Volume 3 Issue 2

September 2002

Newsletter

NEW Covers 1

Prop News 2

Vulcan & The Lottery 2

Our Little Tug 2

Beech Art 3

November Gales 3

Mystery Vehicle 3

Wing Work 4

Engine Rebuild Project 4

Inside this issue: BEECH COVERS: During August of 2002 "we" were measured up for a new suit of

covers.

We had previously been put in contact with CAMBRAI COVERS by the operators of the

Beech 18 at Duxford

A whole day was spent at Bruntingthorpe by the owner of the company and his wife

who proceeded to measure

and cut what seemed to

me to be miles and miles

of polythene sheeting.

Over the day the polythene

templates were measured,

cut and taped to the whole

exterior of the aircraft.

A standard Beech 18

cockpit cover covers the

nose, glazing and

continues along the

fuselage to cover a couple

of the windows in the main

cabin. Our covers have

been specially modified to

extend to the rear toilet

window thus covering the

cabin door and eliminating

a notorious leak point

which causes the cabin

floor to rot away. We also

had a special cover made

for our astrodome.

Whilst we desperately need

to be in a hanger or

building of some

description, these covers

do provide us with a

measure of protection for

our investment.

Super job Cambrai Covers,

Not really NEWS for a NEWSLETTER but my brain is empty. The picture

below is of Bruntingthorpe and comes from a UK airfields add-on for

MS Flight Simulator.

The airfield appears to have been faithfully reproduced down to the last

detail apart from possibly the numbers of cars. We are way over here

Photo: Hermann Buttigieg

Negotiations have been taking place for

the sale of the "Octopussey" "Bond

Beech" to a collector of film and TV

memorabilia.

Unfortunately the aircraft remains un

sold at this time due to the potential

purchaser having recently purchased

one of the cars used in the TV series

"The Dukes of Hazzard"

The sale of the "Bond Beech" would

have provided much needed funds to

continue our restoration. All is not lost

as we have another interested party.

Seen in the latest issue of flypast was this

promotional BEECH 18 used by a Swiss café

If The Bond Beech doesn't sell, guess

what we are going to do with it.

Beech 18 OE-FIA Photo: Steven Hatton

Issue 4 December 2002

As detailed in the previous issue we are

currently marketing car decals which have proved to be very popular. The decals represent our Beech Res-

torations logo and the NAVAL ENCOUN-NAVAL ENCOUN-

TER TER nose art. Each decal retails at £1.00 each.

In time we hope to produce T shirts and patches.

Vulcan Loses Lottery

Funding. Since 1993 the

Walton family have been

campaigning and working

towards getting Vulcan

XH558 back into the air.

Lottery funding was applied

for however on 15th

November this was

unfortunately rejected on

the grounds that it did not

represent good value for

money! During 2001 the

British Heritage Lottery Fund

gave £20 million to very

dubious causes. BAH are

asking for only a tenth of this

amount to be able to show

off the engineering success

of the BRITISH Aerospace

industry.

XH558 Will probably now be

scrapped! Your Thoughts??

Starboard Engine Timed: On Saturday 23rd November

our Starboard engine was

timed to recently overhauled

magneto's. Mr R. Ford of

Fordaire Aviation carried out

both the mag overhaul and

the timing operation. All that

now remains on these units

are Hoses for fuel and oil and

they are ready to run.

New Prop On

Order: Our 2nd and

last propeller is now

on order. This was

not as simple as it sounds as a prop with blades of the correct length was

not initially available.

Beech 18's are allowed to fly with 22D30 hubs and with what they call

6531 blades. The 6531 is always followed by a dash and a number eg. -

15 or -16, or -17 or -18. These numbers represent the length of the

blade, oddly the bigger the number, the shorter the blade! As the props

are used, they actually get shorter, narrower and thinner so at an

overhaul they are fettled down to the nearest dash length number.

A good (corrosion free) hub had been located by our prop man in the

states however he was unfortunately unable to locate blades which

matched those on our "first" "new" prop. He could only locate -17 blades

which meant each blade was 2" shorter thus reducing the overall length

of the prop by 4". Whilst the Beech can fly using blades of this length they

produce less thrust and need to be rigged correctly by altering the pitch

control stops on the engine bulkhead.

Whilst perfectly acceptable and it would last a number of years we were a

little uncomfortable purchasing this prop. Fortunately whilst researching

the prop our man located -15 blades to match our originals however

these were much more expensive at $5,500. We have had to do a bit of

juggling with our finances (like cashing in life insurance policies) to be

able to afford this prop but it is on order and should be with us in

February next year.

COMIN

G SOON

TOW TUG: Sunday 24th

November our very own tow

tug arrived.

This is a little Reliance Cub

which uses a Triumph Herald

engine. As can be seen from

the picture it requires a lot of

TLC and any help with this

"nice" little project would be

greatly appreciated.

What shall we name her?

Original

Prop Page 2

Grizzly Revisited. In our

very first newsletter we

briefly described one of the

more radical twin Beech'.

This was the X-38 Grizzly.

Essentially a Beech 18 but

with enormous engines, 2

remotely operated gun

turrets (like the B-29)and a

75mm anti-tank gun! Only 2

were every built, one was

scrapped and the other

disappeared.

The picture right has been

included in this issue for no

other reason than It Is MAD

& WE WANT ONE.

TUG PICTURE

Mystery Vehicle The answer to the

mystery vehicle

depicted in the last

issue is Kettenkrad.

This is what it

should look like.

Essentially it is a

German tracked

motorcycle. It could

carry 3 troops, tow a

light anti-tank gun or

recoilless rifle.

