New photos added.
It has been a busy couple of weeks with a lot of visitors through the shop.
Yesterday we received a consignment of items for the T51 including the engine (3.5 litre V6 ) prop and the larger undercarriage legs. Check out these photos on the T51 page.
On the Tempest we are now pulling the entire forward section of the fuselage to pieces, once it has been cleaned/checked it will be painted silver before reassembly. The RH wing is now fully secure in the jig and work has started on its restoration.
We also have on its way this week a crate of sheet aluminium which we have purchased in the UK, all we need now is rivets and hardware!
September 28th.
We would like to congratulate all involved in the return of Mosquito KA114 to the air here at Ardmore. It was great to see it become airbourne yesterday after following the work for so many years, and we are all looking forward to it flying tomorrow with several other aircraft of the same era.
Also finished this week was the static (for now) Macchi which will now sit in New Zealand Warbirds hangar next to the A4.
Macchi 71.
Update 24th Sept 2012
The P40E tailplane is now finished, check out the new photo of it with fin attached.
The first of the Tempest wings is now suspended in the jig with the final mountings just being finalised now. Work has also started on the Tempest forward fuselage with separation of the forward section frame from the monocoque scheduled to happen next week.
The NZ Warbirds Macchi is now 90% assembled (we all know what that means) and looking good in it’s spot next to the A4K.
On Saturday we were pleased to host members of the Z Club of New Zealand, nice to see the quality Japanese vehicles outnumbering the European rubbish.
Week ending 7th September
It has been a busy week with work just about at an end on the P40-E tailplane. Work has continued on the T51 build and the setting up of the fixtures for the rebuild of the Tempest MkII. We have also been assisting New Zealand Warbirds with the assembly of their Macchi 339c which will be displayed in their hangar next to Shyhawk 09.
P40-E tailplane nearing completion.
Hawker Tempest MkII
We were hoping to keep this secret, but with the amount of interest that was never going to happen. So here is the photo of our trial fit up, this is to make sure before restoration gets into full swing that there are no major glitches in alignment and symmetry. All looks good!
Initial fit up and measure.
Red Nose Day.
CAG is in the shop for it’s annual servicing, red nose didn’t fit too well but I’m sure you get the picture. We are proud to still be associated with this aircraft which was rebuilt here and is still going strong.
Red Nose Day
Tempest visitors.
A big day for us all on Tuesday with visitors coming in to view the Tempest. Guest’s of honour was Jack Stafford and his wife Edith, Jack needs no real introduction and we were pleased to be able to re-unite him with the Tempest after last sitting in one in 1946. Also present were Jim McCaw’s sons Donald and John and Ron Peet who flew P40’s and Corsairs with the RNZAF.
Jack Staford seated in the Tempest for the first time in 66 years.
10th August 2012.
Well it has been a little over a week since we got our new website up and running and we are pleased with it’s progress, still a lot of up dating to go on but a good start. In the hangar this week work has been carrying on with all of the current projects, manufacture of fuselage skins for the T51, final assembly of the P-40E tailplane and initial inspections being carried out on the Tempest fuselage and wings.
Pauline from our office has has a knee restoration take place this week, we wish her a speedy recovery and hope she is back on deck before PAYE day.
Also just passing the door this week we have had the Venom coming out of the Airspray paintshop and the Mosquito heading in, who would work in town!
New Website!!!!!
After a series of technical problems we are now back in buisness with our new/updated website.
Keep a close eye on it over the next few months as we attempt to bring it up to date, we will be filling in the gaps and also adding the exciting new projects we are currently working on.
Stephen Fox
Engineer.
Stephen left school at the end of year 12 and went to work at Mosquito Aircraft Restoration and was involved in the building of 2 Mosquito fuselages before joining Pioneer Aero in 2015.