Tiger Moth

Wing Restoration

Over the past month work has focused predominantly on Tiger wing restoration and construction. Since the last update the Upper Starboard wing has been re-wired and sanded down and will soon be silver doped and eventually covered with madaplin. The Port Upper has been left in its original state and has undertaken minimal restoration due to the immaculate condition it was left in. The Port Lower has been re-wired and fitted with newly created brackets and last week was silver doped.

Next Step . . .

The next process for the Tiger is to gather photographs of original Tiger Moth wing strut brackets. We have the original front struts for the aircraft but the back wing struts differ in measurement and until those measurements are obtained the struts will remain off the structure. Once all the wing sections are completed then they will be put onto the aircraft and the wires will be tightened accordingly to ensure that the wings are securely and appropriately attached to the aircraft. The volunteers are currently analysing the state of the original cockpit windows and will begin the restoration process on them shortly.  

Horsa

Restoration work on the Horsa had been put on hold recently due to work proceeding full-steam-ahead on the Tiger Moth. Recently some of the volunteers have continued work on the Horsa revolving mainly around wing construction. The Port wing leading edge and main spar are complete with minor adjustments needed to be made to the wing ribs. The Starboard spar and leading edge are currently under development and work will continue on them over the next month.

Due to accidental damage to a few of the seats in the Horsa, one of the seats is being replaced using plywood and finished with varnish. The other seats that mainly have surface cracks will be re-supported and the cracks will be sanded from the surface.

Work is progressing nicely on both of the Horsa cockpits with Mike Lillistone leading the way on the one cockpit and the new TCAT Apprentices working on the other. Both of the cockpits are currently being covered with plywood and the internal structure and the components are being reviewed and restored accordingly.