Reports, Reports...

A requirement of our contract with the City of Calgary is to file a series of reports. If as a tax payer you ever had any doubts about your money being accounted for, I am here to tell you not to worry.

The restoration of the Hurricane and Mosquito are both divided into a series of Phases; the Hurricane at six and the Mosquito at seven. We have to do a major report at the end of each phase to reconcile projected costs with actual. As well, we have to submit a quarterly report giving details of our volunteer hours, activities, accomplishments and challenges. With scans of the volunteer signup sheets, financial statements and a summary of our activities these run to over 40 pages, every three months. And then there is the annual report... Believe me, Mr. and Ms. Calgary Taxpayer, we are accounting for every cent of your hard earned.

So it's been more than two and a half years since we signed the contract with the City. That means a small forest worth of trees have been sacrificed in documenting our efforts for the City.

And then there are the hours invested by board members and active volunteers. Every quarter, our board members average 251 hours running the organization with a monthly board meeting, financial reports, minutes, correspondence, speaking engagements, conferences, membership duties and report writing.

Our volunteer hours invested in actually working on the airplanes is showing an interesting trend. In 2013 it was 368 hours per quarter. In 2014, it was 788; more than double the previous years' average. What about the first quarter of 2015? Drum roll please.... A whopping 1040 hours, or up 32% from last year! More and more people are putting in more and more time. A good sign and the reason that Jack has had to ask people to not come out: There ain't always enough work on Saturday for everyone who wants to help.

After sending the report for Q1, 2015 to our partners at the City (don't worry about those trees, we do it all electronically now), I sent a link to our board members for their review, one of whom quite smartly suggested that the report, in an edited version, could be posted on our website, giving all our members an up to date look at what we are doing. Good idea! So here it is:

Volunteer Hours

Board members of the Mosquito Society invested a total of 206 hours during the first quarter of 2015. These are the hours needed to run the organization that then allows the restoration work on the airplanes to take place. This includes tasks such as monthly board meetings, website updates, report writing, banking, accounting, fundraising, communications, website updates, presentations, etc.

Additionally, members of the society worked 1040.75 on the Mosquito and 267.75 on the Hurricane engine over the same period on 23 separate occasions in Calgary and in Nanton. Volunteer hours for this quarter total 1514.5.

It should be noted that the total hours for this quarter are our highest ever, and a full 32% over last quarter. In short, we are attracting more and more volunteers as our project progresses.

Fundraising

Although we achieved our required goal of raising over $800,000 in cash, kind and volunteer hours, we continue to look at additional funding opportunities. We finally gained approval for a casino from the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. This two day event will take place on August 28 and 29 of this year. We anticipate clearing $65,000 from it.

Hurricane

We conducted our onsite inspection for this quarter on April 3rd. The fuselage frame has now been attached to the center section. Much effort has gone into the tail wheel assembly and cockpit areas.

As the restoration process continues we become more aware of missing pieces. Historic Aviation Services Inc. has started to compile a list of what they are missing and has asked us to take the lead in sourcing these items. For the most part they are small pieces, but they are often crucial to the completion and authenticity of the project. For example, the undercarriage and flap selector unit was disassembled at some point in the past and all the internal components have gone missing. Elevator trim cables and chains are absent. Fuselage brace wires are missing, as are the six speciality bolts for the leading edge gun bay fairings. We are also looking for a set of twelve .303 Browning machine guns. With this list in hand just a week ago, we will turn to sources in the UK.

On the good news front, we were successful in acquiring the bullet proof windscreen for the Hurricane. Despite coming from England, this unit was made in Canada and has never been installed. It is in 'as new' condition. Quite a score.

New old stock, made in Canada, bullet proof windscreen for the Hurricane. Acquired from a collector in England.

Fuselage

• Removed firewall assembly from forward, upper fuselage structure.
• Completed inspection of fuselage tubing structure. Noted damaged tubes requiring replacement and areas that can be "repaired in place".
• Disassembled, inspected, repaired and reassembled tail wheel oleo assembly, sprayed with butyrate silver dope.
• Disassembled, inspected, repaired and replaced, bearings and reassembled tail wheel and tire assembly.

Tail wheel axle and bearings.

Tail wheel and strut fully restored and installed.

• Removed damaged (corroded) portside lower diagonal steel tube at Joint "FC".
• Removed damaged (bullet holes) STBD side, rear diagonal aluminum tube at joint "QP".
• Removed rear fuselage balance weights.
• Located both missing lower tail wheel oleo brace struts, found damaged beyond repair, removed salvageable hardware, fabricated new struts using originals as patterns, repaired original hardware and reinstalled in new struts.
• Located missing brace strut attach brackets for above, stripped, primed and sprayed with silver butyrate.
• Mounted new struts and attach brackets into position in rear lower fuselage.
• Completed stripping and "repair in place" sections of fuselage tubing.

