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Mossie Gang, End of Year/New Year

Happy the New Year to you and yours. We closed out the last quarter and the whole year with some pretty cool happenings, which foretell of some pretty cool stuffs in the next few months. Read on, read on, good friends, fans and members for all the news that's print to fit!

Hurricane

Big news on the Hurricane engine front! To quote Gene Wilder's character in the classic film, Young Frankenstein, "It's alive!" If you haven't seen them yet, check our vids on YouTube. The 40 second version for a quick fix: Merlin Start Dec 3, 2024 (Short) or for the connoisseur of things Merlin, we have the full seven minute version: Merlin Start Dec 3, 2024 (Full Length)

Lots of angles to cover here. We didn't put out notice to those who asked to attend a start attempt because frankly this was planned as a 'check for problems' sort of thing. More than a bit of a surprise that it actually worked on our first attempt. If you've been around old and rebuilt engines, you know that this almost never happens, and its rather bad form to call everyone out to attend only to have it cough, sputter and disappoint. Now that we know it will go, we will advise interested parties once we work out some bugs and the westerly winds temper winter, allowing another outdoor attempt. Thus we are thinking of this as 'Round One' in a series of tests to prepare the engine before we install it back in her new/old home in Hurricane 5389.



The first cough, sputter and smoke of life! With Jack M. on the throttle and Dr. Brian Taylor of the Bomber Command Museum on the primer and fuel valve, the Packard Merlin 29 for the Hurricane comes to life on December 3.


A couple of points to recap: This engine is not the Merlin that was in the airplane when it was sold surplus in 1946. This is a spare engine that is part of the City owned collection of engines and airframes, and it was a much better candidate for restoration and overhaul than was the original engine. That said, the newly overhauled engine is a Packard Merlin 29, the model used in Hurricane 5389. All indications are that this engine was never installed in an airplane and has only factory test time on it.

The second reminder is that we did a top overhaul on this engine in 2018/19 and dropped it into the Hurricane while the airframe was under restoration in Wetaskiwin. Our numerous attempts to start it in September and October 2019, resulted in a moisture build up inside the engine. Shortly after we delivered the airplane to the Hangar Museum, our efforts to solve the starting problems got curtailed by Covid. The engine sat, with abundant internal moisture, for two years. That resulted in a tremendous amount of internal corrosion that seized the engine. We pulled the engine from the Hurricane in November 2021 and in the interim, dropped the original Merlin in the airframe. Then we moved the seized engine to Jack's hangar and stripped it down, solved the issues that prevented it from running, dealt with all of the corrosion problems and built a test stand for it; all of which resulted in, 'Ta Da!', a now running Merlin engine.

There are so many volunteers on the team who helped bring her back to life and who deserve some credit and acknowledgment. When we removed the engine and started to tear it down, we had more hands on deck than we had wrenches. After the initial flurry of enthusiasm, we kept the team small, with each member having individual tasks on which to focus their skills, time and knowledge. There were also lots of outside resources involved as well. We tapped motorcycle racing shops, gasket cutting companies and 3D scanning specialists, Rapid 3D.



An interesting juxtaposition of eras and companies represented here. Just as we were prepping the Rolls-Royce Packard Merlin for the Hawker Hurricane, the Boeing Business Jet (737) belonging to De Havilland Canada taxied by.


Back to December 3rd and the somewhat unexpected first start. There were just half a dozen of us on hand. Board member and staunch volunteer, Dick Snider, with the help of Dr. Brian Taylor, now the #1 Lanc guy with the Bomber Command Museum, checked things over for the umpteenth time, with John Phillips looking on. John is man who led all four Lancaster Merlin engine overhauls for the Bomber Command Museum. Our thanks to both gentlemen as they have been a significant and intimate part of this long, and now successful, effort. With the engine out of the hangar for our first start attempt, John’s final words to us were “Once she is running, don’t shut it off till she’s red hot!”, reminding us that she needs some extended run time to initially burn off any moisture and in the long term, to bake some oil on the insides of the crankcase and block, protecting them from any future corrosion.



John Phillips, seated, oversees the last minute checks by Dr. Brian Taylor and CMS board member and stalwart volunteer Dick Snider.


As the man on the throttle, Jack picks up the story: With Richard on camera, Dick watching over her, and Dr. Brian as my left hand on the primer and fuel shut off, we gave her the first go. To our own surprise, after just three cranks, she fired, which also highlighted our first issue. The primer pump had been wired with a momentary, positive contact 'ON' switch. This created some problems as what we actually need is for it to be on constantly, while regulating the fuel flow with the ON/OFF valve.

