KIGASBoB Survivors
The Bristol Blenheim MkI nose we are restoring at DX is a BoB survivor, althought I do appreciate it is not a complete aircraft it is a sinificant part, and of course will fly again.
It is L6739 built by AVRO and delivered to 23 Sqdn on 2nd Sept 1939 and served as a night fighter throughout 1940 and was struck off charge December 1940.
Smudge
KIGASWatton Memorial
The memorial hasn`t been stolen it is being resited near to the old Watton main gate and will be rededicated at 11a.m. 21st June 2008.
The Blenheim memorial will be on the left and the American on the right of the entrance to the estate known as Blenheim Grange
KIGASBlenheim Cockpits
There seems to be some misunderstanding over the Blenheim cockpits, well to clear this it up the control layout in the British built MKI and MKIV are exactly the same, its the Bolingbroke version that had a different layout for the throttles, carb cutouts, pitch change and hydraulic levers.
As for accidents the main cause of Blenheim accidents was excessive idling of the engines prior to take off which would cause the engines to oil the plugs up so losing power or allowing the cylinder head temperatures to rise above the recommended levels which would cause pre detonation just as full power was required. Also the single engine safety speed for a fully laden Blenheim was far in excess of take off speed so if you lost an engine on take off you would not climb out, this I might add was the same for all WWII twins even a fully laden Mosquito would not climb out on a single engine.
We operated Blenheim with the full knowledge of the likely problems with the Mercury so there was no excessive idling of the engines and cylinder head temperatures watched closely. Single safety speed was addressed by the fact that our lighter weight brought the single engine speed down to 90 mph, so the aircraft was not taken off until that speed had been reached and passed through.
As for saying that the Blenheim was accident prone I might point out that the vast majority of accidents took place when the aircraft was used in the operational training establishments with very inexperienced pilots and this is well documented. Ask any veteran Blenheim pilot and they will tell you how well they rated the aircraft.
To clear up another point the Duxford Blenheim will have its control systems as a standard MKI the reasons for are set out above.
As for the two accidents these have been well documented and NEITHER was caused by any mechanical fault or by the control layout.
Finally when we do fly it will be more than likely in a desert scheme.
And the Blenheim will still fly again.
Smudge
KIGASBlenheim Progress
To answer the original question the re skinning of the MKI nose is all but done and should be completed this weekend.The manufacture of new ribs and the re skinning has been a big job as all skins below the waist line are compound curves so needed a deal of wheeling. At the same time there has been much work rescuing many of the internal components which are painted and ready for fitting.
All work at the moment in time is all being done voluntarily as we do not have the funds to employ full time staff.
Now that we have the monoque complete and the nose self supporting the next phase is to remove all of the tubing around the cockpit, much of which is corroded, and either rescue or remake, at the same time many of the original internal fittings have been rescued and ready for fitting.
With regard to the interchangeability of the MkI and MkIV the production break behind the cockpit is the same for all Blenheims type MkI, IV, V and Bolingbroke the major controls are the same for all aircraft the only problem we have is the siting of such controls as the hydraulics, pitch, carb cut outs and throttles which are different in the Bolingbroke and we have a certain amount of altering torque tubes and other cables. We do not intend to gut the MkIV nose other than the seat and the blind flying panel and once the MkI is finished we will hope to make the MkIV nose a project and restore it back to airworthy.
I take the opportunity to thank every one who has made a donation to the project. We would love to have a major sponsor but this appears not to be so we will do it on our own as before but with considerable help from the Blenheim Society who do marvels on our behalf.
The Blenheim will fly again.
Smudge
KIGASThe rotary switch on the right is as stated a bomb sequence selector and the switches on the left are arming switches.
JS
KIGASOk Roobarb I know I should have known but I am getting on a bit, you keep the bino`s as the actions much nearer down my end.
KIGASThe Lysander airframe with ARC is V9312 built at Yeovil and served with 225, 613 and 4 Sqdns before being converted to a target tug and shipped to Canada, serving at Mossbank, Saskatchewan. It last flew at the end of december 1944. It was owned by Harry Wherreat and sold to Kermit Weeks at Polk City about 5/6 years ago but I dont know if it was registered in the USA. When Kermit bought the Brian Woodford Lysander, V9132 was purchased by ARC and shipped to UK. To date both wings, aelerons, flaps and slats are complete apart from fabric plus the fin. At least 95% of the metal work has been rescued but all new wood ribs were manufactured. The fuselage is in `Blenheim Palace` where the wooden fuselage formers are being worked out before its stripped down. This airframe is very complete and it is hoped that the original engine will also be rescued.
JS
KIGASI know the people who painted this FSM, they are experts at painting Spitfires and do so on a regular basis, they know precisely what colour schemes apply to which mark. For those of you who are castigating them, and obviously not speaking from any knowledge of the contractual requirements, and stating that they should have known better, they do. I will remind you that its the customer (IWM) who dictates what is required and not the contractor, they might advise but at the end of the day they have to do as the customer requires. So if you have any brickbats to throw at any one do so at the owners. I think an apology to these people wouldn`t go amiss.
KIGASSpeak to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum who at present restoring a Boly to fly, they should have all the info you want. Contact them on – [email]museum@warplane.com[/email] or see their website http://www.warplane.com.
JS
KIGASCould I straighten out a couple of things re the Blenheim and its conversionto a MkI.
