Restoration Update

Hawker Sea Fury T.Mk.20 WE820

Restoration Project

Restoration Update

May 15, 2011 It’s been more than a year since I gave you a proper update so here goes: The wing center section now has all of the flaps re-skinned and installed, the interspar and nose fuel tanks have been rebuilt and installed. All of the leading edge gear to include the nose tank housing, oil cooler housing, gun camera rack and fairings have all been re-skinned as necessary, fitted, pained and installed. I even turned up some 20mm cannon barrel blanks on the lathe. At the moment I’m about half done with the safety wiring of the hydraulic piping and that will be about it for the center section.

I was due for a change of scenery so last week, my son Scott and I pulled the tail fin out of the corner and mounted the horizontal stabilizer. As it sits today, the elevator is also installed and safetied. I spent this morning installing the pitch trim cables. I can’t help but think someone at Hawker who did this for a living had longer and thinner fingers than I do! In any case it’s nice to see another big part of the project come together.

The engine QEC is ready for installation. We had a stroke of luck when we were able to purchase the exhaust system, oil tank, intake ducting and cowling mounts from the Sanders family when they removed them from one of their Sea Furies in preparation for an R2800 installation. This will save us much time later.

The Fuselage is still at Sanders and really looking like a Sea Fury. The current task revolves around finishing the rear cockpit and skinning the aft section of the fuselage. I do think later this summer we should have all the pieces together and looking like an airplane again.

On the parts front we are down to just a very few items remaining, including the wing locking jacks and the speed ring for the engine cowl. We do have some very strong leads at the moment on even these items. I’m genuinely amazed that we have been so fortunate at finding so many parts for this project. It’s happened through the generosity and hard work of many people including: Kevin Arditto, Nobby Bartsch, Ellsworth Getchell, Dave Reader and of course the Sanders Family.

I’ll try to be a little more timely in the updates but in case you haven’t seen it, Mark Watt has done a much better job than I by providing current photos on the Sanders website here: http://www.sandersaircraft.com/restoration_seafury-dwelle.asp

Ken

Oct 17th 2010

Last month I received an email from Kevin Arditto in Australia, he had a line on a possible Sea Fury throttle quadrant which was coming up for auction, and wanted to know if we were interested. I always like to hear from Kevin but this was one which really got my attention. The answer was yes and oh by the way could you send photos! As it turned out the quadrant was not only Sea Fury, it was for a T.Mk.20 and in unused condition…The only problem was that the auction was in Australia and I was in California! As usual Kevin didn’t miss a beat, he drove four hours North and waited most of the day for the lot to bid, one of the last. When the dust had settled we won the quadrant at a fair price and Kevin high tailed it home and sent the good news. He boxed it up, sent it our and within a week it was sitting on my workbench. Amazing!

For four years now Kevin has been extremely successful at finding impossible-to-find parts for our restoration, he just keeps on delivering. He has also been an invaluable resource in helping me understand the British parts protocol and engineering. We are extremely fortunate to have him on our side!

April 11^th, 2010 Well spring is upon us in Northern California and we have been busy over the long, wet winter. Angel and Randy at Sanders Aircraft have had the fuselage down about as far as it could go, They reached the “point of maximum deconstruction” in the first week of February and the uploaded a photo shows the firewall, fuel bay floor and little else remaining of the fuselage. I have to admit it was an uneasy time for me but the pros at Sanders never blinked an eye. Two months later has it looking like a Sea Fury for the first time in 23 years. Three of the four longerons are new as well as nearly everything else in the forward cockpit section. Angel has fabricated the front cockpit floor, side consoles, outside skins and all the structure underneath which was destroyed during the air bottle explosion in 1995. Randy removed the structural member which goes between the cockpits and rebuilt it. It was truly a mess as the rollover structure had been cut off and a hole measuring about 15” x 10” had been cut out of the rest of it. See the “2010 photos section for before and after photos of this part. It is truly correct now and a real work of art.

I have been working on the Center Section and, as promised, there is a lot going on in there… Nevertheless, the hydraulics, fuel, landing gear, gun bay doors, gear doors and brakes are all done and essentially flight ready. I still need to skin, paint and install 2 of the 4 flap sections and overhaul the spar mounted fuel tanks. Dad has been working on the engine, motor mount and accessories.

There will come a day, later this summer, when Dennis brings the painted fuselage back to us and in a single afternoon we’ll mount it to the center section, bolt on the tail, hang the motor and have it on its “feet”. Needless to say, that will be a big day!

