Whitley Parts

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Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

Following Hindenberg's success with his Stirling bits thread I thought i'd start a Whitley one!

There are thousands of individual parts - I thought i'd start with some of the biggest bits.

The first recovery we did was in 2001. We were helped by the Montrose Air Station Museum, Brian Dickinson, Steve Boyd and Peter Babbs. We started with the wings, so i'll post those pictures first.

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http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/attachingstrop24nov2001.jpg

The recovery

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/DSCN1922.jpg

The wings in store

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Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

Centre section - there are parts from two Whitley's here - the upper and lower components that make up the rather boxy centre section. This is the next item on the agenda, after the front turret and we took delivery of the centre section jig recently.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/IMG_0479.jpg

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

We have two Rolls Royce Merlin X's - pictures here of one that came via John Robson and was trawled up off the Yorkshire coast about 20 years ago. It must have been buried in the mud/clay as one of the cylinder blocks has rotted away, but the remainder is in amazing condition. It came with the engine bearers and prop which has been removed in the picture. You can see the oil around the spline. Thanks to Merlin Pete for his invaluable help with this (and Bruce Gordon who helped with its delivery and storage).

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/MerlinX.jpg

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/MerlinXShaft.jpg

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 2,820

I think I can say the only chunk of Whitley I have seen "for real" is the piece at the Midland Air Museum, and it just seems tiny and cramped.

This is a wonderful piece of work and I wish you every success.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

The engine bearers - a complete set of Whitley engine bearers have now been completed by Peter in Carlisle - these pictures are of one pair before being rebuilt.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/PortBearer.jpg

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/StbdBearer.jpg

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

Nacelle frame - also started by Merlin Pete. The first two pictures are the rusty joints that were recovered by Chinook from Snowdonia. Last of all is the end of the frame - the engine bearers attach to this and Peter used it as a jig during their construction. Great work Pete!

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/bd232m.jpg

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/bd232k.jpg

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/Frame1.jpg

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

Props - we have a pair of Rotol hubs - one good, one bad so we are still looking for a Rotol R5/1 hub in good order. Once a second good hub is acquired they will both be sent off to be stripped down.

I managed to acquire a complete set of wooden Whitley blades last year which was an extremely unexpected find to say the least! They came from a garden in Gloucestershire and had been used as a fence.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/1a.jpg

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/20080515_181522.jpg

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

FN16 front turret - ours came from a scrapyard and was completely stripped. We have been able to replace a lot of the missing parts using recovered parts. The turret is now more advanced than shown in the picture - i'd better get some more up to date pictures.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/turret30mar08a.jpg

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

Cockpit parts - we have a lot, many parts are small brackets which will go in to make the final structure one day. Larger items include:

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/DSCN2972.jpg
Navigators and pilots seats

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/throttlebox.jpg
Throttlebox

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/Picture026.jpg
The pilots floor

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/IMG_0124.jpg
The pilots escape hatch - currently under restoration

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/DSCN3752.jpg
Hydraulic hand hump - restored since this picture was taken

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/Picture078.jpg
The navigators floor

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

Undercarriage legs - we have a pair and they came through in a swap deal. It goes without saying that we are very grateful to have them.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/n1498ucleg3.jpg

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/n1498ucleg13.jpg

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

Rear fuselage parts - again there are a large number of small sections such as longeron remains etc. Here are some of the larger parts. These pictures are credited to Steve Wild and were taken prior to recovery.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/Picture031.jpg
Rear fuselage side wall

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/Picture012.jpg
Rear fuselage floor section

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,835

Stern body from N1498 - this is on display at the wonderful Midland Air Museum. Well worth a visit and Barry James has been very helpful to us over the years. The rear turret was recently returned to the RAF Museum from CARG I believe.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/P7040004.jpg

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/elliott1940/P7040005.jpg

Member for

18 years 4 months

Posts: 2,392

Thats a fair collection of bits you have there. I look forward to seing more progress on this project.

Member for

14 years 11 months

Posts: 158

great pics elliot and a lot of time well spent,the pic of the turret are those the bloody horible tubes i had on my bench??

geoff

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,331

Terrific to see what you've got there Elliott. What's the situation with forward fuselage structure/information? Presumably that tended to get destroyed completely in crashes.

Member for

19 years 11 months

Posts: 1,988

Thanks Elliot

that's quite a jigsaw you have there!

Hopefully this thread might help you find some more missing pieces

I wonder if the Bluebird Project team could work their wonders on that pilot's seat - I suspect it would come back looking like new

Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 1,270

[QUOTE=Whitley_Project;1450865]The engine bearers - a complete set of Whitley engine bearers have now been completed by Peter in Carlisle /QUOTE]

Completed bearers prior to shotblasting. One set is from the trawled engine and the other using mostly parts from Whitley N1498.

Pete

Attachments

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 1,404

This thread is fantastic Elliot..totally surprised how much Whitley is surviving...wish there was as much Stirling about...still you never know what`s going to turn up next !!

Member for

17 years 6 months

Posts: 1,586

I fully agree,

Amazing what has turned up and the work you and the team have already carried out.
Let's make sure this thread stays fully fueled with new finds or progress.
No chances for National Lottery funding for this and the Stirling projects?
Cheers

Cees

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 141

Are hill/mountain crash sites treated in the same way as digs are with regards licenses etc ?

M

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 819

Yes