Restoration Work An in-depth look at the restoration work necessary to get either of our aircraft back into the air would make a lengthy book, never mind a web page, so this is just a glimpse into the amount of work that has been done to date.

Fuselage

The fuselage looked in a right state when we received the aircraft but it looked worse than it really was as it had been covered in waxoyl to preserve it. After a good external steam clean to remove waxoyl residue all redundant systems were deleted. Luckily we didn't have to strip the paint, as this had already been done. A complete dismantling of the fuselage found it to be in pretty good condition with only a small amount of corrosion in the rear; this area was repaired and re-skinned. Internally the aircraft needed a lot of work. All of the seats had been removed to make room for the cameras and the floor was rotten; the original cockpit floor is a balsa wood sandwich. This type of floor over many years tends to become very soft and in extreme cases this may rot through. This is exactly what happened to our floor. The rotten floor was removed and all windows removed for cleaning and polishing. All internal surfaces were inspected for corrosion etch primed, epoxy primed and silver epoxy finished. All traces of the internal trimming were removed together with any remaining fibre wool insulation. New engine controls and cables were fitted. A radio aerial was sourced (from eBay!) and fitted along with an astrodome fabricated to replace our first one, which was smashed in what could be called an unexpected hangar-aircraft interface.

After much work the fuselage exterior restoration was completed, and the aircraft was ready to be painted. From very early in the restoration we had a clear idea of how we wanted to finish our Beech. Above all, one paint scheme had stood as being most attractive from the outset - the 1940s style US Navy scheme. Whilst we wanted the scheme to be as accurate as possible we needed it to be practical also. Practicality therefore dictated the finish - high gloss - which would be easier to clean and polish.

We had been approached by the Dunkeswell Memorial Museum, with a request to apply markings to our Beech representative of one based at Dunkeswell during WWII. This we are pleased to do and we are using tail number 943 to represent 43-35943, a JRB-3 Beech which was on strength with Hedron-7 at Dunkeswell. To these markings we have added two touches of our own - firstly, yellow tail stripes as an area for the sponsors logos to go on, and secondly - nose art! Richard Watts of the Sywell Aviation Museum was commissioned to produce some suitable nose art for 'Naval Encounter', the name our Beech now carries.

Engines

The engines are Pratt & Whitney 450 hp R-985 18 litre 9 cylinder radials, and we didn't have any initially. A second Beech 18 airframe - G-BKRG (the 'Bond Beech' because it was used in a James Bond movie), was acquired for its engines, which were found to be in a remarkably good state. The starboard engine illustrated here was dismantled over the winter of 1998/1999. All cylinders were cleaned, inspected for corrosion and painted in heat resistant paint. During 1999, to facilitate easy access for X ray inspection of the spar, all pipework, cables, ducting, and systems were removed from behind the engine firewalls and the whole area was then grit blasted. The undercarriage bays were filthy but had been liberally coated in waxoyl so after cleaning up and renewing the various hoses and unions they have turned out very nicely. We did buy new retraction chains and tyres, and the manual undercarriage retraction/lowering crank in the cockpit was used for the first retraction tests.

After the 1999/2000 winter most of our restoration work was held up due to bad weather. Finally in early March we had the weather to be able to resume our work. One of the first jobs was to re-fit the oil system into the engine nacelles. Here we see the starboard oil tank bay, thoroughly cleaned and repainted, awaiting installation of the oil tank itself. We have also fitted the oil piping and air ducts; new oil pipes have been manufactured for us by Fordaire. Electrical systems all required checking and replacement where necessary. Engine bulkheads have been refitted; their piping, oil coolers, oil cooler ducts and oil tanks have been refitted and connected and the engine was installed during the early part of 2001 along with all engine control cabling - a tricky task as the engine didn't match up to the bulkhead in the same way as G-BKRN's original engine would have done!

Here we have a selection of "before and after" merged pictures - showing, from left to right, the firewall, undercarriage bay bulkhead and port engine nacelles before and after restoration - not only do they show just how dirty the aircraft was inside, they also show just what time and effort can really achieve.

