Duxford Blenheim moves under its own power

Following several years of hard work, the Duxford Blenheim project achieved a significant milestone on 19th November, when the Blenheim Mk.I made its first taxy trials. In the setting sun, the Blenheim moved under its own power from the ARCo site out to the airfield and back. It has now been painted with a squadron code, YP-Q, which was the code carried by Blenheim Mk.I L6739 when it was with 23 Squadron in 1940. Although much of the material in the rebuild comes from the previously airworthy long-nose Bolingbroke, G-BPIV, the opportunity has been taken to graft on the shorter nose of a Mark I, which originally came from L6739. Blenheim L6739 was broken up shortly after the Second World War, but the nose was acquired by a Bristol Aeroplane Company employee and turned into a roadworthy car, using an Austin 7 chassis.

Photo from AJCDuxman on Flickr.

Bristol Aircraft in 2013

The biggest news item of the year has been the go-ahead for a new museum and learning centre at Filton, the spiritual home of Bristol aircraft. Named the Bristol Aerospace Centre, it will tell the story of the history of aviation and aerospace on the site. Centrepiece will of course be Concorde 216, which made the last Concorde flight when it flew into Filton in 2003. In addition to Concorde, the centre will house the contents of the former Bristol Aero Collection museum at Kemble, which went into storage in 2012 and is now housed in the Brabazon Hall at Filton. New additions to the Collection this year have been the reproduction Bristol Fighter built by employees of Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN in 2010, and the (unofficial) last aircraft to be built at Filton: the Whitakker MW4 microlight.

Some of the Bristol Aero Collection exhibits in store at Filton.

2013 has also been a significant year for a number of individual Bristol aircraft. The world's last airworthy Sycamore helicopter made it's first flight after several years of storage and a major overhaul. Now registered OE-SXY, the Flying Bulls team at Salsburg in Austria have done a great job bringing it back to flight. The Sycamore made its return to flight in July, flown by top aerobatic helicopter pilot Sigi 'Blacky' Schwarz.

Bristol Sycamore OE-XSY in flight at Salsburg

Another significant first this year was made on 11 September at Point Cook in Australia, when reproduction Bristol Boxkite VH-XKT took to the air for the first time. This doubles the number of airworthy Boxkites, the other being the Shuttleworths reproduction built in 1965. The Australian Boxkite has a number of differences from the Shuttleworth example, the most obvious being the upper wing extensions that became standard on most Boxkites from 1911. It also does not have the central vertical tail surface the was added to the Shuttleworth Boxkite during filming of Those Magnificent Men... More details of the build and flight can be found on the Boxkite 2014 website.

Bristol Boxkite VH-XKT on its first flight at Point Cook

The rebuild of the sole airworthy Bristol Blenheim (actually a Canadian-built Bolingbroke) achieved a visual landmark moment when it was rolled out in camouflage at Duxford in August. The restored Bristol Mercury engines had not yet been fitted, but the airframe itself now is very close to completion. The long-nose Blenheim Mk.IV (G-BPIV) suffered damage from a landing accident in August 2003, and the opportunity has been taken to rebuild the aircraft as a Mk.I, replacing the 'long nose' with a 'short nose' which had been converted to a car in the 1940s. More details on the Blenheim Society website.


Also worthy of mention is the Bristol Scout project currently underway by Rick and David Bremner in the Shropshire. Regular updates can be found on their blog. Great progress has been made in 2013, with the airframe itself complete and just the fitting of equipment and fabric covering to go.

Mk.I nose trial fitted to Duxford Blenheim

A significant moment in the restoration of the Duxford Blenheim took place in May 2008, when the Blenheim Mk.I nose was trial-fitted to the Blenheim fuselage. The aircraft, which had represented a 'long nose' Mk.IV Blenheim since its first post-rebuild flight in 1993, was damaged in a landing accident in 2003. This gave the team the opportunity to incorporate the short nose of a Mk.I Blenheim in the repairs. Other major components such as the centre wing section, rear fuselage and outer wings had been restored and mated previously. The addition of the Mk.I nose gives a shape that has not been seen for many decades.

The Mk.I nose is still just a shell, and there is much work to do in fitting it out with equipment and cabling. It will be detached from the fuselage soon so the rebuild work can continue.

Restoration of Finnish Blenheim starts

Restoration work on Blenheim Mk.IV BL-200, the sole surviving 'true' Bristol Blenheim, has started in Finland. The aircraft has been in storage at Tikkakoski in Finland, but spent many decades on display at the main gate there and in other museums. Work started on 18th May 2007, with a paint strip and preparation work. On completion, the aircraft will be housed in a dedicated building at Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo (Aviation Museum of Central Finland).

55 Blenheim Mk.Is and IVs were assembled in Finland by Valtion Lentokonetehdas at Tampere, using many components from Yugoslavia. BL-200 was built in 1944, and flew on in peace time doing survey work. It was withdrawn in 1956, making it one of the last 'true' Blenheims to fly. Several present-day aircraft have been painted up or structurally modified to become Blenheims, but these are infact Canadian-built Fairchild Bolingbrokes, a licence built Blenheim with a few home-grown differences.