After a few attempts, trying to hold three momentary on switches for the fuel, igniter and starter, she fired up on the fourth attempt; all of which took less than two minutes! Right away, we saw that we had no tachometer. I kept the engine at low RPMs as she came up to temperature, giving her a bit more gas and modestly increasing the RPMs after a couple of minutes.

The next issue became apparent when we had one of the radiator hoses begin to collapse. We still had water circulation, so we ran her for seven minutes until the water temperature came up to 180F. Once she was warmed up, I dropped the RPMs to a very nice idle, (which you don't see in the video), but for me this was the best noise I heard as it meant she was running smoothly and responding to control inputs. Right then the next issue made itself known when the throttle lever and control started to loose from their mounts. With minor issues piling up, it was time to shut her down.

We did a walk around and found a few small puddles under the engine. We had a small oil leak at the starter clutch, a couple of loose nuts on the oil pump, the loose throttle and a minor a fuel leak. Nothing serious, but all of which needed attention.

In the weeks between then and Christmas, all of the issues have been addressed and we are ready for the next run to see what else springs a leak or rattles loose. Again, weather will determine the when of this.

The only problem that perplexes us is the RPM gauge. It spins when we attach it to a drill, and the cable from engine to gauge is intact and it too spins freely. For round two, we have added more pressure gauges to keep an eye on the fluids. We have also dipped the tanks and recorded fuel, oil and water levels to get an idea of the fluid consumption rates. With the help of Dr. Brian and Dick, we have refined our start technique and sequence with a written check list.

There were a lot of individuals involved in bringing this engine back to life. I want to give a shout out to board member Andy W. for designing and building the engine mount, then turning himself black when honing the 12 engine cylinders. Davy D. spent untold hours and days polishing out the corrosion on the connecting rods, transporting the club prop to and from the shop and being 'hands on' in many areas of the project. My right hand man Dick S, deserves a big 'thank you' as he gave everything to work through the frustrations of many issues in the process of getting it back together. Please note this engine fought us all the way right down to the last minute.

Also deserving acknowledgment are our wives, who had to endure our work schedules as well as our occasional foul moods as we dealt with the many pressures and hours involved in getting this thing back to running order.

Don't get me wrong, there were some good laughs: Richard found a new use of brass transfer tubes and David A., who left his DNA all over the lower ignition harness for which he blames the 'unusual British design', and often questionable workmanship on the Merlin engine.

And again our thanks to Dr. Brian Taylor, who provided us with the knowledge, tooling and guidance to get the beast apart and back together. Without Brian we would still be wandering around scratching our heads with not much to show for it.



A cause for celebration as it was just over three years ago that we pulled the engine from the Hurricane and finally got it running. Next, we work out some bugs, put some run-in time on it, then drop it back into the airframe. We will work with the Hangar Museum in planning an official public run in the spring.


As soon as we attend to the multitude of minor problem areas and the weather cooperates, we will let you know and create an opportunity for you to witness an engine run. Once we are satisfied that we have all the bugs ironed out, the next major step will be to install it back into the Hurricane over the winter, and plan for a public run event in the spring. Stay tuned.

Mosquito

Jack McWilliam

So completes another year in the trenches with the Mosquito. We've been making good progress on a number of projects, starting with the wing and replacing the upper skins. Continuing to work from the wingtips inward, Gary T. has removed more skins and is preparing another new plywood skin section for installation. With each successive skin removal, Alan W. and David H. follow in Gary's footsteps, painstakingly, and perhaps tediously, removing paint from the stringers beneath the upper skin and then from the upper surface of the inner skin.



David H. and Alan W. working away on the wing top skin, while Don H. at right, continues to turn little bits into full systems in the rear fuselage.


Then as soon as they complete the 'wax off' phase, they cover all their handiwork by repainting all of the inner surfaces before Gary installs a new skin over the area that they just stripped and repainted.

We removed the top skin on the starboard side, just aft of where the engine's radiator is installed, revealing some wood rot from extended exposure to heat and moisture from the radiator. We will have to dig a little deeper before we know how bad it may be. At worst, it will entail some repairs on the forward spar, removing the damaged wood and splicing in some new material.



