Summer has provided us with many visitors as usual and this year we have had many visitors from the United Kingdom. Our British visitors for the most part are planning vacations that include aviation museums, air shows and aviation related events in Canada and the United States and in particular the West Coast. Many Brits visit the Martin Mars water bombers at Port Alberni then head to the Y2K Spitfire restoration hangar. Our museum and restoration hangar is just a short one hour drive from Port Alberni and it's through some of the most beautiful alpine and coastal scenery you will see anywhere in the world. If you are planning a visit to the Comox Air Force Museum or the Y2K Spitfire hangar, keep in mind the Spitfire hangar is only open Saturdays for tours. However, a tour can be arranged mid-week if your travel itinerary does not suit a Saturday visit. Contact the Comox Air Force Museum at 250- 339-8162 and let us know when you will be in town -- we will do our best to get the hangar open and accommodate your Spitfire curiosity. We would also love to sell you some Y2K Spitfire souvenirs to help with our fund raising efforts.
The four skins for the horizontal stabilizer are now cut and shaped. Many laborious hours were spent on the English wheel shaping the skins. Rivet holes have been drilled and the dimpling process is almost completed on all skins. The skin stiffeners have been fitted to 3 of the skins and soon all four skins will be ready to be riveted to the spars and tailplane frames. The leading edge of the skins have been flanged in order to allow the leading edge strip to be fitted. Work will soon start on the leading edge strip and once it is completed, it will be attached. Then the entire tail plane will be removed from the assembly jig and attached to the fuselage.
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A pair of top and bottom skins after many hours on the English wheel. The rivet holes have been drilled and dimpled and the leading edges have been flanged. Theses skins are all cut from a single sheet of metal.
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A view of the same 2 skins but from the inside, this view shows the skin stiffeners being test fitted.
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A close up of the leading edge and the flanged portion. The leading edge strip will be fitted to this edge and create a very streamlined front end.
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Skin stiffeners -- some old original parts and some new fabrication. The top and bottom skins are reinforced with these stiffeners. The are common to the tail section both in the tail plane and tail fin.
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An original Spitfire tailplane skin (pattern piece). Much information can be obtained from the original pieces for our engineering team. You can see the corrosion and damage done to the skins as TE294 languished in a South African scrap heap for 2 decades.
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Thanks again for your time and support
Pat Murphy
And the Y2-K Spitfire restoration team.
“The Y2-K Spitfire will Fly Again"
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