12jaguarLocal press contacted, fingers crossed :o)
John
12jaguarHi Peter
I can’t speak highly enough about the professionalism and dignity with which the recovery was accomplished, the RNLAF Team have the utmost respect for the crews they recover, a point which they reiterated throughout our stay.
It’s not the first time we’ve had to move and we’re used to it but none of us are getting any younger so a self assisted move may have to be discounted.
John
12jaguarHi Bert
There are still a few more large parts to be returned but this won’t be until next year and hopefully after we’ve found new accomodation.
As for the other parts; some have been donated by the Local Municipality to various museums in the Netherlands and some abroad. We have a number of items which we have been asked to give to a museum in the UK. Unfortunately, the majority of the remains will now be scrapped, however, it’s fair to say that the remainder is largely unidentifiable so will not be of any use moving forward. And we had to be mindful on the size of accomodation we will be able to get in the future
We will be sifting through what we recovered looking for part numbers to identify them; up till now the criteria for sorting was based on what was recognisable or on the type of structure that was viewed. Anything with an ‘I’ beam for example was instantly put aside as this normally denotes cockpit structure.
cheers
John
12jaguarHi all
Apologies for lack of posts lately, but it’s been holiday season and also there’s been a lot happening behind the scenes.
So we have some good/excellent news and some not so good news. Let’s get the not so good out of the way first. After some 8 years at Alconbury, we have been given notice to vacate our building due to scheduled redevelopment of the site. We can’t complain as our landlords have been extremely benevolent over this time, but it’s disappointing nonetheless having just installed the jig. But all good things come to an end so we are on a look out for suitable premises in the vicinity 🙁
Now for the good news…
After several years of planning and enforced delays due to Covid, myself, Andy and Cliff travelled to the Netherlands last week to survey the remains of Stirling BK716 which as you may recall was salvaged by the RNLAF. Needless to say, we were unsighted as to what had actually been salvaged by them, having only had a few teasing photos of some parts that had been set aside for us. What greeted us was 26 off large crates full of aircraft parts and an ISO container with the larger parts (not including the engines and Landing gear). It was a truly mind boggling sight and we were unsure if 2 full days would be enough to accomplish the task. however with the assistance of Major Bart A, and his team of guys we all set to…
Progress was surprisingly quick and some interesting artefacts came to light immediately; the first part I picked off the first crate turned out to be an almost undamaged Propellor Feathering Panel (we had already made one of these previously based on an original). Parts then came thick and fast; fuselage sections, the extreme nose still showing the original profile, a damaged but more or less complete sloping bulkhead to the Bomb Aimers position/fwd bomb bay, Bomb Aimers panel, flying control runs etc etc. At the end of it all we had cleared the pile and ended up with a goodly pile of parts to bring back, not all of which would fit in the van unfortunately. But we have a cunning plan in that department ;o)
Lots of photos of what we brought back; I won’t go into details but will elaborate if asked to identify any parts. Ignore any parts on pallets by the way…
As always, take care
John
12jaguarHi all
Don’t recognise that as Stirling structure, the stringer profiles don’t match anything I’ve seen
John
12jaguarThanks Doughnut
We have measured the section at Manston as part of our design efforts and we have close links with Vraux. I can only thank all of the museums and collections that have gladly assisted us over the years
best regards
John
12jaguarHi all
First off, thanks to some good old fashioned collaboration between organisations, we have taken on an initial 3 month loan of a significant piece of Stirling structure from the City of Norwich Aircraft Museum. We had been tipped off that there was a large piece of structure in store which hadn’t been identified previously, Cliff despatched himself to the museum and lo and behold it was indeed part of the bomb bay structure from a Stirling. It’s origin has been lost over time, but it’s suspected to have come from the wreck off Hemsby. It’s over 8′ long so too big to fit in a car; Cliff organised some transport and it’s now secure in our workshop. We suspect it’s from the stbd side of the bomb bay between Frs 18 and 22; this is a long way aft of where we’re building but the frame pitches are identical between Frs 11 14 which we are constructing. This would equate to Bomb Station 10 on the aircraft. Initial investigation has revealed the structure that goes fore and aft of the bomb beam and details of the outboard bomb door torque tube supports. All of these were hitherto unknown to us :o)
Other than that, Cliff and Graham have made a start on some of the smaller brackets for the bomb beams and I folded the further 9 side pieces to the bomb beams following last weeks’ prototype. Next time will result in the flanged holes in the side plates and pilot drill the numerous holes required to attach the structure together. We’re starting to make significant inroads to the kit of parts for the 5 bomb beams that are needed for the build.