Ken

November 17th 2009 Things are really moving on several fronts now. Dennis Sanders delivered the wing center section back to us in October. Sanders’ shop completed the metal work then sent it across the airport to Powerpac where Renee laid on one of his signature paint jobs. The center section was delivered “bare” and we went to work immediately installing the hydraulic system. In the last month we have installed the aileron control system, the landing gear and associated equipment as well as most of the hydraulic system. We are currently working on installation of the fuel system components. Wing flaps, fuel tanks and the oil cooler system are still on the “to do” list. We probably have the better part of six months work remaining on the center section, there’s “a lot going on” in there..

On the fuselage front, Sanders Aircraft has been on it full time since the beginning of September. They have re-constructed the fuel bay, the front cockpit rudder pedal box, and the upper forward fuselage. Every piece of this had been cut out or modified and it’s going back properly. Last week they completed the new fuselage vertical side formers and drilled the skins off of the cockpit section. The near future will bring replacement of the upper longerons, re-skinning of the cockpit and installation of the previously fabricated parts.

July 25^th 2009 Lots to report since the last update in January. The work on the wing center section is nearing completion at Sanders aircraft. All of the skins aft of the rear spar and the trailing edges have been replaced. The large skin on the top left side is being done now since it had been patched after the high pressure bottle explosion in 1995. In the mean time we have completed the elevator, which turned out to be no small task! A previous owner had clipped 11” off of each tip for a racing modification so we had to fabricate all the pieces for the elliptical tip and re-skin all eighteen feet of it top and bottom. It was a long and tedious project but the results are well worth it.

Larry Klassen re-skinned the main undercarriage doors and really made them nice, considering they have been in the dirt at least twice. We re-skinned the rudder and finished assembling the tail fin to include the tailwheel and associated hydraulics. The panels just behind the engine cowling which support the exhaust tips have also been re-skinned and all the bits plated and assembled both sides. We are now working on the horizontal stabilizer; it needed a new leading edge due to damage from a failed engine cowl during an air race. Thanks to Dennis Sanders for the lesson on the press break! We are now fitting the tip skins and bows which were removed by a previous owner, again for air racing. Fortunately, Dennis had recovered the frames 20 years ago and saved them for the occasion! Angel did a magnificent job on the English wheel of forming the tip skins and bows with a shrinker. They are really, really nice.

Looking forward, we will complete the horizontal, then skin a couple of wing flaps while we wait on the arrival of the wing center section. When it comes, we can install all the gear, hydraulics and control linkages while Sanders’ get to work on the fuselage. Still looking for the cockpit seats and a few other bits, please see the parts wanted page.

Thanks for checking in. Ken

Jan 25th 2009 Well things are starting to move now after a major distration called the Reno Air Races, we entered only one airplane this year, a Havard MkII named Tinkertoy and managed to win 1st in the T-6 class.

A lot has happened since the last update when we thought we were nearly done with the wing center section. We made the decision to replace most of the skins on the top side and that is well underway at Sanders aircraft. We received the tailfin back from Ione last week and it looks fabulous! As you may recall it is an unused tail which we found in Australia. Trevor at Powerpac in Ione did the paint stripping and Dennis Sanders repaired the minor sheet metal damage from 50 years of storage. Back to Powerpack where Renee laid on an interior paint job that is not to be believed, he really did it right. Two days later it was back in Auburn and we began installation of all the bits which had been restored in the meantime. See the "Restoration" page for photos.

We are thrilled that we can now cross two items off the "Parts Needed" list which are among the most difficult to find. The Spade type stick grip and the front cockpit throttle quadrant are now on the property, the latter due to a heroic effort from Dennis Sanders.

We spent this last weekend re-skinning the rudder. Next will be the horizontal stabilizer and elevator while we wait for the wing center section to arrive.

Ken

June 21st 2008 It's been a couple of months since we updated the site but progress marches on. The biggest news is that Butch at Powerpac in Ione has just about competed the metalwork on the wing center section. I don't think any of us thought it would require so much time and effort but that's what it took. It is amazing what sins were hidden under the bondo! The good news is that Butch is a perfectionist and his work shows that. We have added some new photos to the "Restoration" page which show some before and after shots of the gunbays. They had been seriously "modified" to support oil coolers mounted there. They are now completely stock. Butch has also re-skinned damaged areas, fitted the new undercarriage doors and returned the stock oil cooler mounting location to it's proper condition. We were very fortunate that there was no significant structural damage or corrosion. The next step is to have Renee paint the interior portions and return the Centersection to Auburn so I can begin installing the undercarriage, hydraulic, fuel systems and aileron controls which are ready to go.

While Butch was working on the Centersection, I have been finishing up the fuel system, aileron and rudder controls, wing fold mechanisms and related plating. Don't forget to see the "Restoration" page for the newest photos.

Thanks Ken Dwelle