It was used on all

fronts during the war

and proved to be a very versatile and popular "go anywhere" vehicle.

Powered by an Opel engine and capable of up to about 45 mph this rugged

little vehicle was steered through shallow turns using the motorcycle type

handlebars. Sharper turns were accomplished by a track braking system just

like a tank.

Many were used

after the war by

various forestry

organisations. They

are now quite rare

and very expensive.

£20,000 upwards!!

Now try this one

for size.

The answer

"JEEP" is not

enough.

Page 3

Beech Instruments: On a recent visit to search our spare parts for our second project (T-6Grrrr) we discovered

quite a large cache of instruments. Whilst they all require overhaul and inspection this substantial and diverse

collection should yield the instruments we are missing for the Beech.

Hopefully, when we have more time we will be able to identify and then negotiate for the instruments we need. The

cache includes US, British, German & Italian instruments so we should with a bit of luck obtain what we need to

finish our instrument panel.

Due to unforeseen personal circumstances one of our

shareholders has unfortunately had to sell his share in the beech

18. Euan Sinclair has been a shareholder for a number of years

and has supported the restoration in many ways other than

financially.

We would like to thank Euan for his support and wish him all the

very best for the future.

NEW BEECH PAINTING: Mr Clive Kemp has done it

again. Once more he has captured the essence of our

Beech 18 flying over a patchwork of fields far below.

Mr Kemp is a very skilled and accomplished artist

and he is a thoroughly nice chap too boot. He has

supported our project by now donating 3 paintings to

us which is very generous of him.

Once again our thank go to him.

November Gales Cause Havoc: Early in November the

country was struck by severe gales. Damage was caused in

swathes across the Midlands and Bruntingthorpe was not

left untouched.

Fortunately the Beech was safe, as was our roof. Thanks to

the numerous "U" bolt fixings used in the construction we

suffered no losses of any roof sheets, the only penalty were

thousands of leaves that had "taken shelter" under the

Beech.

The only damage on site was the Jumbo turning into wind

but more seriously a caravan was wrecked by being

physically blown

across the hard-

standing into the

girders. As can be

seen it was

damaged beyond

economical repair

& created a

dreadful mess

which took

several hours to

clean up.

STOP PRESS: THE TUG RUNS. Amazing as it

may seem our little tug actually runs. We are

going to paint it blue and mount a 30cal

machinegun on the front. Astalavista Baby.

Beech Restorations

14 Hallam Close Moulton Northampton. NN3 7LB

Phone: 01604 790901 Fax:….01604 492946 Email:philip@studfast.fsnet.co.uk

Wing Stripped: We have recently began to paint strip our

port wing in preparation for re-skinning. The re-skinning is a

requirement imposed by our C of A engineer John Romain

and is to eliminate corrosion on the wing surfaces.

Corrosion is always the problem with any metal surfaces.

Aluminium tends to corrode in different ways one of which is

the formation of a powder on the outer surfaces. This if

treated quickly can be halted but due to the period of time

our wings were in outside storage the corrosion has crept

between the wing skin joints thus necessitating replacement

of the skins.

Whilst the skins are off we will thoroughly inspect the

interior surfaces of the with for exfoliating corrosion in any

of the longerons the discovery of which would necessitate

further repairs. Our thanks go to Simon for his help with this

messy job. "I love the smell of Dasic in the morning"

OPEN DAY A SUCCESS : Sunday 15th September saw the last Bruntingthorpe open day of

2002. The day was warm and sunny which drew in about 4000 people.

This large attendance was rewarded with a display of fast jet taxi runs together with a

demonstration from 2 jet cars. These thrilled the crowd with bursts of patriotic multi-coloured

smoke, flame and noise topped off with a

race in the true dragster style down the 2

mile runway.

Many people showed an interest in the

Beech, many of whom had followed the

restoration from the start.

We were congratulated on our restoration to

date by the chief engineer on the restoration

of the vehicle shown below. I have

personally seen this vehicle which is a

German Half-track tank recovery vehicle and

it is quite magnificent & we were very

pleased to receive such an accolade

OPEN DAY IDEAS: Next year we would like to

raise funds for the Beech &

would welcome marketing

ideas which would bring in

much needed cash

STUDFAST

STUDWELDINGfast to lastA R C

Check Us Out At

Beechrestorations

.com

Advertising Rates:

Single Years Advertising £1250.00

2 Years £1125.00/year 3 Years £1065.00/year

4 Years £1000.00/year 5 Years £950.00/year

Shares Available: There are two 5% shares in the Beech for

sale. Each share £4500 plus . For more information or viewing

of the aircraft please contact P. Turland on the number above.

HELP is always required if

you would like to get

involved please phone us.

Advertising Opportunity:

Please help and support

our project by advertising

your company on the fin of

the aircraft. See below for

advertising rates.

Engine Rebuild: Earlier this year we were offered and

purchased a Pratt & Whitney R-985. This engine which had

suffered some sort of failure was originally fitted to the Beech 18

operated by ARCO at Duxford which as you may remember was

one of the 2 other Beech 18's which flew into the country with

ours.

Externally the engine appears quite good however metal particles

can be heard falling about

inside. We do not know what

these are and at the moment

we are unable to spend the

time stripping it down to

establish the nature of the

damage.

What we would like is a

volunteer to commence

removal of the cylinder heads

in preparation for a complete

strip down.

Dependant upon the nature

and severity of the damage

(which can only be

established after stripping) we

hope the engine can be

rebuilt and used as

a spare for the

Beech

Anyone interested

in helping with

this please

contact us.

FORDAIRE AVIATION

D

J & G AerotanksJ & G Aerotanks DUNLOP AIRCRAFT TYRES LIMITED