Warbird Information Exchange

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this site are the responsibility of the poster and do not reflect the views of the management.
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:13 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Classic Wings Magazine WWII Naval Aviation Research Pacific Luftwaffe Resource Center
When Hollywood Ruled The Skies - Volumes 1 through 4 by Bruce Oriss


Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 29 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Author Message
PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 11:13 pm 
Offline
KiwiZac
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:33 am
Posts: 1440
Location: Blenheim, NZ
Speaking of updates, Pioneer Aero has posted one of their own: http://www.pioneeraero.co.nz/2017/09/18 ... net-tt193/

Quote:
The announcement in Classic Wings Downunder has caused quite a stir it seems there are a lot of people out there who are as excited as us about this. We have already had a lot of questions asked about all manner of details so hopefully my bullet points below will answer most of these.

The project is currently owned by Pioneer Aero.

It is located at our hangar at Ardmore, Auckland New Zealand and at this point is not available for public viewing.

Yes the intention is to return it to flight.

It is a DH 103 Sea Hornet, it is not a Mosquito

There is still a lot of detail to be worked through so we have no firm idea of time frames at this stage.

Yes we are a little crazy.

It is appropriate at this stage to acknowledge and thank the following people.

Corin McCrae , Aerowood.

Mr Reg Field.

David Collins, Project Hornet. U.K.

Hugh Jones U.K.

_________________
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 8:43 am 
Offline
Long Time Member
Long Time Member

Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm
Posts: 7540
Title edited

_________________
[Thread title is ridiculous btw]


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 1:03 am 
Offline

Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2009 10:28 pm
Posts: 455
Location: New Zealand
DH82EH wrote:
I've yet to see anything stating who the operator will be once complete.
Andy

Fairly sure it's actually owned by Pioneer. So perhaps sold during or after restoration or (oh if only) it stays here.....


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 1:28 am 
Offline
3000+ Post Club
3000+ Post Club
User avatar

Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 2:02 am
Posts: 4606
Location: Yucca Valley, CA
How much of a Hornet do they have to start with now?
From Geoff Goodall's list:
Quote:
F Mk. 20
TT193 RCAF Winter Experimental Establishment, Edmonton ALTA 2.48

CF-GUO Spartan Air Services Ltd, Ottawa ONT 28.6.51

Kenting Aerial Surveys 8.51

Field Aviation Ltd 4.52
dam. in emergency landing, Terrace BC 11.7.52
broken-up, parts buried in landfill, Terrace Airport .52
(remainder of hulk stored on farm ALTA 94/97)

I seem to recall there was also an intact rear fuselage and/or a set of nacelles and main gear, but that was it?

_________________
Image
All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:06 am 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!

Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:31 pm
Posts: 1650
Yes, Pioneer owns it, for now.

Our P-40 was built by them. We bought it as a Project, and paid them to complete the restoration. In fact I was put in charge of the Oversight of that project.

They are good people to work with.

Dave


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:24 pm 
Offline

Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:36 pm
Posts: 715
Exciting news for sure! FWIW, Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown, famed test pilot who flew 487 aircraft types, more than anyone else in the world, stated that the Sea Hornet was the best aircraft he ever flew. It had phenomenal performance, including an average climb rate of 5000'/min to 20,000' altitude.

If I remember correctly, somewhere in one of the museums in England, there exists the original fuselage moulds for the Hornet. Does any one know where that is and if Pioneer Aero is seeking use of it? Just like the Mosquito, having fuselage moulds is essential for building the fuselage. No moulds = no fuselage = no airworthy aircraft.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:23 am 
Offline
3000+ Post Club
3000+ Post Club
User avatar

Joined: Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am
Posts: 3321
The concrete Hornet fuselage moulds are at the de Havilland museum at Salisbury Hall.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 11:18 am 
Offline

Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:36 pm
Posts: 715
Mike wrote:
The concrete Hornet fuselage moulds are at the de Havilland museum at Salisbury Hall.

Thanks Mike. Do you happen to have a picture of them? Do you know what kind of shape they are in? Are they suitable for helping with this project?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 6:12 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 7:02 am
Posts: 313
Location: Up the Hill,Norwest from Brizzy
They look pretty bad.. :(
https://warbirdtails.net/2014/10/29/de- ... -the-tail/

_________________
If the CO ask,s you to be Tail End Charlie...Just Shoot Him..A Piece of Cake


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 6:43 pm 
Offline

Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:36 pm
Posts: 715
Spitty wrote:

Ooh, not good.

Does anyone know how they intend on recreating the Hornet's fuselage? If I remember correctly, all the fuselage moulds for the Mosquito were non-existent and Glyn Powell basically had to have a boat draftsman reverse engineer a fuselage to make new moulds. Since no significant parts of the Hornet exist, apart from a rear fuselage and other non wing center sections, how are they going to do it?

Does anyone know if Hornet drawings were part of the large "cache" of DeHavilland blueprints/engineering drawings that were recently found?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:04 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:19 pm
Posts: 352
Location: Near the home of the Cleveland National Air Races!
The concrete Hornet fuselage molds at the de Havilland Museum did not look too bad to me last week when I visited. It is in three pieces but they appear to be natural parting lines. Salisbury Hall is not part of the de Havilland Museum and contains private businesses. I took a picture of almost the same view of the mold.

_________________
May all your bent wings be F2G Corsairs!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:47 am 
Offline
3000+ Post Club
3000+ Post Club
User avatar

Joined: Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am
Posts: 3321
OD/NG wrote:
Does anyone know if Hornet drawings were part of the large "cache" of DeHavilland blueprints/engineering drawings that were recently found?

There was no 'large cache recently found'. It was a fake news story put about by 'The Imaginary Mosquito' group to generate publicity. They were known drawings that had been used by BAe when they operated RR299 up until its sad demise in 1996, and are duplicates of drawings already in circulation. As such, I doubt there will be any Hornet drawings in TPM's possession.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 1:04 am 
Offline

Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2012 1:50 am
Posts: 402
Location: Perth Western Australia
At least the moulds exist. A quick scan and touch up they can be reproduced relatively easily.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:14 am 
Offline

Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:36 pm
Posts: 715
Lots of my questions answered here:

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/aircraft-re ... oject.html


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 29 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot] and 91 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group