Just right of the center of the photo is the area of the wing that was damaged by prolonged exposure to the heat and moisture of the engine radiator on the starboard side. We'll have a better idea of how far the damage extends once the full skin is removed. At worst, it will mean replacing a section of the front spar.


At this time, we are down to just three original of the thirteen upper wing skins left to replace, which means we can now start looking at other areas of the wing. Andy W. has jumped in with both feet in laying out the trailing edge so that we can see what we have, what condition it is in, what is missing and what needs to be built anew. For this, Andy has scoured all of our crates and storage areas and laid out all the trailing edge bits onto a 24' long series of work tables, essentially creating a 3D jigsaw puzzle of rotted and broken wood components, metal tubes, control lines, pulleys, castings and assorted doodads that were once our wing's trailing edges. Sadly, this area of the airplane suffered tremendous damage from its foray up to Cold Lake in 1989. Very little of the original wood is salvageable and too many metal bits have gone walkabout. We are grateful for Andy's skill, persistence and patience in tackling this challenging project.



Andy W. has laid out all the bits and pieces of the trailing edge of the wing on three, eight foot long tables so we can see what we have and what we don’t, what will have to be sourced and what will have to be built.


While Gary, Alan and David focus on the wing top skins and Andy tackles the trailing edges, another subset of our volunteer workforce is busy on the underside of the wing. Michael H. is back from his trip to New Zealand where he was chasing Mosquitoes, as well as other things, so it's back to the grind for him, scraping paint from the fuel tank saddles. The fuel tank bays have been repainted which marks another turning point where we have completed all the stripping work and having crested that hill, we are starting with new white paint, reinstalling grounding lines, fuel tank cradles and all the electrical and mechanical systems inside the wing. In the process we discovered an excellent paint primer that I will be using it on my fence at home next summer.

We are not sure what colour Joe M.'s t-shirt and trousers used to be, but having stripped the fuel tank under wing panels of all fabric, paint and primer, he has left the museum every Saturday for months now looking distinctly rust coloured. Joe has been joined in his efforts by Colette P., Alan W., and son Zach M., along with a variety of itinerant volunteers over the past few months. When wandering tourists loiter too long watching our volunteers engaged in such glamorous (to be read with an ironic tone) work, we have not hesitated to hand them a scraper or sanding block and put them to work, suggesting, as Tom Sawyer famously did, that such work requires special skills, knowledge and experience...




Cam B. takes a quick look at Joe M., Colette P. and Zach M. scraping and sanding the fuel tank panels and decides to keep walking... Below, two young visitors stood still for just a few seconds too long, so we put them to work. They were so thrilled that their mother bought them memberships that same day and they were back next weekend. Welcome Nikida and Vidalik!


Delightfully we have found the fuel tank panels to be in very good condition with but a few areas requiring some skilled attention. Don't tell Dick S., but when he is done de-bugging the Hurricane engine, the task of repairing the fuel tank panels awaits his tender touch.

The metal fuel tank straps have been stripped and repainted and returned to us, (thank you Don H.), and we will soon be adding new felt to the straps and fuel tank cradles. The under wing guys are working to dry fit all the bits and pieces into the fuel tank bays before we secure them. This includes things like the wiring for the fuel tank senders and all of the connecting hoses. We will need to replace some of the fuel lines as they have hardened over the years. The fuel tanks themselves are in excellent, almost 'as new' condition.

Davy D. continues to plug along on the two firewalls, and actually commented on the fact that he is done with one of them, having taken it as far as he can until more progress is made on the wing structure.

Don H. also continues to plug along with the aft fuselage components. Cam B. has been busy respraying a whole variety of minor metal parts for Don and for Davy, giving them 'like new' bits to continue the reassembly process in the rear fuselage and on the firewalls. Cam has now bailed for the deep south (Australia), so we will reassign the painting tasks for the next few weeks.



Cam B. puts his model building and airbrushing skills to work for our 1:1 scale project. The painting area is separated from the shop by a plastic curtain and has two large fans to vent the space to the great outdoors.


Both main undercarriage assemblies are coming along nicely with the first fully reassembled and the second in the process of being broken down and cleaned. Our U/C guy, Jaimie G. had done an excellent job documenting the bits, steps and pieces on the first side so that the second should be much easier. Pieces on the second main gear are now in my hands, heading for coating and machining.