Tail wheel oleo brace struts as noted above. Badly damaged and corroded. Hardware and end fittings were saved and reused on a new tube.

• Removed damaged primer bracket from cockpit section of fuselage tubing structure. Supplied new replacement from HASI stores, fitted same in place.
• Fuselage tubing structure prepped, primed and sprayed with silver butyrate dope.
• Located original and supplied missing hardware to mate fuselage tubing structure to centre section.
• Mated fuselage tubing structure to centre section.
• Located both "fuselage to centre section", lower rear spare braces, cleaned, repaired, primed, sprayed with silver butyrate dope and fitted same to aircraft.
• Located both inner centre section stay braces (run from under the pilot's seat to the upper fuselage longerons in cockpit section). Cleaned, primed sprayed with silver butyrate dope and fitted same to aircraft.
• Stripped, primed and painted aft fuselage balance weights.
• Re-installed overhauled tail wheel oleo and wheel and tire assembly on aircraft.

• Fabricated new portside lower diagonal steel tube using damaged original as pattern and installed same at Joint "FC"
• Fabricated new starboard side rear diagonal aluminum tube using damaged original as pattern and installed same at Joint "QP"
• Built and installed new phenolic rub spacers using original as pattern (quantity 20) and installed between intersections of fuselage brace wires as required
• Stripped, cleaned, inspected and repaired hydraulic flap actuating cylinder and mounting bracket. Installed same in port side of centre section
• Completely disassembled cockpit elevator, rudder, aileron control module and floor boards, cleaned, inspected and repaired same as required
• Overhauled cockpit elevator, rudder, aileron control module. Detailed and reinstalled in fuselage

Restored cockpit area with new leather rub strip on pilot's seat, elevator trim wheel, control stick, rudder bar, undercarriage selector and floor boards.

• Made up and installed new elevator bell crank stops - secured in place with brass lock wire as per original
• Cleaned, inspected, repaired, primed and sprayed with butyrate dope cockpit floor boards - re-installed same in fuselage
• Cleaned and inspected undercarriage up lock assemblies, snap gear jack, emergency release components and microswitches. Repaired same and reinstalled in cockpit and centre section
• Made up and installed new uplock return spring assemblies (originals missing) and installed in fuselage
• Made up forward floor board supports, clamps and crush tubes. Primed, doped and installed in fuselage (below rudder pedals)
• Cleaned, inspected, repaired and detailed undercarriage and flap control lever assembly and reinstalled same in cockpit
• Cleaned, inspected, repaired and painted hydraulic reservoir and hand pump unit as required and reinstalled same in starboard, forward fuselage

Hurricane Engine

The Hurricane engine continues to receive a great deal of attention from our volunteers (268 hours in this quarter) under the supervision of the Bomber Command Museum engineers. At this point it has been stripped and cleaned as far as is necessary. We have honed out the cylinders and re-seated the valves.

Roberto Fernandez supervises Andy Woerle who is honing the cylinders of the Hurricane's Merlin engine.

We are now awaiting a set of seals and gaskets from Vintage V-12s in California. When they arrive we can begin to reassemble the engine.

Mosquito

Jack McWilliam

The fuselage restoration is underway in a few areas now, with the arrival of the structural support blocks and a large percentage of the material.

Our support blocks, that will be positioned in the upper fuselage, forward of bulkhead 3 finally arrived. These are necessary in order to reinforce the inner fuselage while we conduct structural repairs to this delicate area. The blocks were cut from high density foam on a CNC machine, based on the images captured by laser scanning last year by Rapid 3D. Creative Foam replicated the images, but due to the holiday schedules it took a little longer than first thought but the blocks are now fitted.

High density foam block cut from 3D scan is fitted into upper fuselage to provide shape and support during structural repairs in this delicate area.

Care was taken to ensure a tight fit, so a few days were spent sanding these blocks for the final fit. The center block is cut in a wedge shape to push the other two blocks up and out. The blocks are out of the aircraft at this time to facilitate the removal of mechanical fasteners which attach the outer skins to bulkhead 3. These fasteners have proven to be a challenge as they were built into the aircraft bulkhead before the bulkhead was closed up. As well the corrosion of the fasteners is severe, requiring us to cut them out in short 1/4 inch pieces. This requires one person with a small hacksaw blade making up to four cuts per bolt to remove them through a 1/4 inch hole.

Temporary internal attach points have been added to the structure to help with straightening the minor twist that exists in the fuselage. The side panels were cleaned and installed to determine if the fuselage had hogged at all, the right side is about 3/16 inch longer. An adjustable tube will be installed to move the pieces into position.

