Warbird Information Exchange

[youtube]https://youtu.be/HhPfmSc1fLU[/youtube]

They have their own Youtube channel with a number of neat videos, but few views/ followers. Looks like the Spirit is getting quite close with the J-5 having been run a few weeks back. (or that's when the video was posted) I'm excited to see this and share as I was a keen follower back when JNE were restoring Hurricane AM274. Their craftsmanship is phenomenal. Enjoy!

Yeah, I've been eagerly following along with the progress of the project over the past several years as well, back to the days that John still had the Hurricane. It is an absolutely incredible project, the lengths that John Norman has gone to in order to make it an absolute clone, in every respect (including the imperfections and elements of aging) as that of the original. The ORA Spirit of St. Louis reproduction is amazing, and this one is even steps beyond that (of a rather "fanatical" level, which I love) - absolutely every last item/detail had to be made specifically correct to the original, so that it would be just as if the original was pulled out of the Smithsonian and now flown. For instance, the paint and markings on the wooden instrument panel match the same aging and wear & tear as that of the original in the Smithsonian, and all of the flags on the cowlings of the original in the Smithsonian had originally been painted by hand (no decals), and without any stencils, and that is the way they have been applied on this one. So much was checked and cross-referenced with the original to ensure it is absolutely correct, and items like the "Spirit of St. Louis" script on the cowlings comes from tracings made from the original cowlings.

As I recall reading at one point, John Norman plans on flying this aircraft all over the country, on a tour, like that of the one Charles Lindbergh made following the Atlantic flight.

The project has its own Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/jnespirit/

For those that don't do Facebook, here is a photo of the aircraft, just about complete now, that was posted to the Facebook page last week:




Eagerly anticipating seeing it fly this year!

Wow! Thanks for sharing that. They do such amazing work. What a gorgeous airplane. I was always amazed at the amount of original material he was able to salvage with AM274. I believe the original plan was to finish it in Russian markings, complete with Russian armament...do you know if that is still the plan? Sounds like a neat plan for the Spirit.

The AM274 Hurricane project was of course sold some years back and is now in Belgium. After having been stored for a while since arriving in Belgium, FAST Aero began starting back in on the restoration as of last year. I don't believe there has been any mention of eventual paint scheme, but I know there are a lot of people hoping it does get painted in original Russian markings.

Absolutely stunning...!!!