Tag Archives: restoration

Charlie November

The Isle of Wight may be a pretty small island but it has had a number of significant aerospace projects over the years. One of the most successful is the Britten Norman Islander. A twin piston aircraft, the Islander has been in production for decades and provides passenger and freight service all around the world. Developed and produced for many years in Bembridge, the history of the Islander is important to a lot of the local residents.

A group of them got together to recover and preserve the third Islander ever built. G-AVCN (or Charlie November) was the first production aircraft following on from the two prototypes, neither of which is still in existence. It was recovered in pieces from the Caribbean and returned to Bembridge for restoration. I worked with the project leader on a feature for GAR that can be read here.

My mum is involved in the project so she took me down to the restoration facility to take a look at the airframe as it currently looks. The fuselage is pretty much completed. Now the focus is on the restoration of the wing. They are also looking for the final location where the aircraft will be put on display. It is painted in the colors of Aurigny – an airline that has flown many Islander and Trislander aircraft over the years including Charlie November. Things were a little cramped for photography where the plane is at the moment but it was cool to check out a significant part of the Island’s aviation history.

Car Restorations

Leave a reply

The number of cars on display at Dream Machines was amazing. Vehicles of all sorts were there. Some were in immaculate condition and other looked like they probably hadn’t had any work done on them since they were built other than what was necessary to keep them running. The variety was what was cool. There were old police vehicles, sports cars, luxury cars, off roaders, heavily modified vehicles and even a jet powered truck. Vintage racing cars were alongside old Fiats and VW camper vans. They were all there it seemed. I am not going to pick out any special ones for mention. Instead, here are a load of pictures of what was there.

Dream Machines Article

Leave a reply

While it isn’t actually an airshow, Dream Machines at Half Moon Bay was my first aircraft event of the year. Hayman and I headed over there to see what would show up. I was also planning on writing it up for GAR again this year. That piece has now gone live at http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2014/05/05/aviation-event-review-dream-machines-half-moon-bay/ so you can head over the GAR to see the finished version.

The piece focuses more on the aviation side of things than the cars since it is an aviation site. However, the cars were really cool. Here are a couple of cars along with a plane to give you a hint. I might add some more at a later stage!

Cutlass

Leave a reply

When I was a kid, I saw a picture in an aircraft modeling magazine of the Vought Cutlass. The planes caught my imagination at the time but they were already long gone from service so the chances of seeing one in the UK were not good. However, I did come across one much later when visiting the Museum of Flight’s restoration facility in Everett WA. My first visit to the facility was when it was just a location where work was undertaken and you could drop in. More recently, it has been turned into a visitor location with a shop and entry fee.

Nothing has changed with the Cutlass though. It is apparently a bit of a basket case for restoration purposes with a lot of problems in the structure. Consequently, I don’t know what will happen with it or whether it will remain a work in progress indefinitely. However, it is cool to see a Cutlass at all. When thinking about this, I decided to see whether I had ever come across a Cutlass at any museum. However, I couldn’t find an example anywhere in my files so I guess this is the only one I have seen.

Moffett Field Hangar One

Leave a reply

A visit to Moffett Field cannot be completed without reference to the huge airship hangars that they have. Hangar One is on the same side of the airfield as the museum and is right next to it. Hangars Two and Three are of a different construction and are on the other side of the field away from public access. Google is apparently the owner/tenant of the hangars now so they are out of bounds. In the museum, they have pictures of the hangars under construction. However, now you don’t have to imagine so much because Hangar One has had all of its cladding removed as part of its rehabilitation. Consequently, the structure is bare at the moment and you can see exactly how it is constructed. It looks pretty amazing although, given its size, it will always look amazing.

Seattle Union Station

2 Replies

The main station in Seattle is King Street Station. It is served by the Coaster commuter trains and the Cascades service that runs from Oregon up to Vancouver in British Columbia. What I didn’t know is that there used to be another station nearby. Union Station ceased to have rail service many years ago and deteriorated over time. However, as part of a redevelopment program in the area, the building has been restored and now is part of a larger development area.

Inside the station is a main hall that is really quite impressive. It does not appear to be terribly busy. A few office workers would transit through but a bunch of other people seemed to be hanging out inside since it was warmer than outside! I couldn’t resist taking a few shots and also had a go at a 360 pano to boot.

Muscle Cars

Leave a reply

My friend Joel recently suggested a trip out to a car show near O’Hare at the Rosemont convention center. It was a display of muscle cars. While this is a generation of vehicles that I know nothing about since American cars of the 60s and 70s were not something that meant anything to me in the UK, the chance to see some great restoration work and to see something different to my normal interests meant I was keen to go along.

The show was very well attended and there were plenty of cars on display. The quality of restoration work was generally very good. Some great looking cars and some proud owners willing to talk about what they had done to get their cars to the condition that they were in. I was seeing a whole bunch of cars that I had never seen before so that was interesting. For those who grew up with these cars, it would have been a far more interesting time since seeing these old cars would trigger lots of memories. However, I still had a good time and will certainly go again if the chance arises. If you want to see more, I do have a gallery of images here.

Museum of Flight Restoration Facility

Leave a reply

The Museum of Flight has its main building down at Boeing Field in Seattle. However, they have a separate restoration facility located up at Paine Field. I had visited this many years ago. At the time, it was a case of showing up and wandering around. They welcomed any visitors but it was all very informal. Since I was nearby, I thought I would pop by and see how their Cutlass restoration was going.

Things have changed a bit. They have an additional part of the building where they now have a proper entrance and a small store. They have also introduced a small entrance fee. This seems perfectly reasonable to me. Anything that helps with the preservation work the museum does is a good thing. I talked with one of the volunteers about the changes since I had last been there and asked about the Cutlass. Apparently it is a basket case and hasn’t moved on much since I was last there. At least it is being protected, even if it isn’t likely to be in much better shape for a long time.

The facility also has the Comet 4 that they have been making progress on along with the prototype Boeing 727. It also had the prototype JetStar which is configured with twin engines instead of the four of later models. Those who know my fascination with this plane as described here and here will know that was a good one for me to see.

This was a brief visit but a good one all the same. Check them out and help support the work they do. If you ask any questions, you will be warmly welcomed and given lots of freedom to see their work.