Fuselage side panels, above the bomb bay doors and below the wing were trial fitted.

The cockpit work is underway with all components that require removal being sanded and ready for re-gluing. Re-gluing of the rudder pedal dog house has started, with reconstruction of a couple of skins to commence as soon as the plywood has been unpacked. Various anchor nut positions in the cockpit have been cleaned with taps to remove contamination.

Cleaning of the interior fuselage aft of bulkhead #3 is underway manually with dental picks and scrapers. With both the cockpit and fuselage skins, various markings have been uncovered; both personal markings and inspection stamps.

A 2" long piece removed from the rudder pedal dog house reveals that every piece of wood has a factory part number stamp. All are photographed and recorded during disassembly and restoration.

As mentioned, $23,000 worth of plywood (at an average cost of $650/sheet) has arrived from Salzburg, Austria but has yet to be unpacked. The three layer plywood comes in three thicknesses: 1.5 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm and was made to the exact specifications required by de Havilland for the construction of the Mosquito during World War II; specifically British Standard 6V3. The sheets measure 5' x 10.5' so a shelf for these has been a bit of a challenge to secure (at a reasonable cost). Along with the plywood, balsa and Sitka spruce are now on site but remain packaged. The fir has been sourced locally and is awaiting procurement.

The parts donated by Bob Jens of Vancouver have been inventoried and crated with a different serial number series to identify those crates from the Calgary crates. All parts not required for the fuselage have been moved to the storage trailer to provide space.

In this quarter we have also focussed on designing and building a new support fixture for the Mosquito wing as the existing unit is of very poor design and construction. The new fixture is 90% complete with some welding to be completed, two cross beams on back order and the large beams to be transported to Nanton. The wing should be positioned into the fixture within the next month to better stabilize the structure.

Steel angles and brackets being painted to match the fuselage fixture are painted and prepared by Jack McWilliam and Dick Snider for a new wing holding fixture.

Richard de Boer

We continue to scour Canada and the world for bits and pieces to complete the Mosquito. In this quarter we were fortunate to acquire an ADF loop antenna; a prominent feature on all Spartan Mosquitoes. This item was once part of Spartan Mosquito CF-HML. It was removed in the late 1960s when the restoration of this airplane was undertaken by Don Campbell of Kapuskasing, ON. Don's son gave it to our video production company owner April Butler when she was interviewing him in January.

ADF antenna from Spartan Mosquito CF-HML and parts from our contact in England.

Additionally a supporter in England has been scrounging parts for us at aviation swap meets, from private collectors and off eBay UK. A crate containing the results of his efforts arrived in January, yielding some significant castings for bulkhead #7, undercarriage compression rubbers, elevator counter weight, wheel covers and original de Havilland wrenches.

Displays and Presentations

In fulfillment of our mandate to Honour and Educate, we continue to give presentations and speeches to community groups. In this quarter we spoke at the lunchtime monthly meeting of the Calgary Airport Business Association on February 10, and later that same day at the Vintage Sports Car Club of Calgary. Audience size was approximately 25 at each event.

On March 20th we spoke at the annual symposium of the Western Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Association to a group of approximately 55.

Conventions and Events

In mid-February we attended a four day conference of the International Alliance of Aviation and Space Museums in Las Vegas, NV. The organizers, including the former Director General of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Chris Terry, asked us to make a presentation at the conference about our unique and effective partnerships with the City of Calgary, the Bomber Command Museum and Historic Aviation Services.

The conference was hosted by the National Atomic Testing Museum; a Smithsonian affiliate organization.

The conference was well attended by some of the largest aviation museum groups in the world including The Imperial War Museum (Duxford, England), the Commemorative Air Force and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. As always, Mosquito Society

An actual, but now inert, hydrogen bomb, at the host facility, the National Atomic Testing Museum.

representatives paid all of their own expenses including conference registration, airfare and hotel and do so using their vacation days.

Miscellaneous and In the Works

We continue to work closely with our video production company, Pan Production on the development of thirty 'Honour and Educate' videos. In January they completed all of their interview work which took them to Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Nanton, Edmonton, Wetaskiwin, Thunder Bay, Toronto and Ottawa. To date we have seen six rough cuts and are very pleased with the results. They are professional, engaging, entertaining and informative. When complete, the videos will be available on our YouTube channel and on touch screen monitors adjacent to the aircraft throughout the restoration process and when complete and on display.

In addition to the City's contribution, funding for this program was provided by a $60,000 grant from the Calgary Foundation and a $15,000 grant from Veterans Affairs Canada.

April Butler of Pan Productions interviews Jack McWilliam about the restoration of the Mosquito as part of our 30 video series to 'Honour and Educate'.

Richard de Boer, President April 13, 2015