After the accident at DX in August 2003 the aircraft passed into the ownership of Blenheim (Duxford) Ltd (Not the Blenheim Society) who after looking at the possibility of repairing the aircraft, decided that as the aircraft was dismantled down to its major components, if the conversion to a MkI was to be done, now was the time to do it.
As was rightly said the main difference between the British built MkIs and IVs and its Canadian cousins was the cockpit layout for the engine and hydraulic controls otherwise the main flying controls were exactly the same. As Blenheims were made to be transportable there are production breaks at the rear of the cockpit and these will be used in the conversion so it is a matter of shortening and lengthening some torque tubes and the re wiring and retubing of ancillary controls back to the centre section. One other problem is the ancillary engine instruments which are of a different type and are much harder to get, but the main flying panel is the same as in all British aircraft of the period. As for the bomb bay all Blenheims were built as bombers and had the bomb bay fitted the gun pack is a detachable item and can be fitted or removed as was required. The conversion to a MkI was always a consideration since the nose was obtained but as always it was the cost of doing it that put it off. The MkIV nose will be repaired in due course and could be refitted in the future if so required. I am not making light of the amount of work to be done but it will happen and it will done in a manner that any future changes can be made more easily. As for the repairs the fuselage is well on its way and should be out of `Blenheim Palace` by the end of June when work will start on the nose. I`ll put a plug in for the Blenheim Society one of its aims is to support the Blenheim at Duxford by raising funds they do a tremendous job for a small society so if you wish to help join up.
JS
KIGASARC did start the restoration of the IWMs Bolingbroke 9893 and had completed most of the work on the centre section and fuselage and one wing when it was then decided by the IWM that they would complete the work themselves. The decision on the colour scheme was that it would carry the colours that it wore as a MkIVT to commemorate the Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
Harry Wherreat has a Lysander in Assiniboa Saskatchewan which is painted as a target tug in yellow/black, it is capable of flying but has not done so. He has made a superb job of the rebuild which he completed some four years ago. Harry also has a Hurricane which is again a superb example which has flown but not recently.
As for engines for the Bolingbroke out of 600 odd produced 14 were build with Pratt and Whitney twin wasp juniors 9005 and 9010-9023 but these are even more rare than Mercurys and one 9074 was experimentally fitted with a Wright Cyclone
Kigas
KIGASProgress on the Blenheim fuselage is good, with ribs repaired and new skins fitted below the turret on the starboard side. There are two skins to be repaired on the port side then work can start on the rear of the bomb bay and the keel beam. If progress is maintained at the present rate we should see the fuselage completed by end of June, we then will look at starting the MkI nose. As always funding is the problem.
As for the Lysander both wings are now complete with slats flaps and ailerons but will not be fabricked at this stage. The fin is complete and work has now started on the tail plane and rudder. I hope to move the fuselage into `Blenheim Palace` within the next two weeks once I`ve got rid of Hurricane repairs.
Kigas
KIGASThere was a film which appears from time to time on afternoon TV which stars John MILLS about a aerodrome called Halpenny Green for the life of me I cant think of the name of the film, however it shows a squadron of MkIs flying and was made about 1950. I`ve got it on tape somewhere.
And as for the Yale its being worked on.
KIGASYes we stored the gunpack which was made to drawings obtained from Farnborough, the MkI nose we have is from a BoB night Fighter built by AVRO`S and was set No. 146. Unfortunately the gunpacks for the MKI and MKIV are different so we couldn`t use it on that. The MKI was struck off charge in December 1940. Putting the MKI nose on the aircraft will cause some difficulties with the engine and hydraulic control systems but this can be overcome It will again unfortunately put some time on its return to the air, but if we are going to do it now is the time and worth it at the end.
JAS
KIGASJust to set the record straight the Bristol Blenheim/Bolingbroke are the same aircraft and carry the same design number Type149, in other words they are like Texans, Harvards, T6 or SNJs the same basic aircraft. The original prototype MkIV K7072 was called Bolingbroke by Bristols and this went to the Canadians when setting up their production line and the first 10 or so were made up from parts sent over from the UK. When the prototype K7072 had an accident it was that one that that the Canadians alltered the cockpit control layout for the throttles and hydraulic controls. For some reason the Air Ministry decided to call the British built version Blenheim IV.
As for the versions restored at Duxford the fuselage of 9893 was not used in G-MKIV as it was substantially 10038 although the wings came from another aircraft, Haydon Baillie in his wisdom bought back a substantial supply of spare parts.
The centre section of G-BPIV is in Blenheim Palace and is now substantially complete and should be moved out within the next 4 weeks and then the fuselage will be started.
Going back to G-MKIV the only parts used from that to help the restoration of G-BPIV was the ailerons, Flaps, elevators and some parts from the engines. Part of G-MKIV is being being used in the IWM static the rest is from parts from stock, there is also a spare fuselage stored at DX. The static Bolingbroke is with the IWM tech staff for completion and has not been with ARC for some two years now so Texan Tomcat must come and see us in the Palace to get updated.
The MkI nose is most likely to be fitted and as the production break on the fuselage is the same for MkI, MkIV and Bolingbrokes it does show the minimum differences in the aircraft. We have drawings that show name BlenheimIV or Bolingbroke crossed out to suit which country it was in.
And for the record G-BPIV is owned by Blenheim (Duxford) Ltd who are contracting ARC to carryout the repair (Please note it is a repair and not a restoration)
JAS
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