Some parts of the engine had been stolen during its time in store and this gave us a few problems. We had to purchase an exhaust collector ring which cost nearly £1000 and this significantly depleted our finances. We have since fitted new piston rings, pushrod tubes, ignition harness and gaskets and given the engine a major overhaul. During 2000 the cylinders were overhauled, new exhaust valve guides fitted, valves reseated and cylinder bores honed. Prior to re-assembly the engine block was completely stripped of any surface corrosion and old paint. The block was inspected for damage and then thoroughly de-greased. The entire block was then masked and repainted. Over the weekend of 24th-25th of February 2001 we began to re-assemble the engine. Assembly began with the installation of both front and rear ignition harnesses which had been purchased new/overhauled from the United States. Each piston was then fitted into it's respective cylinder. Pushrods were cleaned, inspected and fitted with new gaskets. These were then fitted to the crankcase with each piston/cylinder assembly. This process took most of the afternoon but the end result (pictured here) was astounding considering the condition of the engine when we first started. New inter-cylinder baffles were fitted together with priming lines and the "new" exhaust purchased from Chester Roberts Supply.

In autumn 2001, just before painting started on the fuselage, the the starboard engine was ready and the challenging task of mating everything up to the bulkhead was begun. As you can see from the before and after shots of the other (port) bulkhead here, it certainly makes a difference to get the engines installed! The port engine was not ready for installation until May 2002 but once in place the aircraft certainly looked more balanced. The eagle-eyed viewer will notice that when the first picture was taken we were also taking the opportunity to test the undercarriage retraction mechanism!

Wings

Prior to an X-ray inspection we had to clean the spar of all wax oil. NDT Services of Castle Donnington carried out non-destructive testing of the spar in July of 1999; no corrosion or cracks were discovered during the X Ray inspection and Cleaning and inspection was completed during mid 1999.

We removed all fuel tanks from the wing stubs. The tank bays were then grit blasted to remove dirt and residual paint. After a thorough inspection the tanks were repainted along with the tank bays and the fuel tanks re-fitted. One of the most important jobs we had to do on the starboard outer wing prior to painting and fitting was the replacement of corroded skin panels. During the Beech's life in the elements at at Cranfield, the English weather had its opportunity to begin eating away at several of the upper panels. These were carefully drilled off thus exposing the inner structure of the wing.

Inspection of the structure confirmed that the corrosion was limited to the upper trailing edge panels only and corrosion had not affected any of the internal ribs or stringers. New skins were manufactured using the old skins as templates and these were then re-riveted into place - good experience for us. After some pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth the Star & Bar was applied to the lower surface of the now completed starboard wing.

With both wings completed, the next big step in the restoration was attaching the wings to the fuselage. In September 2003 we finally had the Beech looking like an aircraft - starboard wing first, then the port one a few weeks later. Next step - control surfaces - flaps, ailerons and elevators all needed to be restored and refitted. At this point the aircraft could no longer fit into the temporary hangar we had constructed, but thanks to David Walton we were able to move the aircraft into the large hangar at Bruntingthorpe to continue working undercover.

In September 2003, with help from Terry & Graham Levett, the propellor blades went on. These were ordered from the USA when the costs for overhaul of our own propellers here in the UK proved to be prohibitive. Not long afterwards in November we were kindly given access to the Beech 18 at Duxford and this gave us the opportunity to trace and measure all the hoses currently missing from ours - these were manufactured at Duxford by ARCO while we got on with fitting the control lines and began work on the electrical system.

Cockpit

One of the last dirty and time consuming areas of our restoration to be tackled is the cockpit. The cockpit and cabin floor have now been remade using 13 mm marine plywood, varnished and painted and covered with an Aluminium top sheet. Mirror finish Stainless Steel kick plates manufactured and supplied by Brooks Engineering of Northampton have been fitted in place of the original Aluminium plates which were worn thin and corroded through.

The instrument panel was removed, restored and fitted with overhauled instruments; we have finished it in light grey. Electrical control boxes have been re-installed under the cockpit floor. During installation all cut electrical cables were chased through the wiring loom ready for identification and re-threading back into the loom. The aircraft's inverter had been stolen from underneath the floor as had several fuel pipes. A 'new' inverter has now been overhauled and is ready for re-installation.

We have also re-insulated the interior of the main cabin. Fireproof cavity wall insulation is being installed prior to skinning with aluminium sheet to which blue trimming fabric is attached. The blue extends from floor to window level from where a light grey fabric continues to the other side of the cabin. All of the insulation is being wire locked into place to prevent movement. Fitting out seats etc. is a job for the future!