Well, it was meant to be tongue in cheek but there is truth to it.

That’s the main reason I have been so selective on getting items made up for the Whitley. There are still components out there. Only 2 days ago I got an email from a kind person offering me a flap section and hydraulic component from Whitley BD232 that were picked up off the hillside in the 1970s.

Lord only knows the volume of souvenired parts that were subsequently binned.

We will continue to watch and wait – restoring original components and selectively and conservatively having new ones made.

Fuselage frames are a different matter :p

Cheers

Well done Cees – it looks beautiful. Bet you a real one turns up shortly – life is very much like that 😀

I agree – early post war. It’s a Rotol blade and probably from a large aircraft – most likely a bomber or transport.

Any chance of a photo James? Might be Whitley… :rolleyes:

Looks good Dave – nice pics. Thanks for posting.

Hi Cees

It’s being subcontracted out – the nacelle frames and engine bearers have already gone off to be rebuilt. The front turret is currently being rebuilt and work will start on the centre section later this year.

Cheers

Hi Cees

Thanks for the mention – yes, as usual things are moving along quietly – more progress was made on the front turret this afternoon, stripping down the valve box and linkages from the front turret controls that originated from a high ground wreck Whitley (corroded nuts are slow work).

I’m still waiting for the missing half of the outer turret ring to come back from the fabricators – I am promised this will happen soon.

Our pilots escape hatch is also coming back together now – the wood is well preserved and still smells new after careful cleaning. One of the wooden members has gone away to a highly qualified person to be repaired before being incorporated back into the frame – once this is done the metalwork will go back on over it.

Here is a picture of the front end of one of our nacelle frames – this was put together about six months ago by a very talented but extremely busy engineer. Some of the joints in these pictures were brought down by Chinook in our Nov 2005 recovery – they are looking much better now and are very much back in the right place.

There is much much more to say, I have updated the website recently and will add a few more recoveries when time permits. Hopefully a more detailed progress report will appear in the aviation press later this year – it is probably the right time for one….

All the best