I honestly dont know if there are any surviving drawings for the Albatross, or indeed the Don and Flamingo. Logic says that there should be some ’88 drawings surviving too. Stan Smith may know more.

I believe that a chunk of the Airspeed archive survives at Southampton University, or possibly with the library service in that part of the world. No idea what aircraft that represents, but Oxford drawings have come from that source in the past.

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

When I visited the former BAE drawing archive at Chadderton in 2000 they had a considerable number of Flamingo and Albatross drawings still on microfiche. Whether they survived to be passed on with the Hornet, Mosquito, Comet, Nimrod stuff, I don’t know though?

No not Firefly.

Maybe Gannet then. This was my first hunch.

Hi Flyingbird,

AS2142 is definitely the complete seat part number. Andrew Hawkins – is this a Firefly seat? For some reason, the shoulder strap parts remind me of this?

Vampire single seater windscreen de-icer tank

A couple of bits which have been kicking around for a while. First looks like a slide device from a ramp or cargo bay. Rescued from Glastonbury festival a few years ago. There were lots of big transport plane bits being used for decoration. Seemed a shame to leave it. It’s just under a meter long with a hinge at one end an a square nylon bearing at the other.
Second is a lead mass balance weight on A4 paper for scale. Came from a field where Mustangs (and lots of other things)were scrapped. No numbers visible.
Last was labelled as Whitley but isn’t. Has a small 98 stamp on the flange so am guessing Mosquito but can’t find a pic to back that up. Any suggestions much appreciated.

Hi Ian,

The cylindrical aluminium tank is from a single seat Vampire. Its the windscreen de-icer tank that is mounted in the nose. Jon Howard is looking for one of these for his FB5: VZ193.

Suggest you send him a pm.

pm sent

On Saturday 14th Apr I travelled over to Fort Velhuis museum in Holland (http://www.arg1940-1945.nl) with Pat1968 and his partner. The aim of the trip was to collect the fuselage of Hawker Typhoon RB396 and bring it back to the UK. On Sunday 15th it started what must have been it slowest journey across the channel, 68 years and 2 weeks since it was hit by flak and crash landed. We finally returned home in the early hours (12.30am) and unloaded it at home.

It is a significant push in my ongoing Typhoon project (12 years) which now means that my project is a genuine 2nd TAF veteran with a concrete history. Combining this with the parts I already have, the numerous drawings I secured last year and lots of help from other rebuilders (or some may say mad men 🙂 ) my ultimate aim is to end up with a second complete Typhoon (which will remain as RB396). The fuselage also means that I now have enough information, and Typhoon, to kickstart the centre section from the firewall to the tail.

A brief glance over the fuselage shows the historical significance of some of the remains (the original paint & the visible flak damage). My plan is to complete the work to an airworthy standard (although we all know how tough this will be) therefore when I restore the fuselage the damaged sections will need to be replaced. However, any of the original panels on the side which was not previously restored will be preserved in their current state (when they are replaced) so that a reminder of what happened to RB396 will be preserved along with what must be some very rare original wartime markings.

I wish to say a big thanks to Pat and his partner for helping me out and travelling all the way from Staffordshire to Holland, Cees for letting me know it was available, his help over the years and the help getting it ready to move and finally to all the guys at the museum for their hospitality, the enthusiasm they have shown for my project and for entrusting the fuselage with me. I would highly recommend a visit to the museum. We were only able to spend 2 hours having a quick tour around but we could have spent so much longer there (they had opened specially for us even though they do not officially start their season until next month). We will definitely be going back to take it all in.

All comments/suggestions are welcome (please be nice 🙂 ) and of course if anyone comes across Typhoon parts or drawings then I am always interested.

Well done Dave,

An absolute coup for your project!

I have sent you a pm, btw.

Hi Brian,

This part number is from a de Havilland Hornet! On the wing to be specific.

“Third piece is stamped in several places with W3 22XX AND ISS ND BAT5 and a DHP inspectors stamp.”

Please could you e-mail me some photo’s. I’ll try to ID the exact location on the airframe.

I don’t suppose this would be available as-is???

Are the other parts from the same aircraft?