Our main man on the undercarriage, Jaimie G., poses with Steve S. with a bit of a 'before and after' look at the main undercarriage legs. We wisely did one side first, leaving the second intact and untouched as a reference, should any old guys happen to forget what the finished product should look like...


We were pleased to welcome back volunteers Chris Z. and Siena, who were very active on the Hurricane engine back in 2021, but who have previously been unable to join us down in Nanton. As I was away on work duties that day, I left them some hefty bits of undercarriage to be cleaned and bead blasted.

A couple of notes from the 'if you don't have one, then you have to make one' department, Gary T. has invested significant hours over the past few months machining a new flap hinge bracket when one of ours (which we know we had, but apparently it sprouted legs) disappeared. Happy to say that after finding a local hobbyist online to cast a rough blank, that task is now complete.



The newly cast and machined flap hinge bracket at left with an original at right. Another example of 'do whatever it takes'. Photo Gary T.


Also in the 'make a new one' department, Steve S. has put his home lathe to work manufacturing some new aileron trim pins.



The broken original pin at bottom, along with two new, in process examples, all sitting on a copy of the plans which provided the specs to which they were machined. It’s good to have skilled friends. Photo Steve S.


Overall we are in very good shape. We are also crossing our fingers in hopes that we can make it through the winter without having to do a deep dive in our unheated storage trailer in search of elusive Mossie bits in -25C temps.

Events and Miscellaneous

The weather cooperated for a well attended Remembrance Day service at the Bomber Command Museum. As is traditional, we were represented in their wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph just outside the museum by our board member Brian Collins. Several Mosquito Society members attended after which we hosted a rush of visitors interested in seeing our airplane.




The Bomber Command Museum attracts a very good turnout for Remembrance Day, no doubt supported by mild weather. At right, CMS Board Member Brian Collins does the honours on our behalf.


We want to give a shout out to Brian Davis in Ontario for helping us with some hydraulic and pneumatic lines. Brian was an invaluable resource person on our Hurricane restoration and in exchange for his contributions, at the end of the project, we returned the favour by donating/exchanging some of our leftover bits. As it turned out, in the boxes of 'Hurricane' leftovers, there were some Mossie bits that escaped everyone's notice. Brian dug through his shed in December and kindly returned them to us. Yea, and thank you Brian.



Andy W. with the box of lines shipped back to us by Brian Davis. Big thanks to Brian for going to the time and trouble. Saves us a tremendous amount of work and money.


We also continue the business of mutual back scratching with our friends on the Mosquito project in the Canadian Aviation Museum in Windsor, ON. They came to us in November asking if they could borrow, for the purposing of reverse engineering and manufacturing, the main fuel distribution manifold.

We board members quickly agreed and despite having just recently reinstalled it in our airplane, Don H. removed it and we shipped it off via FedEx the next day. Project lead on the Windsor Mosquito, Richard Fox asked what they could do for us in return and Andy W. made up a list of metal bits that we are missing and that should be within the manufacturing capabilities of their museum machine shop crew, or nearby machine shops affiliated with the museum. These include an air dryer, a rudder control spring strut, a push rod for the brake differential unit, a hinged cover for the lower instrument panel and some odd sized Teleflex conduit.



Yours truly with the main fuel manifold just removed from our airplane at the request of the Windsor Mosquito group. On its way via FedEx the next day.


Two years ago we loaned the Windsor Mosquito crew a full engine nacelle/undercarriage canoe. Richard Fox informed us that despite some initial difficulties, they have begun a new way to replicate our pieces for their airplane and that we should see ours back later this year. It's good to have friends willing to work with us in a mutually supportive way.

Also on the topic of working with friends, a shout out to D'Arcy Barker, chief maintenance guy for KF Aero's Center For Excellence. KF of course hold the only original flyable de Havilland Mosquito, which is also a former Spartan Air Services sister ship to ours.



This is the end of one of our pneumatic brake lines. We were looking for the crimped collar when D’Arcy Barker suggested he could make us a complete new set. Yea. On the topic of cool technical details, note the braided copper grounding strap (‘bonding’ if you are British), that runs along the brake line, held by hand knotted cord.


We asked if they had some British style crimp collars for our brake lines and D'Arcy suggested they could do better than that by making all new lines for us. Our gear guy Jaimie G. got measurements off ours and they are now in production with KF in Kelowna. It's good to have helpful friends. Thank you D'Arcy and KF.

And that's a wrap on 2024.

Richard de Boer, President

Richard de Boer, President

January 8, 2025


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