N5490

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Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

I'll be posting updates on the restoration here. Although not a Minor, there are several individuals who have asked to follow the restoration, including VMR member David Hinds' 91 year old grandfather who learned to fly on Tigers and flew Hurricanes early in the war. He recalls spending hours watching the Tigers as a young man at Gravesend just before the war and before he signed up. A real, living hero. With WWII, we are rapidly reaching the point where events silently slip from the memory of the living to sporadic documents, ghostly black and white photos and a very few artifacts. So apologies in advance.

Today I completed the removal of the tail feathers and then removed the prop hub front plate and spinner with a view to removing the wooden prop. The prop has been exposed to the elements in the open hangar for several years and has split and cracked - so is scrap. Upon delivering a good slap behind one tip to shift the prop off , the last six inches or so broke off! The wood was found to have the consistency of Balsa wood - completely rotten. If the engine had been started, it would certainly have disintegrated into a million pieces.

The next job was to remove the stout split pins in the pins and bolts holding the lower wings to the fuselage. The front ones are absolute buggers to get to - lying on your back under the fuselage. Nearly an hour later, I had them both out. Now the lower wings are ready for removal. Next will be the top wing bolts and all the flying wire split pins. Photos next time.
garagiste
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Re: N5490

Post by garagiste »

Ian,

God Father not Grandfather.

David.
Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

Oops - finger trouble - I knew that!
Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

This morning I received the forms below from the Air Historic Branch of the MoD.

The first card is the Air Ministry Form 78 - movement card for N-5490 which charts its movements from initially being taken on charge in 1938 through to it being placed in storage at 20 Maintenance Unit, Aston Down in 1952.

The second card deals with the disposal of the aircraft in 1953 when it was sold to A. J. Whittemore Ltd. at Croydon.

I am now on the hunt for the Form 1180 - the accident record card for this aircraft that would have recorded the crash at Hockley Heath near Birmingham 25.10.39 which caused it to be sent to 13 MU for repairs.

Here's the decode and expansion of the cards:

Taken on charge 24 MU (Stoke Heath, Shropshire, adjacent to RAF Ternhill) 17.11.38. To 20 ERFTS (Gravesend) 7.3.39. To 14 EFTS (Birmingham, Elmdon)15.10.39. Crashed Hockley Heath, nr Birmingham 25.10.39. To 13 MU (RAF Henlow) for repairs 1.11.39; to 46 MU (Speke, Liverpool) .40. To 11 EFTS (Perth, Ccone) 28.12.40. To 9 MU (Henlow) 16.8.46. To 21 (Booker) EFTS 22.3.48. To 7 FTS (Cottesmore) 10.3.50. To Finningley Station Flight 25.8.50. To 20 MU (Aston Down) 12.3.52. Sold 6.11.53 to AJ Whittemore (Aeradio) Ltd, Croydon.

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Highlander
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Re: N5490

Post by Highlander »

Most interesting. A.J. Whittemore (Aeradio) Ltd, Croydon would have been on the old Croydon Airport, Purley Way, Croydon. I started work at Bowaters Packageing in 1960 who owned part of the old runway - small world. Highlander.
Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

In the fifties, hundreds of surplus Tiger Moths were acquired by Whittemores and Rollasons at Croydon. Many were restored and became the backbone of post-war civil flying clubs, but many, many more were simply burned.

Here are just some of them staked out at Croydon in 1953. There was a gale one night and many Tigers were swept onto Purley Way and destroyed.

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And here is a view inside the Whittemore hangar. I am scouring similar pictures for a glimpse of N-5490 which became G-ANHG before being exported to a French flying club in 1955, but no luck so far. This little lot would be priceless today, but were sold - after overhaul - for around GBP 20 each back then ...

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And here is the CAA Form 113 registrastion record for G-AHNG showing its registration by Whittemore in December 1953 and subsequent re-registration as F-BHIN in France.

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Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

The third of September - what more appropriate day for arranging the collection of the Tiger. War in Europe was declared this day in 1939. On that day, this Tiger was relocated from Gravesend to Castle Bromwich near Birmingham as the RAF moved a fighter Squadron in to Gravesend to protect London and the East End docks. Castle Bromwich was also soon to become famous for its massive Vickers aircraft factory which became the main production works for Spitfire production, not to mention many hundred Lancaster bombers.

