BellarineIs it really over two months since my last post ? sheesh, no wonder! Been clocking up 60 hours a week plus in my day job so the poor Beau has not been getting my attention.
But, I got back into it last weekend and started on the centre area floor. I can safely say it has not been done since 1980 as the amount of caked on gunge is ridiculous. So, armed with a few toothbrushes, Mr sheen and four bags of rags, I got to work. Each area takes about an hour to do.
Before just to the right of the observer seat
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After
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Before – this is just behind the bulkhead where the front pilot access port is (my terminology)
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And after
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As school holidays approach I will be looking to get into the engine areas and work on the firewalls. Having let the aircraft rest for a bit shows where the leaks are, and there are a few. Time to fix them up !
BellarineHey Rob, believe so, I’ve never heard of any other engine being fitted to it during its time at the Museum. The P40 sat on a pair of P51 wings for ages as was known as the Kittystang by all. The P40 is now undergoing a full scale rebuild and the Allison is getting a full overhaul too. Be a great day when it comes out on show.
BellarineThey are absolutely stunning, thanks for the link Moggy
BellarineSo when can I expect to see it on the usual Moorabbin flight path down Centre Dandenong Road into Park Road and over my house. 😀
Wouldn’t that be just the best thing to happen 🙂 Anyone out there have a spare few million to help get it in the air ? Oh and a set of props for the port side, couple of engine spares and someone small enough to fit into the pilot seat and fly it !
BellarineOK Pt Two of the weekend work
Starboard side cleaned up
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Armament access panel starboard removed. This was to locate the source of an old leak of hydraulic fluid – turns out it was the hand pump
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View inside where the cannons were.
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Cleaned up the tailfin – stuck the camera in, and only just realised thanks to an eagle eye on Facebk that there is a whopping birds nest up top. Right that’s coming out !
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In amongst this we had a very special visit on the Sunday. 94 year old Flying Officer Dr Bruce Jones came in to visit and see the Beau. He is a former member of 30/31 SQDN who flew Beaus from Coomalie Creek, provided escorts for Catalinas from Broome and served from Morotai. A lovely bloke and he was thrilled to see the aircraft finished in 31SQDN markings (their code is EH) even though the actual number of the aircraft is different. He was full of amazing and funny stories, showed us some photos and pointed out who he knew on the honour role. The Museum’s Beaufighter is dedicated to 31SQDN. I will drop in and have a coffee with him as he wants to introduce me to his mate in the nursing home who is a survivor of Bomber Command and a member of the Caterpillar Club.
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I will be headed off to the beach for a couple of weeks but will resume the work when I return. Cheers
BellarineBeen some interesting things going on – heres some updates.
As per previous post – we now cycle both props regularly and I have been working the flaps via the hand pump daily. This of course has led to a few leaks which is to be expected when you waking Sleeping Beauty from a 20 year slumber !
Anyway, some pics of work done :
Batteries plugged in, and lights internally all come on (aside from the two that have been pinched 🙁
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Those cabin lights do give off a decent amount of light…
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Plugged in and ready to go !
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Five quarts of hydraulic oil in.
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Flaps down, before cleaning
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And after
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Observer dome before acrylic polish
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After
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Wow so good I could take a decent pic thru it !
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More in the next post – so please read this and the next one as a single lot 🙂
BellarineYes the weather has been incredibly humid. You do get an appreciation of how they would have had to deal with these aircraft in the tropics during ww2. Pity the battery ran out of juice during the port cycle but I’m going to do some work in that engine soon and give it a solid work over 🙂
BellarineI had been meaning to upload some more pics, apologies, my computer is in two pieces (literally)
BUT!
It may look like watching paint dry to some, but after many years of inaction, there is life in the old girl. Ash and myself shot a little clip today on my phone. Enjoy and feel free to share.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O436zeaX_Cc&list=UUNgrR7rNTdVWrGtk4fi9mAw
Cheers
Bellarine:applause: Brilliant .It is a satisfying job, i remember the fun cleaning the planes up at Shuttleworth watching them go from dirty and dusty to shiny and clean 🙂
Can the Beaufighter be ground run and taxy and is it ever likely to?
It was last run around 1988 but we have been cycling the engines recently – contrary to popular belief, they both cycle ok. Taxi and engine run? Watch over this year, there is a lot to be done yet but the aircraft has life in her yet 🙂
BellarineSome more from today, lots of wiping down and scrubbing, and of course removing the port air intake to have a look inside….
Finished off the tail area today, you can clearly see before and after in this shot….
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I only decided to remove the air intake after cleaning it, just because I was keen to have a look…
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Because this is the inactive engine, the carby top was not bolted in, gave me a little scare when I took the intake off. No matter, gave it a clean, and had a look, some work to be done, no reason why we can’t get the engine going, it’s more that the props are stuffed.
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Cleaned down upper port wing too, the creaking noises as I made my way out to the edge were a little disconcerting !
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One of my preferred weapons for small areas – the mighty toothbrush….
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I will hopefully have some shots of the last outer upper areas tomorrow, as well as some before and after observers dome. It will start to move internally after that, and then I will be putting shots up as I work on fixing various things internally. Hope thats all fine with you all 🙂
BellarineI just had to do a selfie today !
I will get the other pics up shortly but here’s me on the port engine having a fine old time. I know it sounds silly but I feel really privileged to be able to even just clean the Beau from top to bottom. It’s the best way to get to know the ins and outs of the aircraft
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Cheers
BellarineDay by day she’s starting to look better….
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Got one of the hatches open on the Starboard wing and stuck the phone up to take a peek. Not bad given it’s been locked up in there since 1988 🙂
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Spent the morning (ie 8am – 10am) cleaning the starboard outer wing area on top. The weather has gone off, two days of 40 degrees C so best to do this early.
Looks rather shiny, but also affords a great view back along the wing to the fuse.
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BellarineAll good 🙂 here’s some from this afternoon. I had hoped the panel would be unwired at the rear but not the case so I just curled up in the seat and got to work. Very hot in there today so got quite a sweat worked up!
Before – old switch and jettison button
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Panel off and old switches off
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After – new switches fitted
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The DF loop cover was shot, and I doubt has been removed in a very very long time – older darker finish was under the very thick dust
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Cheers
BellarineJust a couple today from the wing and oil cooler, I’m uploading from my phone so it’s very slow. More coming!
Before
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After
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Before
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After
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BellarineStuffed full of turkey and pudding, I figured best to avoid the Boxing Day sales and the Boxing Day Test and head back to the Museum for some more work.
Started on the rear access hatch :
Before
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After
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Looking up above the hatch – I can see we are missing a ram in there !
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I was struggling to get into certain areas of the cockpit, so figured the best way forward was to remove the “bulge” dome and the nosecone. So with a strong coffee in tow I got to work!
Before
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After – glad the armourplate is in storage otherwise I may have struggled !
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There is a lot of dirt in there but did some solid work removing as much as I could. This shows the rudder pedals – port is before and sb is after clean.
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Interesting perspective of the Pilots seat taken behind the instrument panel.
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I will continue the shots a little later today. Someone asked if they could share the pics – of course you can 🙂 As I have said before, we want to share everything we have and if these can be used as reference shots (or just a collection for the regular avnuts) then job done. No point in it being hidden away for people to never learn from …. Cheers !
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