snipped… Aircraft are mostly pretty well documented and for all intents and purposes the recovery of a few broken, twisted, burnt or otherwise damaged parts does not add anything to research on them as artefacts in their historical context.

snipped.

I have not had time to read all the posts, but find this snippet interesting. I have been doing the odd dig for best part of 30 years. Granted I am not professional, but I believe that even amateurs do well in fields of furthering aviation knowledge….

Example, we have been recovering a prototype aircraft that is extinct. We have been recovering it slowly and painstakingly….all the parts have been conserved using current techniques…..what have we found out from these broken and twisted items that was not already known?

1. Only one photo of the aircraft exists and is black and white….people assumed the aircraft was light blue or silver…..we have proved it was actually light aircraft grey with a duck egg blue spinner….
2. We have found out the exact trajectory of the aircraft.
3. We will be able to further the story of the brave pilot and educate the future generations.

BTW, leaving the wreckage where it lies is not a good option…..the corrosion state has amazed us and I would suggest in another 30 years nothing will be left……

I have another example, I spent 18 years looking for the crashsite of a very important test pilot….we have worked out where it crashed, its trajectory etc and will be able to add to the knowledge and appreciation of this man….we are into our 4th year of recovery (yep we are slow and methodical!)

sure i am not a professional archaeologist, but I feel we have something to offer…..local people, especially younger people are amazed to know that brave people tested, fought and died in the fields around their houses…..I suppose it was the reason I got into this…..When I was young I found wreck recovery ‘distasteful’. My friends in the OXAC would invite me on digs and I never did. Once I relented and went with them to a Mosquito that was lost 2 days before VEDay…..I had passed the field many times and (even a hardened aviation history nut like me) never knew that 2 brave men had died there. So how could I expect the great unwashed to?

first item is off a Merlin, looks like/similar to a Lincoln stub

A shot of XE601 I took on her 40th birthday!

werent they essentially the wings from/ went on to be the wings for the attacker?

possibly, but would need to look at mounting points, structure etc

why????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

it is possible to fit wheels to a fish or dog….but why?!!

i know there were plans to fit a rolls royce Crecy to a spit. In my dreams of a perfect warbird racer, i came accross the idea of a napier sabre mated to a late mark spitfire airframe… would this be any sort of a possibility? (infinite amounts of time and money availiable of course 😉 )

RAF pilots notes were produced by Handling Squadron which was and still is at Boscombe Down……the photos are often touched up so much (or were) that they look like pen and ink…..try asking HSqn?

fantastic! Did Tony B do the first flight? You poor chaps have the Bianchis to thank for me getting into aviation!!! (Taken there in a push chair age 3…….) the Bianchis were incredibly friendly and tolerant of my requests over the early years!

TE184 is nice in French colours….will be nice to see more fly. Steve, did AA do any work for her?

Ah yes the good old clock… sometimes forgotten about due to the “digital” age.

The RED hands arent connected to the clock at all. They are simply movable hands so the pilot can set departure time, etc…

It is a rim wound clock of the type fitted to Spitfires (and other WW2 aircraft)…the advance/retard is on the back…nice clock!