Visit to Cosford Conservation Centre

[Stevekir]

Conservation Centre Open Week

10th - 16th November 2013

10:15am to 1:00pm

FREE Admission

The RAF Museum's award winning Conservation Centre will be opening its doors to visitors for exclusive behind-the-scenes access to aircraft conservation work for one week only. Visitors will be able to view progress being made on the Museum's bombers, the Handley Page Hampden and Vickers Wellington, plus other aircraft in various states of restoration.

Visitors will also have the rare opportunity to speak with the skilled Technicians and Apprentices about their work during the Open Week.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/whats-going-on/events/conservation-centre-open-we/

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I went this morning with two mates, mainly to see how the conservation of the Dornier 17 was getting on (in its lemon juice environment. I took some pics that interested me and although many will have been to Cosford before, others might be interested to see them. Being a special Open Day (or rather Open Morning) there were many staff around including mechanical technicians amongst the exhibits and the many heavy metal-working tools. There were many visitors.

Unfortunately, the pics have loaded out of order, so I will title each one:

01 Dornier Conserving-01:

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03 Dornier Conserving-03 A radial engine:

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04 Dornier Conserving-04:

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05 Lincoln, Bomb Bay:

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07 LVG C VI (German WWI two-seater reconnaissance. Note the pre-printed canvas, I haven't seen that before.:

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08 Modern Typhoon, Early Version:

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09 WWII Typhoon. In this state it makes it clear that this type of plane was really an engine with a fuselage and wings attached.:

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10 Mosquito TT35:

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11 Mosquito TT35:

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19 Wellington-06 Wing Attachment. Note the colossal strength of the geodesic design by Barnes Wallace. I was told that this enabled the aircraft to sustain heavy damage and carry on.:

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12 Mosquito TT35:

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15 Wellington-02:

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16 Wellington-03:

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14 Wellington-01 The "geodesic dome" construction by Barnes Wallace:

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17 Wellington-04 To nose:

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18 Wellington-05 To nose:

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20 Comet G-LYU, Stress test. My mother flew in a Comet which was the flight just before the one that crashed in India:

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[CDW]

Some interesting stuff there Steve, and some nice reference material for the aircraft builders, although its quite sad to see the state some stuffs in.

 

[Gern]

Thanks for these Steve.

Gern

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice photos, thanks for sharing them

 

[tr1ckey66]

What a really interesting place to visit!

Thanks for sharing these fabulous photos. I particularly like the engineless tiffy and the lozenge camo on the WW1 fighter but all the shots really are invaluable reference.

Thank you so much Steve

Paul

 

[yak face]

Brilliant pics steve ,thanks. I cant wait for the annual scale models bunfight in april at cosford (also known as the Cosford model show) ,are you going to make it steve?

 

[eddiesolo]

Superb pictures Steve, many thanks for sharing them with us. Really enjoyed looking at these.

Si

 

[Stevekir]

Brilliant pics steve ,thanks. I cant wait for the annual scale models bunfight in april at Cosford (also known as the Cosford model show) ,are you going to make it steve?

Yes, I plan to. I went last year but had just got a hernia (from being in an awkward position in a cupboard drilling a hole in a fearsomely hard wall…er…at home I mean) so had to leave early. It was really good to be ducking your head under all those planes.

 

[Stevekir]

The BBC had a good report on the progress on the Dornier restoration being done at Cosford, at 8:45 and on the 1 o'clock, both BBC1 national. You could catch it on iPlayer.

 

[monica]

nice pic,s very interesting thanks for sharing them,you guys are so lucky having all that at your door

step so to say