cheers
John
12jaguarHi TA
It’s the LIDAR scan of the Stafford centre section off LK488, it’s been rotated and turned the right way up (It’s currently stored upside down on a pallet :o)
John
12jaguarA quick pre-weekend update,. The value of the recent LIDAR scan is now being realised; David has taken the scan and overlayed it on a side view of a Stirling. Allied with the data from the type record, and details taken from existing wreckage, we have accurately plotted the structure between Fr26 and Fr5. This has had the benefit of confirming what we had deduced from calculation which is always good to know that you’re on the right track.
John
12jaguarMorning all
Unexpectedly managed to grab a few hours at the workshop yesterday.
Started off by making the last of the beam to frame support brackets, like the ones shown in the last update. Next job was to rivet the stop bracket on to the bomb hoist cover; there are a few more parts that can be attached but I need to find some spring steel for the spring that lifts the cover when the fastener is released. Should be a short job to complete it though, then it’s only another 5 assemblies to make.
Finally, I had just enough time to have a first stab at making one of the side supports for a bomb beam. As this is 14swg thick, I had some concerns over bending it in our equipment, but I needn’t have worried as dimensionally it turned out perfectly. Flanging the lightening holes was also a concern as I wondered if it was thicker than our tooling was cable of, but again it turned out fine.
Slowly but surely a kit of parts is coming together :o)
Finally, I’m pleased to report that in collaboration with Airfix, they kindly LIDAR scanned the remains of the Stirling centre fuselage section that’s in store at Stafford. This is invaluable information that informs our CAD design for the upper fuselage and on first inspection it closely matches our hand measured dimensions and profile. Before any of you model makers get excited there’s no plans for Airfix to make a new Stirling! A big thanks to them for helping us out.
regards
John
12jaguarGood morning all
Apologies, a bit late to the computer this week, but work and life gets in the way sometimes.
Saturday saw 4 of us at the workshop with Cliff in an artistic mood; so he broke out the paintbrush and has started on painting the jig which was delivered in red oxide primer. The fuselage once complete will remain on this for some considerable time, so it’s important to protect it and to make it look presentable (professional) in the long term.
Whilst Graham continues to try and free up some of our bomb crutch mechanisms, I’ve started on fabricating a kit of parts for the other 5 bomb beams that are required. First off, are the brackets that attach the beam to the frames. On our original beam, I noted that one of the brackets was definitely suffering from a bad case of metal moth and as I have to make another 5 pairs it seemed rude not to replace it. I had intended on making the brackets using some original bend bars, but the material is too thick to fit inside them! Instead it was a trip to the bench folder,; having calculated a rough cut-off allowance it was with some trepidation that I made the first bend. Despite my concerns that due to it’s thickness and not knowing the material spec, the bend turned out perfectly with no cracking and the side measuring exactly 1″ as required….phew!! So having made a prototype, I was able to make 4 pairs only to discover that I didn’t quite have enough material to make the last 2…grrr!!
Having transferred the holes from the corroded example to the new bracket, it was assembled with jointing compound (aka Yak sh!t to Riggers LOL) and 9 off 3/16″ snap head rivets. I think you’ll agree it looks a lot more serviceable now.
I’ll be looking to refurbish our blasting cabinet, so will be replacing some items on it and will be ordering some more blasting media this week. The current media is getting a bit tired and I’ve taken some advice on some more specialist material; there’s every chance that the cabinet will be called into use more frequently in the next few months (news on this to come….) so it needs to be in the best condition we can make it.
Finally, a bit of an explanation/apology. I imagine that with the delivery of the bomb frame blanks there might have been an expectation of some tangible manufacturing progress. However, a previous Project Lead once said to me that the cockpit flightdeck was the most complicated part of the build; I sort of disagree as whilst the flightdeck has a lot of small parts, the bomb bay is complex in its set up and almost every day we find out just how difficult it will be to assemble it. This is part of the reason why I’ve been working on the bomb beams as getting these made is essential to setting the frame distances on some of the bays and will also add a crucial amount of rigidity to the structure as we move through the assembly process.
