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Introduction
Heavy loads
Crash repairs
Oh for the wings...
Needle and thread
Flying colours
Other vehicles
The Salvage Squad's first view of the Gipsy Moth is of a pile of dusty, broken wood in the corner of a hangar at Biggin Hill Airport in Kent. Their task is to get the plane airborne again within six months.
Gipsy Moth G-ABYA was built in 1932 by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. The moth series of planes (so-called because Geoffrey de Havilland collected moths and butterflies as a boy) were reliable and affordable, revolutionising popular flying in the inter-war years. The most famous Gipsy Moth is Jason. This is the plane Amy Johnson flew from Britain to Australia, which is now in the Science Museum. G-ABYA is one of only five DH60Gs left in the UK out of 595 built at de Havilland's Stag Lane factory near London.
G-ABYA's original owner kept the plane from 1932 until 1966, when it changed hands. The plane was crashed during an air display at the Biggin Hill Air Show in 1972 and the broken fuselage and wings were stored.
The Gipsy Moth restoration is the toughest challenge that the Salvage Squad have faced in the whole series. They need to rebuild the fuselage, wings, undercarriage and engine in order to get the plane flying again. Invaluable help and advice are provided by Dick Sanders and Dave Saunders, professional restorers at Cob Aircraft.
The biggest task is rebuilding the wings of the biplane. To do this, the Squad have to learn techniques from the earliest days of aviation.
The wings of the DH60G are made entirely from wood and linen. Thirteen ribs made from spruce are aligned on 15-ft spars and the whole wing is tensioned with wires and covered in fine quality Irish linen. The wings are then attached to the fuselage by four steel pins.
Although some of the old ribs have survived the crash, many have to be replaced. Salvage Squad's Axel Cleghorn makes a template for building the new ribs by hammering nails round an intact rib to create a 'jig'.
Axel and Claire then take thin strips of spruce and bend them to shape in the jig. The pieces are then nailed and glued into place to create an exact replica of the original rib.
Lee Hurst obtains the original Gipsy Moth plans from the archives at The Imperial War Museum, Duxford and the Squad carefully measure the spars so that the ribs can be screwed and glued into exactly the right positions along the spars. The skeleton of the wing is then covered in 40 ft of linen, cut to size and glued into place.
The Squad's Jerry Thurston and Axel Cleghorn then have to sew the fabric on to the wing. Using waxed cord and a 12-in needle, they carefully sew the fabric to each of the 13 ribs. This prevents the fabric ballooning as the wing travels through the air. The sewing is extremely tricky and Axel and Jerry are conscious that no mistakes could be allowed to remain in: if the stitches go awry, they must be unpicked and redone.
Finally, the wings are painted with seven coats of dope, a substance used to tighten, stretch and waterproof the linen. When the members of the Squad fly in the plane, they know that their lives depend on the strength of the wings they have built.
Gipsy Moth
Thames sailing barge
Racing car
Stolly
Fire engine
Steamboat
Gyroplane
Bristol car
Tank
Steamroller
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