Blenheim BL-200 under restoration - www.k-silmailumuseo.fi

The restoration project has its own internet Blog to show progress. It is in Finnish, but still worth a look even if you don't know the language! - http://www.ilmasotakoulunkilta.fi/IlmaSK/ilmaskmma.nsf/sp?Open&cid=Content9993D

Pima Bolingbroke unveiled

The Pima Air and Space Museum near Tucson, Arizona has unveiled is newly restored Bolingbroke. The aircraft, formerly stored in a compound at Chino, California, has been rebuilt and painted up as a Blenheim Mark IV, in a 1941-era desert camouflage. The Bolingbroke was one of three acquired by David Tallichet around 1973, and moved from Canada to California. For many years it was stored fully assembled in the MARC compound at Chino, stripped of paint. In 2004 the Pima Museum made a deal to acquire a number of unrestored airframes from David Tallichet, including a rare A-20 Havoc.

The Bolingbroke was rolled out on 15th May 2007 in North Africa Western Desert camouflage. It represents an RAF Bristol Blenheim Mark IV, serial Z9592, although structurally the aircraft is still a Canadian-built Bolingbroke. It is thought that this aircraft was originally RCAF 10076.

Bristol Aero Collection prepares for Bolingbroke

The Bristol Aero Collection is preparing to receive a Bolingbroke from the USA later this year. The aircraft, RCAF 9048, has been stored in Southern California for over 30 years, mostly with the Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation at Chino. It is unrestored, and a restoration to display condition will commence once it arrives in the UK. 9048 has been donated to the BAC by Graham Kilsby, who runs the Bristol Heritage Collection in Tennessee, and started the Bristol Aero Collection in 1988. The aircraft is unusual in that unlike most surviving Bolingbrokes, it was not built as a trainer, and has a combat history patroling for both U-Boats on the East Coast and Japanese submarines on the West Coast of Canada and in Alaska. It is expected that it will be painted in the colours of 8 (BR) Squadron RCAF, with which it served from November 1941 to August 1943.

Progress at Duxford

The restoration of Blenheim G-BPIV following it accident in 2003, continues. In the latter half of 2004, the forward fuselage section was detached, and it now sits in front of the rear fuselage section. The centre wing section is currently being restored in Building 66, behind the main hangars. The teams unrestored Mark I Blenheim nose has been placed beside the Blenheim, and it has been suggested that the aircraft will fly with this nose fitted instead of the the Mark IV nose. The Mk.I nose had been converted into a car after World War 2, and was placed in on an Austin 7 chassis. It still requires a lot of attention, but the present restoration work gives an oppertune moment to fit it. The appearance of a Mark I Blenheim in the skies will be a very rare sight, as there are no airworthy or static Mk.I's anywhere in the world.

Blenheim G-BPIV at Duxford in October, with the Mk.I nose to the right, photo taken by Martin Claydon

Also at Duxford, The Fighter Collection have fitted their Bristol F2b Fighter (G-ACAA, "D-8084") with its Rolls Royce Falcon II engine, and it will hopefully fly again soon. Another Bristol Fighter has turned up at Duxford - this is G-AANM "D-7889", which belongs to the Historic Aircraft Collection. It is currently being stored here, but there are plans to get it in the air in 2005 for the first time.

Bolingbroke nose acquired by Manx Aviation Museum

21st June 2004 saw the delivery of the forward fuselage of Bolingbroke 9041 to the Manx Aviation Museum at Ronaldsway on the Isle of Man. The complete aircraft had been part of a static restoration by the Nanton Lancaster Memorial, who have donated this section to the Museum. The wings and rear fuselage remain at Nanton.

Photographs show that the forward fuselage has been stripped to bare metal, and most fittings have been removed, however several original components were included in container. The museum is actively seeking authentic components, and hope to restore it using 85% original items. Once restored, it will become a memorial to the RAF and RCAF crews based on the island during World War 2.

Blenheim landing accident

The sole airworthy Bristol Blenheim, G-BPIV "R3821", suffered a serious landing accident at its Duxford base on 18th August, fortunately with no injuries to those on board. The full extent of the damage will not be known until a full survey has been done. It appears that the aircraft suffered a starboard engine failure on approach, leading to a loss of height, causing the undercarriage to hit a mound near the runway. The gear collapsed on landing, with the aircraft ending up on its belly. Apart from the obvious damage to the gear and underside, the starboard engine and its mountings appears to have sustained some damage.

It has been reported that the Blenheim is repairable, but will certainly be out of action for some time. The Bristol Blenheim was notorious for single engine flying, so it is a great credit to the pilot, John Webb, that the aircraft landed without more serious damage, and without injury.

Bristols at RIAT '03

The Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford on 19th and 20th July is celebrating 100 years of powered flight. They are aiming to bring many historic aircraft from museums and collections around the UK to the site, forming an impressive line up of significant aircraft over the past century. It is believed that Bristol Scout A1742 was originally requested, but unfortunately the restoration will not be ready in time. Another rumoured Bristol aircraft is Sycamore XG547 of The Helicopter Museum, which was noted on a trailer at Yeovilton on 23rd June. Bristol Blenheim R3821 (G-BPIV) of the Aircraft Restoration Company will be in the static display this year.