a forward and rear spar. I made a school boy error on the initial drawing onto 9mm MDF by following the MkIX dimensions I had before realising that the MkI aircraft had a slightly different shape. Most dimensions are identical though, so that ‘scrap’ piece of MDF will be used for other parts later on. We’ve not started on the elevator yet, although with our experience from the rudder, it should go together relatively smoothly as it is essentially a double-ended rudder, so we know basically what to do.
I’ve had some help with instruments from Russ Marmuth, owner of The Spitfire Aircraft Co. Ltd in CA, USA. He’s been very generous, as have so many people. His website is an inspiration as he builds full-scale flying Spitfire kits!
Another contact I have made fairly recently is in South Africa. There are members of the Port Elizabeth South African Air Force Museum who are also building a wooden Spitfire, and I thought it might be interesting to tell them of our project. It will be interesting to see how their project develops; they are ahead of us by quite some way. A link to their project can be found here: http://saafmuseum.org.za/category/projects/
Pictures to follow, I’m having trouble encouraging the forum to accept them…!
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