I hope this manages expectations on this front as we have to get this right first time as there’ll be little prospect of revisiting this if we mess up.
Till next
John
12jaguarApologies for the lack of updates over the last few weeks; life gets in the way sometimes.
Nonetheless, we have been making slow but steady progress. In advance of getting the final drawings for the bomb bay keel structure finalised, Graham and I have been cannibalising our stock of bomb crutches to make a kit of parts for all 6 that we need. This is slow going as many of our recovered parts have suffered from corrosion and crash damage so ther’s often some choice words when trying to remove corroded bolts etc. At least now we have a better idea of what needs fabricating and what can be re-used.
Whilst Graham was cursing and stripping down the crutches, I had another go at bead blasting our nearly complete example; it’s looking better but I need to order some new media and perhaps get a new blast gun as it’s becoming a bit worn out. The crutch assy just about fits inside the cabinet which makes handling it a bit awkward as well.
Finally, we took delivery this week of a Type 89 IFF Control unit, this will be installed in the W/Op position when the time comes; other than a bit of a clean it should be good to go when the time comes
cheers
John
12jaguarNo update this weekend I’m afraid, but I can tell you that we have recently bought a NOS Gee Indicator Unit and are continuing getting prepped for building the bomb bay. We have 5 off Bomb Crutch Assemblies to fabricate and we have to do some detail drawings to accomplish this. These will be essential in setting up the bomb frames.
12jaguarHi all
As promised, the bomb bay jig was finally delivered and installed on Saturday. Thankfully, the weather gods were kind to us and apart from a cool wind, we had glorious sunshine to welcome it to Alconbury. Despite weighing over a 1/4 of a tonne, it proved easy to unload and within a few minutes we had it located in its final location in the workshop.
Initial levelling measurements looked promising and once one corner had a 5mm shim installed under the pad due to the floor being slightly uneven; we were ready to bolt it down. Once bolted down but not fully nipped, I used the ex RAF Clinometer we purchased earlier to check the levels; readings were taken on each of the transverse and longitudinal members and to say I was massively impressed would be an understatement! at no point was any of the cardinal points greater than 10 minutes from zero degrees or its opposite number 🙂
This is a testament to the welding skills of Richie who slaved long and hard on its construction and he himself confirmed it’s one of the most accurate, taxing but enjoyable jobs he’s ever undertaken.
The rigidity of design showed that even once nipped up, the measurements barely changed with some points reading bang on zero. We couldn’t have asked for a better starting point for the build to progress from.
There’ll be no update next weekend and the following weekend will see the jig being given a lick of paint, probably Hammerite, any suggestions on a fetching scheme LOL?
On the aircraft side, the bomb crutch has now been stripped as far as possible which will allow for more accurate measurements to be taken in preparation for the manufacture of the missing 5 we need. Might have a pop at bending up a bomb frame next time as well
take care
John
12jaguarWell, best laid plans and all that; due to circumstances beyond our control the delivery of the jig won’t be until 19th March now. Not really a problem as we’re not quite ready to start populating it with material yet anyway.
So today was a day of further stripping down the bomb crutch (which I now think is Bomb Station 5 which is on the centre line at frame 12 to 13). the bare bones of the assembly are now laid bare and at last has confirmed the true length of the crutch structure. Graham and I made a start on the inner gubbins that makes up the bomb hoisting block. This is a large machined block with a manually operated ‘piston’ on it that obviously locks the bomb in position although for the life of me I can’t quite see how this works in reality. Hopefully someone will know in the community. This was bead blasted and tbh it’s come up pretty well and almost looks as good as new.
Finally, I have some really good news to relate; a sizeable donation has been made to the Project which significantly assists us moving forward. This has come via the Bomber Command Association and has a proviso that we incorporate a tribute to the crew of Stirling EE944 which crashed while on approach to RAF Tempsford with the loss of 5 crew. We are more than happy to do this, especially as it’s a ‘local’ aircraft to us. We have been in touch with some of the relatives and hopefully will be able to invite them to our workshop at some stage.
More next week
take care
John
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