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KartikeyaL
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Re: N5490

Post by KartikeyaL »

Ian,

Awesome pictures !! Love the last picture with the Tiger alongside the minor's !!
Way to Go !!

Cheers
Kartik
Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

And on the left you can see the old VMR printer - through which every Magazine and Yearbook passed before the new style M 138 appeared.
halbe
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Re: N5490

Post by halbe »

Hello Ian,

Looks like enough restoration projects for the next couple fo deceniums :D
What a lovely line up though.

Success
Halbe
Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

Bit of an update. All four wings are now stripped of fabric for inspection. Here's the port lower showing a pretty ugly (isn't that a contradiction in terms?) repair to the leading edge - necessitated by damage caused during one of the previous owner's various excursions through the hedge. Behind the repair there is a three foot long crack right through the front spar which was obviously missed when the repair was made, so the spar will require replacement, as will the front spar on the starboard lower which has some nasty non-approved gouge repairs. The upper wings are in better shape, just needing some ribs to be replaced and all the metal fittings removed, cleaned, re-protected and refitted with British BSF bolts replacing all the American AN stock currently installed.

I'll completely overhaul each wing in turn, then store them in the basement until the rest of the aircraft is ready and then do all the fabric work in one go after a trial rigging to check everything still fits.

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Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

While work is progressing on the wings, I took the opportunity today to remove the engine cowlings:

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KartikeyaL
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Re: N5490

Post by KartikeyaL »

Quiet a job you have on your hands...... :)
Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

I meant to post this earlier in the week, but got too busy. On Wednesday 26 October 2011, the DH.82 Tiger Moth achieved octogenarian status.

Here's the prototype in the hands of Hubert Broad over Stag Lane on that day in 1931. Artistic license by painter Eddie Miller puts an old friend, DH60 G-EBLV, in the circuit. Owned today by British Aerospace, and maintained and regularly exercised by the Shuttleworth Trust at Old Warden, this 1925 Moth is the oldest in the world.

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Ian Grace
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Re: N5490

Post by Ian Grace »

Incredibly, it has been a year since my last update on N-5490. The last 12 months have seen significant progress - mainly in the sourcing of original Air Ministry equipment - the stuff that was removed from the Tigers when they were civilianized after the War. I now have all of the 1938 instrumentation, except for the extremely scarce fore and aft levels, but I do have a pair of pre-war P8 compasses, new compass brackets, a pair of new compass corrector boxes and compass corrector card holders for both cockpits, as well as some original compass corrector cards, dated 1936!

I have also sourced a number of rare airframe items in Australia, including a pair of original, unused engine bearers. These a are very rare, as they are the first part to be destroyed when you hit anything!

A major step forward was made a few weeks ago when an old friend from Bellingham, Washington called to ask, "Do you need a prop for your Tiger?" My propeller is scrap - as a result of being stored, nose outermost, in an open-fronted hangar for about a decade. It turns out that said friend has an original de Havilland-manufactured wooden Tiger Moth prop, standard pitch, in its original RAF delivery crate, dated 1942! He has had it for 35 years as a spare for his Tiger, but never needed it. Now, after forty years, he is selling his Tiger, the prop is available. So that's one of the biggest single acquisitions I need to make behind me.

When I was a young trainee RAF Engineering Officer at the RAF College Cranwell about 35 years ago, I flew the College's Tiger Moth with a friend, Nick Davidson, who was training for the Supply Branch. We shared many happy flights together, but when we were posted out, we lost contact after a couple of years. I have been looking for him ever since, as, among other things, he loaned me a book at Cranwell (Richard Bach's A Gift of Wings), that I never had a chance to return. Fast forward to Pre-War Prescott last July. I met with Air Vice Marshal Rick Charles who joined us as a Trustee of the RAF Charitable Trust. He told me that he was about to visit an old RAF friend in the States. I thought no more about it. Two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Rick from Half Moon Bay, down in California, saying that Nick Davidson sends his best regards! Incredibly, Nick emigrated to the States about ten years before I did, and even more incredibly, Nick's son flies the Beaver floatplanes for Kenmore Air up here in Seattle, which we fly in regularly. So Nick and I will be meeting up later this month when he visits his son next, so I can return his book after 35 years and he can meet N-5490. Small world? Onwards and upwards!
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